Wolf

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WOLF.—
In AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘wolf’ is always tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of ze’çb (cf. Arab [Note: Arabic.] , zeeb ‘wolf’), Gen_49:27, Isa_11:6; Isa_65:25, Jer_5:6, Eze_22:27, Hab_1:8, Zep_3:8. Cf. also proper name Zeeb, Jdg_7:25. For ‘iyyîm (tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘wolves’ in Isa_13:22 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ) and tannîm see Jackal. The NT term is lykos (Mat_7:15; Mat_10:16, Luk_10:3, Joh_10:12, Act_20:29).
The wolf of Palestine is a variety of Canis tupus, somewhat lighter in colour and larger than that of N. Europe. It is seldom seen to-day, and never goes in packs, though commonly in couples; it commits its ravages at night, hence the expression ‘wolf of the evening’ (Jer_5:6, Zep_3:3); it was one of the greatest terrors of the lonely shepherd (Joh_10:12); persecutors are compared to wolves in Mat_10:18, Act_20:29.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


zeeb. The Canis lupus. Fierce (Gen_49:27; Eze_22:27; Hab_1:8; Mat_7:15); prowling in the night (Jer_5:6; Zep_3:3); devouring lambs and sheep (Joh_10:12); typifying persecutors and heretical leaders (Mat_10:16; Mat_7:15; Act_20:29); hereafter about to associate peacefully with the lamb under Messiah's reign (Isa_11:6; Isa_65:25). Tawny in color in Asia Minor.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Wolf. There can be little doubt that the wolf of Palestine is the common Canis lupus, and that this is the animal so frequently mentioned in the Bible.
(The wolf is a fierce animal of the same species as the dog, which it resembles. The common color is gray with a tinting of fawn, and the hair is long and black. The Syrian wolf is of lighter color than the wolf of Europe it is the dread of the shepherds of Palestine. ? Editor).
Wolves were doubtless far more common in biblical times than they are now, though they are occasionally seen by modern travellers. The following are the scriptural allusions to the wolf:
Its ferocity is mentioned in Gen_49:27; Eze_22:27; Hab_1:8; Mat_7:15,
its nocturnal habits, in Jer_5:6; Zep_3:3; Hab_1:8,
its attacking sheep and lambs, Mat_10:16; Luk_10:3; Joh_10:12,
Isaiah Isa_11:6; Isa_65:25, foretells the peaceful reign of the Messiah under the metaphor of a wolf dwelling with a lamb:
cruel persecutors are compared with wolves. Mat_10:16; Act_20:29.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


זאב , in Arabic, zeeb, Gen_49:27; Isa_11:6; Isa_65:25; Jer_5:6; Eze_22:27; Zep_3:3; Hab_1:8; λυκος, Mat_7:15; Mat_10:16; Luk_10:3; Joh_10:12; Act_20:29; Ecclesiastes 13:17. M. Mains derives it from the Arabic word zaab or daaba, “to frighten;” and hence, perhaps, the German word dieb, “a thief.” The wolf is a fierce, strong, cunning, mischievous, and carnivorous quadruped; externally and internally so nearly resembling the dog, that they seem modelled alike, yet have a perfect antipathy to each other. The Scripture observes of the wolf, that it lives upon rapine; is violent, bloody, cruel, voracious, and greedy; goes abroad by night to seek its prey, and is a great enemy to flocks of sheep. Indeed, this animal is fierce without cause, kills without remorse, and by its indiscriminate slaughter seems to satisfy its malignity rather than its hunger. The wolf is weaker than the lion or the bear, and less courageous than the leopard; but he scarcely yields to them in cruelty and rapaciousness. His ravenous temper prompts him to destructive and sanguinary depredations; and these are perpetrated principally in the night. This circumstance is expressly mentioned in several passages of Scripture. “The great men have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds; wherefore, a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them,” Jer_5:6. The rapacious and cruel conduct of the princes of Israel is compared by Eze_22:27, to the mischievous inroads of the same animal: “Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy lives, to get dishonest gain;” and Zep_3:3, says, “Her princes within her are roaring lions, her judges are evening wolves: they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.” Instead of protecting the innocent and restraining the evil doer, or punishing him according to the demerit of his crimes, they delight in violence and oppression, in blood and rapine; and so insatiable is their cupidity, that, like the evening wolf, they destroy more than they are able to possess. The dispositions of the wolf to attack the weaker animals, especially those which are under the protection of man, is alluded to by our Saviour in the parable of the hireling shepherd: “The wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the flock,” Mat_7:15. And the Apostle Paul, in his address to the elders of Ephesus, gives the name of this insidious and cruel animal to the false teachers who disturbed the peace and perverted the faith of their people: “I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock,” Act_20:29.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


