Animals in the Bible: By Dr. Linda Olsvig-Whittaker
This article talks about:
- Symbolic Role of Animals
- Cultural and Mythical Significance
- Absence of Certain Animals in the Bible
-By Dr. Linda Olsvig-Whittaker-
This brief article will be an overview of animals mentioned in the Bible. It is not a comprehensive list; for that you can refer to several online sources such as https://www.learnreligions.com/animals-in-the-bible-700169. Instead, I will focus on animal species that have particular importance in biblical thought.
Animals are mainly mentioned in the bible for their symbolic value – courage, cruelty, meekness, wildness, uncleanness, etc. The perspective is mainly that of the rural, pastoral (sheep and goat herding) peasant life. There are no pets mentioned in the bible. Dogs are mentioned mainly as unclean carrion feeders, even feeding on human corpses. Herd dogs are mentioned only once in the bible despite the pastoral orientation of Israelite culture. It seems that Israelite shepherds had no dogs helping them, despite the fact that the dog was the first animal domesticated in this area.
Cats are not mentioned at all – a curious note since cats are native to the Levant, being descended from the wild swamp cat of Israel and certainly were popular human companions in Egypt.
Clearly, the omission of animals from biblical mention is as interesting as their inclusion, and the list of animals in the bible does not reflect their abundance in the land.
I have selected the following species (organized by groups) to discuss:
Mammals: Sheep, Goats, Cattle, Camel, Horse, Donkey, Pig, Dog, Wolf, Jackal, Lion
Birds: Nesher, Owl, Partridge, Quail, Dove
Marine and aquatic animals: Fish and Whales
Insects: Locust, Bee, Ant
Mythical animals: Behemoth and Leviathan
The discussion of most will be quite brief, and I understand donkeys are covered in other articles in this issue, so I will pass them quickly. I will spend more time on species of particular interest to myself.
Mammals
Sheep and goats are the species which get the most attention in the bible, as would be expected from a pastoral nation. After the dog, the “small cattle” of sheep and goats were the earliest domesticated animals in the Neolithic period. By the time they are mentioned in the biblical Bronze Age, pastoralism had developed over thousands of years and already was a traditional way of life.
But the sheep of the biblical period were not the "cotton ball" Merino breed; they were “hair sheep” rather like the South African Dorper sheep today, with rough, hairy wool that was not suitable for knitting sweaters. Their agility was more goatlike, the main difference being that sheep grazed while goats browsed.
(see https://www.timesofisrael.com/biblical-sheep-in-israel-for-first-time-in-millennia/)
The people of Israel were often referred to as the “sheep” or the flock and the king as their “shepherd”. The sheep were key livelihood but were also loved. They symbolized gentleness but also stupidity, needing the shepherd to keep them from becoming lost or eaten by predators.
Biblical goats, on the other hand, had a reputation for intelligence and self-sufficiency but less value since they did not produce wool. There is a somewhat negative attitude toward goats in the bible. The Azazel goat of Yom Kippur symbolized Satan. Since goats also represented Pan and the satyrs in the Greek world, there may have been negative attitudes toward them among Jews. (The sanctuary of Pan at Banias in the upper Galilee had dancing goats as part of their religious rituals, for example.)
Cattle were late comers to the bible; most of the hill country originally occupied by the Israelites was unsuitable for them, and they would not have survived the desert pastoralism practiced by ancient Hebrews. The large flat valleys of the northern kingdom of Israel did support cattle, and the Philistines also had them in abundance; hence we read about cattle (oxen) being used to plough with the stronger, heavier Philistine iron plow, while the Judahites still used shallow, light wooden ards (wooden plough without a moldboard). We read of Saul sacrificing his plow oxen on a fire made from the plow when he is anointed king. Oxen were valuable and expensive to keep, compared to sheep and goats, but made cereal cultivation possible on a large scale.
Oxen or bulls symbolized strength and power (See Num. 23:22, n. 22a; Num. 24:8.) not only for Israelites but for all people in the Middle East at that time. They were worshipped in Egypt (the Apis Bull), and the horns of cattle were found in Near Eastern shrines even in Neolithic times. The first cattle were domesticated from the Aurochs which stood six feet high and weighed about 800 pounds – the biggest animals that Middle Eastern people would ever domesticate.
Dromedary camels came late in domestication, about 3,000 BCE, roughly the end of the Bronze Age. They made desert travel possible. While they are mentioned in connection with Abraham, this may be an anachronism; Abraham was estimated to live about 4,000 BCE, when donkeys were the main mode of transportation. Camels symbolized the desert for biblical people much as they do for us today.
