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 first of these passages occurs in Deut. xiv. 5, where it is
classed together with the ox, sheep, goats, and other ruminants,
as one of the beasts which were lawful for food. Now, although we
cannot identify it by this passage, we can at all events ascertain
two important points--the first, that it was a true ruminant, and
the second, that it was not the ox, the sheep, or the goat. It was,
therefore, some wild ruminant, and we now have to ask how we are to
find out the species.
If we turn to Isa. li. 20, we shall find a passage which will help
us considerably. Addressing Jerusalem, the prophet uses these words,
"By whom shall I comfort thee? Thy sons have fainted, they lie at
the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net; they are full
of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God." We now see that
the Tô or Teô must be an animal which is captured by means of nets,
and therefore must inhabit spots wherein the toils can be used.
Moreover, it is evidently a powerful animal, or the force of the
simile would be lost. The prophet evidently refers to some large
and strong beast which has been entangled in the hunter's nets, and
which lies helplessly struggling in them. We are, therefore, almost
perforce driven to recognise it as some large antelope.
The expression used by the prophet is so characteristic that it
needs a short explanation. In this country, and at the present
day, the use of the net is almost entirely restricted to fishing
and bird-catching; but in the East nets are still employed in the
capture of very large game.
A brief allusion to the hunting-net is made at page 31, but, as the
passage in Isaiah li. requires a more detailed account of this mode
of catching large animals, it will be as well to describe the sport
as at present practised in the East.
When a king or some wealthy man determines to hunt game without
taking much trouble himself, he gives orders to his men to prepare
their nets, which vary in size or strength according to the
particular animal for which they are intended. If, for example, only
the wild boar and similar animals are to be hunted, the nets need
not be of very great width; but for agile creatures, such as the
antelope, they must be exceedingly wide, or the intended prey will
leap over them. As the net is much used in India for the purpose of
catching game, Captain Williamson's description of it will explain
many of the passages of Scripture wherein it is mentioned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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