woolf ((1) זאב, ze'ēbh (Gen_49:27; Gen_11:6; 65:25; Jer_5:6; Eze_22:27; Hab_1:8; Zep_3:3; also as proper name, Zeeb, prince of Midian, Jdg_7:25; Jdg_8:3; Psa_83:11); compare Arabic dhi'b, colloquial dhı̂b, or dı̂b; (2) λύκος, lúkos (Mat_7:15; Mat_10:16; Luk_10:3; Joh_10:12; Act_20:29; Ecclesiasticus 13:17; compare 2 Esdras 5:18, lupus); (3) איּין, 'ı̄yı̄m, the Revised Version (British and American) ?wolves? (Isa_13:22; Isa_34:14; Jer_50:39)):
While the wolf is surpassed in size by some dogs, it is the fiercest member of the dog family (Canidae), which includes among others the jackal and the fox. Dogs, wolves and jackals are closely allied and will breed together. There is no doubt that the first dogs were domesticated wolves. While there are local varieties which some consider to be distinct species, it is allowable to regard all the wolves of both North America, Europe, and Northern Asia (except the American coyote) as members of one species, Canis lupus. The wolf of Syria and Palestine is large, light colored, and does not seem to hunt in packs. Like other wolves it is nocturnal. In Palestine it is the special enemy of the sheep and goats. This fact comes out in two of the seven passages cited from the Old Testament, in all from the New Testament, and in the two from Apocrypha. In Gen_49:27 Benjamin is likened to a ravening wolf. In Eze_22:27, and in the similar Zep_3:3, the eiders of Jerusalem are compared to wolves. In Jer_5:6 it is a wolf that shall destroy the people of Jerusalem, and in Hab_1:8 the horses of the Chaldeans ?are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves.? Babylon and Edom (Isa_13:22; Isa_34:14; Jer_50:39) are to be the haunts of'ı̄yı̄m (the Revised Version (British and American) ?wolves?) and other wild creatures.
The name of Zeeb, prince of Midian (Jdg_7:25; Jdg_8:3), has its parallel in the Arabic, Dı̂b or Dhı̂b, which is a common name today. Such animal names are frequently given to ward off the evil eye. See also TOTEMISM.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.



Fig. 344?Egyptian Wolf
Wolf (Gen_49:27; Isa_11:6; Isa_65:25; Jer_5:6, etc.; Mat_7:15; Mat_10:16; Luk_10:3; Joh_10:12; Act_20:29; Sir_13:17), a fierce carnivorous animal, very nearly allied to the dog, and so well known in Europe as to require no particular description; but the identity of the species in Palestine, though often asserted, is by no means established; for no professed zoologist has obtained the animal in Syria, while other travelers only pretend to have seen it. Unquestionably a true wolf, or a wild canine with very similar manners, was not infrequent in that country during the earlier ages of the world, and even down to the commencement of our era. The prophets, as well as the Messiah, allude to it in explicit language. At this day the true wolf is still abundant in Asia Minor, as well as in the gorges of Cilicia, and from the traveling disposition of the species, wolves may be expected to reside in the forests of Libanus; but there is no satisfactory evidence that this is at present the case. It may be, as there are no forests to the south of Lebanon, that these ravenous beasts, who never willingly range at a distance from cover, have forsaken the more open country.




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Eze_22:27 (a) It was a most unhappy situation that existed when the leaders became beasts to destroy the people over whom they were supposed to rule beneficently. The wicked rulers of Israel were suppressing, robbing and injuring the people whom they should have been protecting and preserving. (See also Zep_3:3).

Mat_7:15 (a) This animal represents religious leaders of the present day, who pretend to be GOD's servants, but who rob the people of their faith, their peace, and their money.

Mat_10:16 (a) The Lord knew that His disciples would be subject to persecution wherever they went. The people who prosecuted and sought to execute the servants of the Saviour are described as these wild beasts. (See also Luk_10:3).

Act_20:29 (a) The wolf is used in this case to represent wicked, cruel leaders who, in the name of Christianity and the Church, will burn, maim, torture, kill and seek to destroy GOD's people and GOD's testimony. History reveals that this is the course pursued by the great apostate church.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.