The horse was an introduction not used in earliest Israelite times when the terrain of their homeland was not suitable. Later, with the settlement of the great Jezreel Valley and the conquest of the Philistine Plain, war horses and chariots (the horse was usually not ridden) became important. The horse symbolized royalty, pride, arrogance, and foreign conflict – rather like tanks in today’s world – but was also a symbol of courage and high spirit.
Other authors will discuss the donkey in detail, so I will pass by it here except to mention that the donkey was the preferred riding animal, and it also served for caravans before the domestication of camels. It was an ancient domestication. The onager, or wild ass, is a different species altogether, also mentioned in the bible.
Pigs have a fascinating place in the bible and in local ecology as well. The pig is native to the Levant. It thrives in Israel, producing up to three litters of piglets per year, feeding largely on tubers of wild plants but with an omnivorous diet. Early people in this area ate pigs, but by the Middle Bronze age, the consumption of pigs declined among Canaanites. It is speculated that they were not profitable to rulers because they produced no byproducts such as milk or wool which could be taxed. Thus, the pig was a village animal, and the great Bronze Age cities and their rulers discouraged it.
In any case, not just Israelites but all people in this area had more or less stopped consuming pigs by the time of the Philistine arrival at the beginning of the Iron Age, so pig bones in an excavation are one way of determining whether the site is Philistine or not, but do not necessarily indicate an Israelite settlement. The Philistines introduced European pig genes to the local population of Asiatic pigs, which carry a European DNA profile to this day.
There is endless debate about WHY pigs and pork are forbidden to Jews, but the most likely explanation is that pigs cannot be kept by nomadic pastoral people. They fit the settled agricultural and urban life which was not practiced by early Israelites. The pig would represent Canaanite/Philistine/Egyptian lifestyle to the quasi-Bedouin early Israelites.
The dogs of the Levant would have been the Canaanite breed descended from jackals. They were similar in function to pariah dogs in India – they consumed garbage and dead bodies (including human bodies). Far from being pets, their diet made them repugnant to biblical people, and they symbolized death, decay, and degradation. The same was true for jackals, their near kin.
The wolf was the traditional enemy of the shepherd, here as well as everywhere else in the world of shepherds. In biblical symbology, the wolf was savage and brutal, the ultimate predator without the dignity of the lion. The wolf was regarded as evil and destructive for the sheer sake of destruction. (Which actually does not fit real wolf behavior at all.)
Lions did occur in the Levant in biblical times, although never abundant. They too were predators but of a much higher order. The lion was a symbol of kingship, nobility, and courage. (Here the power of observation of early people may be questioned – it is in fact the female lioness who hunts for the pride, while the males actually do very little besides lie around and mate with the females, which maybe was a king’s ideal life…)
Birds
Nesher is the Hebrew name for the griffon vulture, but it is ordinarily translated to English in the bible as "eagle", which it is not. The griffon, like its American counterpart the condor, is one of the world’s best long-distance fliers. The griffon vulture's two-meter wingspan is the longest of all birds in the Middle East, and the griffon is able to cruise from Israel to Turkey and back in a week. Hence, we have the biblical allusions to the "wings of eagles" which are more appropriate to the griffon than any eagle species. These birds feed on carrion, and by this, their populations have been decimated by shooting and pesticides. Although protected, they are an endangered and declining species.
Owl: The bible actually mentions several species of owl: the little owl, the desert owl, and others. They have symbolic association with solitude and desolation, possibly because some, notably the desert owl (Hume's owl) will inhabit dry wells, cisterns, and abandoned buildings for nesting. Its natural habitat is crevices and holes in cliffs, but human constructions are acceptable substitutes. In the Negev, I even found desert owls nesting in an abandoned outhouse toilet pit. The well-known biblical curse that a city is given to the owls and jackals reflects this nesting habit.
Partridge: Jeremiah 17:11, “As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, so is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly”. No, partridges don’t do that. This is a nice example of the biological misinformation one finds in folk bestiaries. But it is true that the chukar partridge lays a LOT of eggs, even though they are all her own. This was and remains a popular game bird with very tasty meat (which I myself have eaten, tasting much like chicken but better), and clearly it was hunted by ancient Israelites as well as modern Bedouin.
Quail: Numbers 11:31-33 (King James Version), “And there went forth a wind from the Lord and brought quails from the sea and let them fall by the camp...and they gathered the quails...and while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed...the Lord smote the people....”
There has been endless speculation about what was going on in this event. First, quail do migrate between Africa and Eurasia, but are not particularly strong fliers. They have been observed dropping in masses to rest in Sinai on their route, exhausted. But why would they be fatal if eaten? One medical researcher offers a theory that the birds had been eating toxic seeds which I suppose is as good an explanation as any. (https://www.massmed.org/about/mms-leadership/history/don-t-eat-the-quails/)
Quail, like partridge, are a Galliformes species (related to chickens) and are very tasty; they also produce lots of eggs which are also very tasty and popular. This would have been one of the delightful meats of the ancient Israelites.
