Story of the Bible Animals: A Description of the Habits and Uses of every living Creature mentioned in the Scriptures, with Explanation of Passages in the Old and New Testament in which Reference is made to themWood, J. G. (John George)
Religion
Story of the Bible Animals: A Description of the Habits and Uses of every living Creature mentioned in the Scriptures, with Explanation of Passages in the Old and New Testament in which Reference is made to them
Wood, J. G. (John George)
Animals in the Bible; Nature in the Bible
The strangest part of their character is the organization which
prevails among them. By some extraordinary means they divide the
town into districts, and not one dog ever ventures out of that
particular district to which it is attached. The boundaries,
although invisible, are as effectual as the loftiest walls, and not
even the daintiest morsel will tempt a dog to pass the mysterious
line which forms the boundary of his district. Generally, these
bands of dogs are so savage that any one who is obliged to walk in a
district where the dogs do not know him is forced to carry a stout
stick for his protection. Like their European relatives, they have
great dislike towards persons who are dressed after a fashion to
which they are unaccustomed, and therefore are sure to harass any
one who comes from Europe and wears the costume of his own country.
As is customary among animals which unite themselves in troops, each
band is under the command of a single leader, whose position is
recognised and his authority acknowledged by all the members.
[Illustration: DOGS IN AN EASTERN CITY AT NIGHT.]
These peculiarities are to be seen almost exclusively in the
dogs which run wild about the towns, because there is abundant
evidence in the Scriptures that the animal was used in a partially
domesticated state, certainly for the protection of their herds,
and possibly for the guardianship of their houses. That the Dog was
employed for the first of these purposes is shown in Job xxx. i:
"But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose
fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my
flock." And that the animal was used for the protection of houses is
thought by some commentators to be shown by the well-known passage
in Is. lvi. 10: "His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they
are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving
to slumber." Still, it is very probable that in this passage the
reference is not made to houses, but to the flocks and herds which
these watchmen ought to have guarded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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