(the invariable rendering in the A. V. of זְאֵב, zeeb, so called either from. its fierceness or its yellow color, or perhaps the word is primitive; λύκος), a fierce carnivorous animal, very nearly allied to the dog, and so well known as to require no particular description, excepting as regards the identity of the species in Palestine, which, although often asserted, is by no means established; for no professed zoologist .has obtained the animal in Syria, while other travelers only pretend to have seen it. Unquestionably a true wolf, or a wild canine with very similar manners, was not infrequent in that country during the earlier ages of the world, and even down to the commencement of our era. At this day the true wolf is still abundant in Asia Minor, as well as in the gorges of Cilicia, and, from the traveling disposition of the species, wolves may be expected to reside in the forests of Libanus. Hemprich and Ehrenberg, the most explicit of the naturalists who have visited that region, notice the dib, or zeb, under the denomination of Canis lupaster, and also, it seems, of Lupus Syriacus.
They describe it as resembling the wolf, but smaller, with a white tip on the tail, etc.; and give for its synonym Canis anthus and the wolf of Egypt,that is, the λύκος of Aristotle and Thoes anthus of Ham. Smith. This species, found in the mummy state at Lycopolis, though high in proportion to its bulk, measures only eighteen inches at the shoulder, and in weight is scarcely more than one third of that of a true wolf, whose stature rises to thirty and thirty-two inches. It is not gregarious, does not howl, cannot carry off a lamb or sheep, nor kill men, nor make the shepherd flee; in short, it is not the true wolf of Europe or Asia Minor, and is not possessed of the qualities ascribed to the species in the Bible. The next in Hemprich and Ehrenberg's description bears the same Arabic name; it is scientifically called Canis sacer, and is the piseonch of the Copts.
This species is, however, still smaller, and thus cannot be the wolf in question. It may be, as there are no forests to the south of Libianus, that these ravenous beasts, who never willingly range at a distance from cover, have forsaken the more open country, or else that the derbonn, now only indistinctly known as a species of black wolf in Arabia and Southern Syria, is the species or variety which anciently represented the wolf in Syria — an appellation fully deserved if it be the same as the black species of the Pyrenees, which, though surmised to be a wild dog, is even more fierce than the common wolf, and is equally powerful. The Arabs are said to eat the derbonn as game, though it must be rare, since no European traveler has described a specimen from personal observation. Therefore, either' the true wolf or the derbonn was anciently more abundant in Palestine, or the ravenous powers of those animals, equally belonging to the hyena and to a great wild dog, caused several species to be included in the name. See Dog. “‘There is also an animal of which travelers in Arabia and Syria hear much, under the name of the shib, which the natives believe to be a breed between a leopard and a wolf. They describe it as being scarcely in its shape distinguishable from the wolf, but with the power of springing like a leopard, and attacking cattle. Its bite is said to be mortal, and to occasion raving madness before death.
In 1772 Dr. Freer saw and measured the forepart and tail of one' of these animals, and supplied Dr. Russell with the description which he has inserted in his book. The animal was one of several that followed the Basrah caravan from Basrah to the neighborhood of Aleppo. Many persons in the caravan had been bitten, some of whom died in a short time raving mad. It was also reported that some persons in the neighborhood of Aleppo were bitten, and died in like manner; but the doctor saw none of them himself. Dr. Russell imagines that the shib might be a wolf run mad. But this is a hazardous assumption, as it is doubtful whether canine madness exists in Western Asia; and unless we conclude with Col. Hamilton Smith that the shib is probably the same as the Thous acnon, or the wild wolf-dog of Natolia, it is best to await further information on the subject. Burckhardt says that little doubt can be entertained of the existence of the animal, and explains its fabulous origin (between a wolf and leopard) by stating that the Arabs, and especially the Bedawin, are in the common practice of assigning to every animal that is rarely met with parents of two different species of known animals”(Kitto, Phys. Hist. of Palest. 2, 364).
The following are the scriptural allusions to the wolf: Its ferocity is mentioned in Genesis 49, 27; Eze_22:27; Hab_1:8; Mat_7:15; its nocturnal habits in Jeremiah 5, 6; Zep_3:3; Hab_1:8; its attacking sheep and lambs in Sir_13:17; Joh_10:12; Mat_10:16; Luk_10:3; Isaiah (Isa_11:6; Isa_65:25) foretells the peaceful reign of the Messiah under the metaphor of a wolf dwelling with a lamb. Cruel persecutors are compared with wolves (Mat_10:16; Act_20:29). SEE ZEEB.
Wolves were doubtless far more common in Biblical times than they are now, though they are occasionally reported by modern travelers (see Russell, Nat. Hist. of Aleppo, 2, 184): “The wolf seldom ventures so near the city as the fox, but is sometimes seen at a distance by the sportsmen among the hilly grounds in the neighborhood; and the villages, as well as the herds, often suffer from them. It is called dib in Arabic, and is common all over Syria.” The wolf is now, as of old, the dread of the shepherds of Palestine. Not so numerous, but much more formidable than the jackal, he lurks about the fields, hunting not in noisy packs, but secreting himself till dark among the rocks; and without arousing the vigilance of the sheep- dogs, he leaps into the fold, and seizes his victim by stealth. Their boldness at times, however, is very remarkable, especially in the less-frequented regions. “In every part of the country we occasionally saw the wolf. In the open plain of Gennesaret my horse one day literally leaped over a wolf. In the hill country of Benjamin the wolves still remain. We found them alike in the forests of Bashan and Gilead, in the ravines of Galilee and Lebanon, and in the maritime plains” (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 154).
Wolves, like many other animals, are subject to variation in color. The common color is gray with a tinting of fawn and long black hairs. The variety most frequent in Southern Europe and the Pyrenees is black; the wolf of Asia Minor is more tawny than those of the common color. The Syrian wolf likewise is of a lighter color than the wolf of Europe, being a pale fawn tint, and seems to be a larger and stronger animal. See Fox.



CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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