Animals Named in the Bible – Part 2

Lions and Wolves and Bears, Oh My!

1 Samuel 17:21-37, To kill a ferocious bear was a feat.

Jeremiah 5:1-6; Hosea 13:1-8, “Leopard” is probably any large, fierce cat, e.g., leopard, lynx, etc.

Isaiah 65:13-25, “Lion,” on the other hand, is one large, fierce cat with several names

Matthew 7:15-20, 10:16-18, Wolves are fierce and especially dangerous to flocks.

Song of Solomon 2:10-15, Luke 13:31-35. Some of the “foxes” are probably foxes.

Ezekiel 13:1-16, Some “foxes” are most likely jackals.

Jeremiah 12:1-10, Hyenas may be in the Bible.


Job 40:6-24, The Behemoth is likely the hippopotamus

Job 41:1-34, A leviathan is most likely a crocodile


Psalms 80:7-19, The wild boar was problem in vineyards

Isaiah 66:1-4; Proverbs 15:8-9, Swine are unclean

1 Kings 14:11; Isaiah 56:10-11; Matthew 7:6, The Hebrews didn’t love their dogs the way we do



More Animals Named in the Bible

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1 Samuel 17:21-37, To kill a ferocious bear was a feat. (7/7/17)

I’ve said previously that the notion of Goliath being roughly 9 feet tall is not unreasonable. He might have weighed, what?, 300 pounds? 350? And he had some armor and weapons, admittedly. The Syrian brown bear, on the other hand, weighs more like 500 pounds and is armed to the teeth (HAHAhaha!), and this is the bear that David had killed. If you had killed a bear, or a lion, would you be alarmed by an uncircumcised Philistine, just because he was taller than you? When Saul hears that David has killed bears and lions, he thinks that it just might work to send David out against Goliath.


Jeremiah 5:1-6; Hosea 13:1-8, “Leopard” is probably any large, fierce cat, e.g., leopard, lynx, etc. (8/18/17)

In New Mexico, we have a lot of different species of lizards. I call them all “lizards.” The biblical name “leopard” is apparently like my term “lizard.” It seems to mean “any large, fierce cat.” Palestine is (or was) the home of several species of large cats, including what we would call today the cheetah, caracal, leopard, Asiatic lion, and two species about the size of a lynx. There are also two species about the size of a housecat, but they seem unlikely to be able to tear people to pieces and eat them.

Pay special attention to Jeremiah 5:1-2. God is looking for one righteous person so that he may pardon Jerusalem. Best that you and I do justice and seek truth, because we bear personal responsibility for our nations.

Also, in the “Whoa! I never noticed that before” arena, check out Hosea 13:1. The ESV makes it look like human sacrifice is “just as bad as” idolatry. That didn’t seem plausible to me – human sacrifice is surely much worse, right? So I checked the Hebrew and the Greek, and it looks like human sacrifice is “just as bad as” idolatry! God takes idolatry much more seriously than we can imagine.


Isaiah 65:13-25, “Lion,” on the other hand, is one large, fierce cat with several names. (8/21/17)

Do you remember that we started this study by talking about the cougar/puma/mountain lion/catamount? The lion of the Bible, no doubt our “Asiatic lion,” also has a number of names. I love them: grabber, roarer, crusher, strutter. However, when God restores Paradise, the lion will be tamed.

Matthew 7:15-20, 10:16-18, Wolves are fierce and especially dangerous to flocks. (9/11/17)

Although real wolves were a threat to both people and sheep (Jeremiah 5:6, John 10:12), most of the biblical “wolves” are wicked and violent human beings. Benjamin (Genesis 49:27), the princes of Israel (Ezekiel 22:27), evil judges (Habakkuk 1:8), false prophets (Matthew 7:15), and enemies of God’s people (Matthew 10:16, Luke 10:3, and Acts 20:29) are all described as “wolves.” Pray for victims of violence around the world, whether the ravening wolves are four-legged or two-legged.


Song of Solomon 2:10-15, Luke 13:31-35. Some of the “foxes” are probably foxes, because they are “little”; Jesus called Herod a “fox” (7/28/17)

One thing I’m learning from this study is that translators have a tough job, especially when it comes to deciding what animal is meant by a word from an ancient language. The Hebrew word shual is translated fox, jackal, wild dog, and even wolf. The Greek Old Testament consistently goes from the Hebrew shual to the Greek alopex; however, several of the English translations I looked at translate shual more than one way.

Nevertheless, all of the roughly 18 translations I looked at have foxes/fox in these passages.


Ezekiel 13:1-16, Some “foxes” are most likely jackals (8/15/17)

The jackal is another Middle Eastern animal that was unknown in western Europe. (Recently jackals have made inroads into eastern Europe.) We are not surprised to learn that older English translations such as the King James Version have “foxes.”

