Animals in the Bible

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Over 120 species of animals are mentioned in the Bible, ordered alphabetically in this article by English vernacular name. Animals mentioned in the Old Testament will be listed with their Hebrew name, while those mentioned in the New Testament will be listed with their Greek names. This list includes names of mythical creatures such as the griffin, lamia, siren and unicorn, which have been applied to real animals in some older translations of the Bible due to misunderstandings or educational prejudices of the Greek and Latin translators. In the following list D.V. stands for Douay Version, A.V. and R.V. for Authorized and Revised Version respectively.

Contents

Natural history of the Holy Land

The fauna of the Holy Land (modern-day Israel and Palestine) has significantly changed since Biblical times, with many animals mentioned in the Bible being locally extinct or endangered in modern times. For example, the aurochs (the most likely referent of the Hebrew רְאֵםrəʾēm) is globally extinct, being extinct in the Levant by the time of the Babylonian captivity. [ citation needed ] Locally extinct species include lions, leopards and bears.

The frequency of references to given animals may be used to date parts of the Bible. For example, recent excavations in the Timna Valley discovered what may be the earliest camel bones found in Israel or even outside the Arabian peninsula, dating to around 930 BCE. This is seen as evidence that the stories of Abraham, Joseph, Jacob and Esau were written after this time. [1] [2] However, other scholars argue that camels were already domesticated in Mesopotamia by the early second millennium BCE and that their presence in the Patriarchal narratives is not anachronistic. [3] [4]

The Bible mentions animals from varying regions of the Middle East. The ostrich, for instance, a denizen of the torrid regions, and the camel, of the waterless districts around Palestine, are mentioned side by side with the roebuck and deer of the woody summits of Lebanon. This variety, greater probably in Palestine than in any other country in the same latitude, is attributed to the great extremes of elevation and temperature in this small area. Palestinian fauna is not as rich today as it was during the Biblical times. The land is barren today but was well wooded when the Bible was written, especially on the hills east of the Jordan River. [5]

Biblical taxonomy

Although no regular classification is to be sought for in the Bible, animal creation is there practically divided into four classes, often called kinds, [6] [ citation needed ] according to the four different modes of locomotion. The first class, the beasts, in the Biblical parlance, includes all large, walking animals, with the exception of the amphibia, such small animals as moles, mice and the like, [5] and humans as they were not classified as animals.

Beasts are divided into cattle, or domesticated (behemoth in the strict sense), and beasts of the field, i.e. wild animals. The fowls, which constitute the second class, include not only the birds, but also "all things that fly", even if they "go upon four feet", as the different kinds of locusts. Of the many "living beings that swim in the water" no particular species is mentioned; the "great whales" are set apart in that class, while the rest are divided according to whether or not they had fins or scales (Leviticus 11:9, 10). [5]

The reptiles, or "creeping things", form the fourth class. References to this class are relatively few. The "creeping things" [7] include not only reptiles, but all short-legged animals or insects which seem to crawl rather than to walk, such as moles, lizards, etc. From a religious viewpoint, all these animals are divided into two classes, clean and unclean, according to whether they can, or cannot, be eaten. [8] [5]

List of animals

A

The ass serves in the East for many purposes. Its even gait and sure-footedness, so well suited to the rough paths of the Holy Land, made it at all times the most popular of all the animals for riding in those hilly regions (Genesis 22:3; Luke 19:30). Neither was it ridden only by the common people, but also by persons of the highest rank (Judges 5:10; 10:4; 2 Samuel 17:23; 19:26, etc.). No wonder therefore that Jesus, about to come triumphantly to Jerusalem, commanded His disciples to bring Him an ass and her colt; no lesson of humility, as is sometimes asserted, but the affirmation of the peaceful character of His kingdom should be sought there. Although the Scripture speaks of "saddling" the ass, usually no saddle was used by the rider. A cloth was spread upon the back of the ass and fastened by a strap was all the equipment. Upon this cloth the rider sat with a servant usually walking alongside. Should a family journey, the women and children would ride the asses, attended by the father (Exodus 4:20). This mode of traveling has been popularized by Christian painters, who copied the eastern customs in their representations of the Holy Family's flight to Egypt.
Scores of passages in the Bible allude to asses carrying burdens. The Gospels, at least in the Greek text, speak of millstones run by asses (Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:41; Luke 17:2); Josephus and the Egyptian monuments teach us that this animal was used for threshing wheat. Finally, we repeatedly read in the Old Testament of asses hitched to a plough (Deuteronomy 22:10; Isaiah 30:24, etc.), and in reference to this custom, the Law forbade ploughing with an ox and an ass together (Deuteronomy 22:10). From Is., 21:7, confirmed by the statements of Greek writers, we learn that part of the cavalry force in the Persian army rode donkeys. We should perhaps understand from IV K., vii, 7, that the Syrian armies followed the same practice; but no such custom seems to have ever prevailed among the Hebrews. With them the ass was essentially for peaceful use, the emblem of peace, as the horse was the symbol of war. The flesh of the donkey was unclean and forbidden by the Law. In some particular circumstances, however, no law could prevail over necessity, and we read that during Joram's reign, when Ben-hadad besieged Samaria, the famine was so extreme in this city, that the head of an ass was sold for 120 pieces of silver (IV K., vi, 25).
In Modern Hebrew, רְאֵם refers to oryxes.

