Sheep vs. Goats in the Bible: Why are goats so bad?

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Now I've been wondering this for a few months - in all of the well-known Bible stories, why are goats always representative of the evildoers, the sinners, the ones thrown into the Lake of Fire? (Read the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25 if you need a refresher.) There are several biblical references to goats, and none portray them in a positive light. Obviously, sheep are the preferred ruminant here...After we adopted our own goat babies,  I began to be curious about the reason for this. Snakes, venomous spiders, vultures - that I would understand. Who wants to be like them? Our goat boys, however are playful and affectionate, loving and intelligent, sweet little snugglers...What's wrong with that? I decided to do a little research.

It is worth mentioning that I do have some experience with sheep. When I was in high school, my parents moved us to a small "farmette" with a few acres and a dilapidated old barn. Soon we had three ewes grazing the fields, then lambs were born, and in a year or so there were several dozen of the woolly blobs meandering around outside in an attempt to net a little profit from the wool and meat. (I'm not sure what the bottom-line figures were here; my guess is that after all the breeding/shearing/worming/fencing etc is factored in, there are definitely easier ways to make money.) But what I definitely do not remember is ever forming an attachment to any of the sheep. Maybe I was just a self-absorbed teenager, or maybe I was busy nurturing our eleven cats, or perhaps sheep just aren't as personable as goats. Whatever the reason, I know that my preference for overall likeability definitely falls on the side of the goats. (And in case anyone is wondering, the photo above is not one of those sheep from my childhood - it's Neville, a puppet my daughters took on vacation last year and photographed in dozens of weird locations...don't ask why.)

According to biblical scholars in my quick internet search, here's the answer to my question: Although our pet goats may possess many qualities which endear them to human companions, as examples of religious followers, they lose out to sheep every time. Sheep are inherently calm, compliant, obedient, good followers, rarely causing trouble. Goats, on the other hand, are impulsive, devious, stubborn head-butters. They are rarely content with what they have, always wanting what's out of their reach and seeing every fence or boundary as a challenge. Great fun as pets, but hardly how you want to populate a congregation. It does make some sense, though I'm not entirely satisfied. I don't think Jesus' parable was meant to discourage independent thinkers altogether. It's more a factor of actions and behavior...but I think that's all for now - looks like the goats have gotten out again! Gotta go...