The LORD tells his true prophet Ezekiel to speak out against the false prophets of Israel. Instead of protecting the people by standing in the breach of social decay or building up walls of sound theology, these false prophets have been like jackals, which dig burrows under rocks or take over old fox dens. The false prophets undermine God’s message; they don’t announce it to the people.


Jeremiah 12:1-10, Hyenas may be in the Bible, but frequently translated “speckled bird” in English (8/14/17)

In Jeremiah 12:9, the Hebrew has a word that occurs only once and probably means “speckled.” (It comes from a word that’s used only three times (all in the same verse, Judges 5:30) and probably means “colors.”) There is some feeling among scholars that this word designates the speckled hyena. Other authorities translate it as some unspecified speckled bird or a hawk.

I’ve said before that translators have to make tough decision about animal names that only occur once or twice. This is especially true when they are translating for a reading audience that would never even have heard of the animal, and there never have been any striped hyenas in Europe (except recently in zoos).

If you read the context, however, it’s easy to see that the LORD is unhappy with his people, and it’s clear that God is comparing the nation to a wilderness populated by ravaging wild animals. We don’t have to know for certain whether we are hyenas or speckled birds to know that we are in trouble.

Job 40:6-24, Lower-case “behemoth” means “animals” or “domesticated animals,” but The Behemoth is likely the hippopotamus (7/11/17)

The Hebrew word “behemoth” seems to be a loan word from the Egyptian for “hippopotamus,” and the animal that God describes to Job certainly looks like a hippo to me – a huge, strong fellow that eats grass, hides among the reeds in the swamp, and isn’t afraid of the river. Hippos are aggressive and dangerous; God isn’t fooling when he says, “Only his Creator can defeat him,” or asks, “Who can capture him?”


Job 41:1-34, A leviathan is most likely a crocodile (7/19/17)

The animal represented by the Hebrew word leviathan is most likely the Nile crocodile. The male crocodile typically grows up to 16 1/2 feet (5 m), but ones as long as 20 ft (6.1 m) have been recorded. They are aggressive and attack swiftly from ambush. Their hides are scaly and tough, their jaws are powerful, and their teeth are formidable. They swim up to 22 mph (35 km/h). They have no reason to fear any other animal, or man, and they kill any man or beast unlucky enough to be caught.

If you read the description that God gives to Job of the leviathan, it matches the croc to a tee: No man can control the Leviathan: he is God’s creature (vs. 11).


Psalms 80:7-19, The wild boar was problem in vineyards (7/14/17)

The wild boar can weigh up to 220 lbs. (100 kg). They will eat just about anything and can jump or push through walls and fences. Even when the Israelites walled their vineyards, boars could get in and destroy the vines and crops by eating them or rooting them up. Now, the “vineyard” in this particular psalm represents the nation of Israel, the vine that God brought out of Egypt and planted in Canaan. It grew and flourished, spreading from the Mediterranean Sea on one side to the River Jordan on the other. When the people turned away from God, however, God withdrew the walls of his protection and allowed the “boar” – a foreign nation – to come in and ravage the land. The psalmist has used a common, but unfortunate, occurrence as an illustration of the bitter situation that the nation now finds itself in.


Isaiah 66:1-4; Proverbs 15:8-9, Swine are unclean (9/7/17)

The prophets said on a number of occasions that if you make a practice of wickedness, God is not interested in your so-called worship. God is interested in the person who “is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at [God’s] word.” The sacrifices laid out in Leviticus for whole offerings, burnt offerings, peace offerings, etc., are of no value unless they are accompanied by a broken and contrite heart. They are so far from pure that they are like human sacrifice, like the offering of unclean animals, or like idolatry. John Wesley says that Proverbs 15:8-9 provides a commentary on Isaiah 66:3: the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable. Swine are unclean.


Isaiah 66:1-4; Proverbs 15:8-9, Swine are unclean (9/7/17)

The prophets said on a number of occasions that if you make a practice of wickedness, God is not interested in your so-called worship. God is interested in the person who “is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at [God’s] word.” The sacrifices laid out in Leviticus for whole offerings, burnt offerings, peace offerings, etc., are of no value unless they are accompanied by a broken and contrite heart. They are so far from pure that they are like human sacrifice, like the offering of unclean animals, or like idolatry. John Wesley says that Proverbs 15:8-9 provides a commentary on Isaiah 66:3: the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable. Swine are unclean.


1 Kings 14:11; Isaiah 56:10-11; Matthew 7:6, The Hebrews didn’t love their dogs the way we do. (7/20/17)

There are dogs in the Bible, but they don’t get very good press. In the city they are scavengers, as herders they are lazy but voracious, and they have no appreciation for the finer points of theology.



More Animals Named in the Bible
 Animals Named in the Bible – Part 1
Animals Named in the Bible – Part 2
Animals Named in the Bible – Part 3
Animals Named in the Bible – Part 4

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