Jackal

VIEW:47 DATA:01-04-2020

JACKAL.—Although the word ‘jackal’ does not occur in the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , there is no doubt that this animal is several times mentioned in OT: it occurs several times in RV [Note: Revised Version.] where AV [Note: Authorized Version.] has ‘fox.’ (1) shû’âl is used in Heb. for both animals, but most of the references are most suitably tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘jackal.’ The only OT passage in which the fox is probably intended is Neh_4:3. (2) tannîm (pl.), AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘dragons,’ is in RV [Note: Revised Version.] usually tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘jackals.’ See Isa_34:13, Jer_9:11; Jer_10:22 etc. Post considers ‘wolves’ would be better. (3) ’iyyîm, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘wild beasts of the island’ (Isa_13:22; Isa_34:14, Jer_50:39), is in RV [Note: Revised Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘wolves,’ but Post thinks these ‘howling creatures’ (as word implies) were more probably jackals. (4) ’ôhîm, ‘doleful creatures’ (Isa_13:21), may also have been jackals. The jackal (Canis aureus) is exceedingly common in Palestine; its mournful cries are heard every night. During the day jackals hide in deserted ruins, etc. (Isa_13:22; Isa_34:13; Isa_35:7), but as soon as the sun sets they issue forth. They may at such times be frequently seen gliding backwards and forwards across the roads seeking for morsels of food. Their staple food is carrion of all sorts (Psa_63:10). At the present day the Bedouin threaten an enemy with death by saying they will ‘throw his body to the jackals.’ Though harmless to grown men when solitary, a whole pack may be dangerous. The writer knows of a case where a European was pursued for miles over the Philistine plain by a pack of jackals. It is because they go in packs that we take the shu’âlim of Jdg_15:4 to be jackals rather than foxes. Both animals have a weakness for grapes (Son_2:15). Cf. art. Fox.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

jak?ôl:
(1) תּנּים, tannı̄m, ?jackals,? the King James Version ?dragons?; compare Arabic tı̂nân, ?wolf?; and compare תּנּין, tannı̄n, Arab tinnı̂n, ?sea monster? or ?monster? the English Revised Version ?dragon? (Job_7:12 m; Psa_74:13; Psa_148:7; Isa_27:1; Isa_51:9; Jer_51:34), ?serpent? (Exo_7:9, Exo_7:10, Exo_7:12; Deu_32:33; Psa_91:13), the King James Version ?whale? (Gen_1:21; Job_7:12); but תּנּין, tannı̄n, ?jackals,? the King James Version ?sea monsters? (Lam_4:3), ?jackal's well,? the King James Version ?dragon well? (Neh_2:13), and tannı̄m, ?monster,? the King James Version and the English Revised Version ?dragon? (Eze_29:3; Eze_32:2).
(2) איּים, 'ı̄yı̄m, ?wolves,? the King James Version ?wild beasts of the islands?; compare אי, 'ı̄, plural איּים, 'ı̄yı̄m, ?island?; also איּה, 'ayyāh, ?a cry,? אוה, 'āwāh, ?to cry,? ?to howl?; Arabic ‛auwa', ?to bark? (of dogs, wolves, or jackals); 'ibn 'âwa', colloquially, wâwı̂, ?jackal.?
(3) ציּים, cı̄yı̄m, ?wild beasts of the desert.?
(4) אחים, 'oḥı̄m, ?doleful creatures.?
?Jackals? occurs as a translation of tannı̄m, the King James Version ?dragons,? in Job_30:29; Psa_44:19; Isa_13:22; Isa_34:13; Isa_35:7; Isa_43:20; Jer_9:11; Jer_10:22; Jer_14:6; Jer_49:33; Jer_51:37; of the feminine plural form tannōth in Mal_1:3, and of tannı̄n in Neh_2:13 and Lam_4:3. Tannı̄m is variously referred to a root meaning ?to howl,? and to a root meaning ?to stretch out? trop. ?to run swiftly, i.e. with outstretched neck and limb extended? (Gesenius). Either derivation would suit ?wolf? equally as well as ?jackal.? The expression in Jer_10:22, ?to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling-place of jackals,? seems, however, especially appropriate of jackals. The same is true of Isa_34:13; Jer_9:11; Jer_49:33, and Jer_51:37.