B

C

D

Other places, such as Esther 10:7; 11:6; Ecclus., xxv, 23, can be neither traced back to a Hebrew original, nor identified with sufficient probability. The author of the Apocalypse repeatedly makes mention of the dragon, by which he means "the old serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world" (Revelation 12:9, etc.). Of the fabulous dragon fancied by the ancients, represented as a monstrous winged serpent with a crested head and enormous claws, and regarded as very powerful and ferocious, no mention is found in the Bible. The word dragon, consequently, should really be removed from Bibles, except perhaps from Isaiah 14:29 and 30:6, where the draco fimbriatus is possibly spoken of. See § Basilisk, 4.

E

F

Though a trifle less annoying than in Egypt, flies were, however, deemed a plague severe enough in Israel to induce the natives to have recourse to the power of a special god, Bá'ál-zebhûbh, the master of the flies, that they and their cattle be protected against that scourge.

G

H

I

J

K

L

Unlike other insects, locusts are most voracious in every stage of their existence.

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

References

  1. Hasson, Nir (Jan 17, 2014). "Hump stump solved: Camels arrived in region much later than biblical reference". Haaretz. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  2. Sapir-Hen, Lidar; Erez Ben-Yosef (2013). "The Introduction of Domestic Camels to the Southern Levant: Evidence from the Aravah Valley" (PDF). Tel Aviv. 40 (2): 277–285. doi:10.1179/033443513x13753505864089. S2CID   44282748 . Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  3. Chavalas, Mark W. (November–December 2018). "Did Abraham Ride a Camel?". Biblical Archaeology Review. 44 (6): 52, 64–65.
  4. Heide, Martin; Peters, Joris (2021). Camels in the Biblical World. Penn State Press. p. 302. ISBN   978-1-64602-170-3.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Wikisource-logo.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Souvay, Charles Léon (1907). "Animals in the Bible". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  6. "after his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth" - Genesis 1:11
  7. "and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air" - Acts 10:12
  8. Moses, et al. The Bible. Jerusalem:
  9. Amar, Zohar (2013). "פרא וחמור — ומה שביניהם" (PDF). Hebrew Academy (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  10. Lutz, Diana (2013-03-27). "The secret lives of the wild asses of the Negev - The Source - Washington University in St. Louis". The Source. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  11. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915, 1939): B: badger.
  12. A history of ancient Israel and Judah by James Maxwell Miller and John Haralson Hayes
  13. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, edited by E. Stern, vol. 3, 1098–1102. Jerusalem: Carta, 1993
  14. Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art by Louisa Twining — page 188 - published 1885
  15. Strong's Concordance – 3733. ornis: a bird, specifically a rooster or hen
  16. PROVERBS 10-31, Volume 18 – Michael V. Fox – Yale University Press 2009 – 704 pages
  17. The Three Blessings:Boundaries, Censorship, and Identity in Jewish Liturgy: Boundaries, Censorship, and Identity in Jewish Liturgy – Oxford University Press, Dec 24, 2010 – page 142
  18. Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament HALOT 1:281 s.v. zarzir
  19. 1 2 Matthew 12:40 (multiple versions) As early as the Wessex Gospels of 990 CE the Greek "κήτους" of Matthew 12:40 was translated as "hwæle" (whale). The Greek Septuagint translated the fish of Jonah 1:17 as "κήτους".
  20. "Genesis 49:21". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  21. See F. Lecocq, "Y a-t-il un phénix dans la Bible ?", Kentron 30, 2014, p. 55-82.
  22. Online Parallel Bible Project – alektór: a rooster
  23. Genesis 1:21 (multiple versions) The first created and largest of all creatures, the whales are notable as the only kind of creatures other than mankind expressly mentioned in the creation account.
  24. "Genesis 49:27". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  25. Gottheil, Richard (1906). "Benjamin," in the Jewish Encyclopedia.
  26. "Isaiah 11:6". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  27. "Israel | International Wolf Center". 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  28. Reichmann, Alon; Saltz, David (2005-07-01). "THE GOLAN WOLVES: THE DYNAMICS, BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY, AND MANAGEMENT OF AN ENDANGERED PEST". Israel Journal of Zoology. 51 (2): 87–133. doi:10.1560/1BLK-B1RT-XB11-BWJH (inactive 1 November 2024). ISSN   0021-2210.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  29. Cohen, Orly; Barocas, Adi; Geffen, Eli (April 2013). "Conflicting management policies for the Arabian wolf Canis lupus arabs in the Negev Desert: is this justified?". Oryx. 47 (2): 228–236. doi: 10.1017/S0030605311001797 . ISSN   0030-6053.

Wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Souvay, Charles Léon (1907). "Animals in the Bible". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.