The jackal (from Persian shaghâl), Canis aureus, is found about the Mediterranean except in Western Europe. It ranges southward to Abyssinia, and eastward, in Southern Asia, to farther India. It is smaller than a large dog, has a moderately bushy tail, and is reddish brown with dark shadings above. It is cowardly and nocturnal. Like the fox, it is destructive to poultry, grapes, and vegetables, but is less fastidious, and readily devours the remains of others' feasts. Jackals generally go about in small companies. Their peculiar howl may frequently be heard in the evening and at any time in the night. It begins with a high-pitched, long-drawn-out cry. This is repeated two or three times, each time in a higher key than before. Finally there are several short, loud, yelping barks. Often when one raises the cry others join in. Jackals are not infrequently confounded with foxes. They breed freely with dogs.
While tannı̄m is the only word translated ?jackal? in English Versions of the Bible, the words 'ı̄yı̄m, cı̄yı̄m, and 'oḥı̄m deserve attention. They, as well as tannı̄m, evidently refer to wild creatures inhabiting desert places, but it is difficult to say for what animal each of the words stands. All four (together with benōth ya‛ănāh and se‛ı̄rı̄m) are found in Isa_13:21, Isa_13:22 : ?But wild beasts of the desert (cı̄yı̄m) shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures ('oḥı̄m); and ostriches (benōth ya‛ănāh) shall dwell there, and wild goats (se‛ı̄rı̄m) shall dance there. And wolves ('ı̄yı̄m) shall cry in their castles, and jackals (tannı̄m) in the pleasant palaces.?
In the King James Version 'ı̄yı̄m (Isa_13:22; Isa_34:14; Jer_50:39) is translated ?wild beasts of the islands? (compare 'ı̄yı̄m, ?islands?). the King James Version margin has merely the transliteration iim, the Revised Version (British and American) ?wolves,? the Revised Version margin ?howling creatures.? Gesenius suggests the jackal, which is certainly a howler. While the wolf has a blood-curdling howl, it is much more rarely heard than the jackal.
Cı̄yı̄m (Psa_72:9; Psa_74:14; Isa_13:21; Isa_23:13; Isa_34:14; Jer_50:39) has been considered akin to cı̄yāh, ?drought? (compare 'erec cı̄yāh, ?a dry land? (Psa_63:1)), and is translated in the Revised Version (British and American) as follows: Psa_72:9, ?they that dwell in the wilderness?; Psa_74:14, ?the people inhabiting the wilderness?; Isa_23:13, ?them that dwell in the wilderness,? the Revised Version margin ?the beasts of the wilderness?; Isa_13:21; Isa_34:14; Jer_50:39, ?wild beasts of the desert.? There would be some difficulty in referring cı̄yı̄m in Psa_72:9 to beasts rather than to men, but that is not the case in Psa_74:14 and Isa_23:13. ?Wild cats? have been suggested.
'Oḥı̄m, ?doleful creatures,? perhaps onomatopoetic, occurs only in Isa_13:21. The translation ?owls? has been suggested, and is not unsuitable to the context.
It is not impossible that tannı̄m and 'ı̄yı̄m may be different names of the jackals. 'Īyı̄m, cı̄yı̄m, and tannı̄m occur together also in Isa_34:13, Isa_34:14, and 'ı̄yı̄m and cı̄yı̄m in Jer_50:39. Their similarity in sound may have much to do with their collocation. The recognized word for ?wolf,? ze'ēbh (compare Arabic dhi'b), occurs 7 times in the Old Testament. See DRAGON; WOLF; ZOOLOGY.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Jackal
the Persic shaal, Turkish jakal, canis aureus of Linnaeus, has been thought to be denoted by several Hebrew words variously rendered in the Autho Vers. SEE FOX; SEE DRAGON; SEE WHELP, etc. It is a wild animal of the canine family SEE WOLF; SEE DOG, which in Persia, Armenia, likewise Arabia (Niebuhr, Beschr. 166), and even in Syria (Russel, Aleppo, 2, 61) and Palestine (around Jaffa, Gaza, and in Galilee, Hasselquist, Trav. p. 271; among the hills of Judea, Robinson, 2, 432; 3:188), is frequently met with, attaining a large size (three and a half feet in length), and so closely resembling a fox in color and general appearance as to be at first readily mistaken for that animal. But the jackal has a somewhat peculiarly formed head, not greatly unlike that of a shepherd's dog, about seven inches long, with a very pointed muzzle, and yellowish-red hair which resembles that of the wolf. The color of the body is yellowish-gray above, whitish below; the back and sides sometimes of mixed gray and black; the shoulders, thighs, and legs uniformly tawny-yellow. The tail is round, projecting, and reaching hardly to the heel. The eyes are large, with a round pupil. It is gregarious in its habits, hunting in packs (generally preying upon smaller animals and poultry, but frequently attacking the larger quadrupeds), the pest of the countries where it is found. It burrows in the earth, preferring forests and caverns, where it usually lies hid during the daytime; but at night it issues in companies (sometimes very large) on predatory incursions among the villages, and often the immediate vicinity of towns.
Its favorite food is fowls or carrion, and it' will break into graves to ‘make a meal upon the corpse, and even carry off and devour young children if found unprotected. In a wild state, this animal has an intolerably offensive odor. Colonel Hamilton Smith, in his Canidae, states that “jackals form a group of crepuscular and nocturnal canines, never voluntarily abroad before dark, and then hunting for prey during the whole night; entering the streets of towns to seek for offals, robbing the hen- roosts, entering out-houses, examining doors and windows, feasting upon all dressed vegetables and ill secured provisions, devouring all the carrion they find exposed, and digging their way into sepulchers that are not carefully protected against their activity and voraciousness; and in the fruit season, in common with foxes, seeking the vineyards, and fattening upon grapes. They congregate in great numbers, sometimes as many as two hundred being found together, and they howl so incessantly that the annoyance of their voices is the theme of numerous apologues and tales in the literature of Asia. This cry is a melancholy sound, beginning the instant the sun sets, and never ceasing till after it has arisen. The voice is uttered and responded to by all within hearing, in an accent of every possible tone, from a short, hungry yelp to a prolonged crescendo cry, rising octave above octave in the shrillness, and mingled with dismal whinings, as of a human being in distress.” Their nightly howl has a peculiar wailing tone (Russel, Aleppo, p. 62; Russegger, Reise, 3, 125), greatly resembling the cry of a child. “These sinister, guilty, woebegone brutes, when pressed with hunger, gather in gangs among the graves, and yell in rage, and fight like fiends over their midnight orgies; but on the battlefield is their great carnival” (Thomson, Land hand Book, 1, 134). (See, generally, Bochart, Hieroz. 2, 180 sq., who maintains that the jackal was designated among the Greeks and Romans by the name θώς, θωός, Kampfer, Amoen. 2, 406 sq.; Gmelin, Reise. 2, 81 sq. Güildenstädt, in Nov. coment. acad. Petropol. 20, 449 sq.; Oedmann, Samnnl. 2, 18 sq.) This animal is very generally regarded as denoted by the name אַי (i, the howler, in the plural, אַיַּים, iyim', “wild beasts of the islands”), represented as inhabiting deserts (Isa_13:22; Isa_34:14; Jeremiah 40:39). It is more usually recognized as the שׁוּעָל, shual', of Scripture (ἀ λ ώ τ η ξ, “fox”), especially in the instance of Samson's exploit (Jdg_15:4; compare Rosenmüller, Alterthumsk. IV. 2, 156 sq., and Scholia ad Judices, p. 327). See Fox.
We have, however, no proof that shual' denotes exclusively the fox, and that iyim', and Solomon's little foxes, refer solely to jackals; particularly as these animals were, if really known, not abundant in Western Asia, even during the first century of the Roman empire; for they are but little noticed by the Greek writers and sportsmen who resided where now they are heard and seen every evening; these authorities offering no remark on the most prominent characteristic of the species, namely, the chorus of howlings lasting all night a habit so intolerable that it is the invariable theme of all the Shemitic writers since the Hegira whenever they mention the jackal. We may therefore infer that shual', if a general denomination, and that qinz', if the etymology be just, is derived from howling or barking, and may designate the jackal, though more probably it includes also those wild Caniaeu which have, a. similar habit. Indeed, as. Ehrenberg — (Icon. et descript. emammal. d(c. 2) has remarked, it is likely that travelers have usually confounded the jackal with the camis Syriacus, while a thorough treatise on the canis aureus is still a desideratum (see Wood, Bible Animals, p. 56).
There is also another term in the O.T., תִּן (tan, in plural by Chaldaism,
תִנַּין, tannin', regarded by others as the singular, whence a true plur.
תִּנַינַים, tasninim', “dragons”), described as a wild animal inhabiting deserts, and uttering a plaintive cry (Job_30:29; Mic_1:8); often joined (in poetic parallelism) with בִּת יִעֲנָה, “daughter of the ostrich.” and
אַיַּים, iyimm' (Isaiah 12:22; Isa_34:13; Isa_43:20). The Syriac understands the jackal, and the Arabic the wolf (comp. Pococke, Comm. in Mic. ad loc.; Schurrer, Diss. philol. p. 323 sq.). It is possibly no more than the canis Syriacus after all. Bochart (Hieroz. 3:222 sq.) interprets it of an endrmous kind of serpent. SEE DRAGON.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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