The dove of course has great value in the bible as a symbol of peace and reconciliation due to its use in the story of Noah's Flood. It also was an acceptable temple sacrifice for the poorest people (possibly because of this association with peace and reconciliation?). Oddly enough the dove is not a gentle bird; male doves have been known to savagely attack each other. Mourning doves are even known to kill each other. (Once again, the folk bestiary is way off.) Because doves were acceptable temple sacrifices, the Israelites bred them in columbaria for use as food and sacrifice; these domestic birds were notably smaller than the wild type (since the law specified only that two birds must be offered, not how big they must be). Hence smaller birds could be fed on the same amount of food as the wild type.
Marine and aquatic animals: fish and whales
Fish – especially the tilapia or "St. Peter's Fish" of the Sea of Galilee – are important animals in the New Testament, partly because so much of the action takes place around the lake and because several of the disciples were fishermen. The "St. Peter's Fish" is interesting. A plankton feeder, it must be netted since it will not be attracted to hooked bait. It is also the northernmost species of the Tilapia genus which is centered in the Great Lakes of Central Africa. At one time, the Sea of Galilee was connected by way of the Rift Valley to the Central African Lakes, and at that time the ancestors of St. Peter's Fish were able to migrate this far north. Later tectonic action closed the pathway, and this species was left isolated far from its African origin.
Whales were not common in the Mediterranean but not unknown either. The famous "great fish" of the book of Jonah was probably a whale. Could a man be swallowed by a whale and survive? Only one species of whale, the sperm whale, can swallow a human and this has in fact happened in the recent past (1891). For the story read here: https://www.scienceabc.com/humans/can-a-whale-swallow-you-whole.html
Only one problem; sperm whales do not occur in the Mediterranean today although they do have a worldwide distribution, but perhaps in the days of Jonah.
Insects: Locust, Bee, Ant
The locusts of the bible are in fact several species of swarming grasshoppers, which still have the same behavior today. We had an invasion of locusts only a few years ago in Israel, coming up from Africa. They are quite large grasshoppers, and – as most bible students know – are the only insects which are kosher to eat. The abdomen is the eaten part, and when we had the swarm, some of us at the Israel Nature and Parks Authority decided to try them, sauteed in olive oil – not bad. One could survive on them, greatly improved by soy sauce and chili pepper. Chef Basson at Eucalyptus experimented with them. https://www.greenprophet.com/2013/03/feasting-on-locusts-a-recipe-from-moshe-bassons-kitchen/
Biblically, in both fact and symbol, the locust was a plague and punishment, consuming all plant material in its path and ruining crops. This would mean famine – hence the permission to eat the locust itself was a kind of dispensation to enable survival. The devouring locust is one of the most powerful images from the bible, used for everything from invading armies to hungry teenagers.
Bees and hornets were considered similarly in the bible – as attacking forces. The wild bee of the Levant (the locals had not figured out to domesticate bees for honey yet) was aggressive like the hornet, and people had the experience of being chased by them. So, the symbolism of the bee (or hornet) was of an infuriated population chasing an enemy. (Deuteronomy 1:44, Isaiah 7:18)
Since the bee was not yet domesticated, the "honey" of the bible was almost certainly date syrup, and the "land of milk and honey" was a land of lush pastures and productive oases with date palms.
Ants get a good reputation in Proverbs as industrious workers who set aside food in the summer to carry them through the winter. There are many species of ants with very different habits, but most likely, this observation came from watching harvester ants (messor arenarius) going about their business of collecting seeds in late spring through summer. Their nests can be quite large and sometimes contain kilos of seeds, especially in the desert. This is one case where the folk bestiary is on target.
Mythical animals: Behemoth and Leviathan
We do not know exactly which animals these were, or whether they were indeed not just mythical creatures. Behemoth is mention in the Book of Job (Chapter 40), and Job itself seems derived from local Canaanite mythology, so it may incorporate Near Eastern traditions of a giant beast of some kind. Interestingly, Behemoth is male, while Leviathan is the female sea monster counterpart. Leviathan is a bit easier to identify as the Sumerian goddess Tiamat, so Behemoth is also probably a memory of Sumerian creation myths as well (see http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/tiamat/index.html)
Summary – while the Bible is rich in references to animals, the emphasis is on those treasured by an agricultural and pastoral people – sheep, goats, donkeys, and oxen were the most important animals in the biblical world. Oxen were the possession of wealthier people, and horses were the possession of nobility and warriors. Wild animals were viewed from the perspective of farmers and shepherds and not always observed well; local mythology played a large part in their understanding of the natural world which was not always accurate.
Appendix: some biblical citations for the animal species mentioned in this article
Mammals:
Sheep: 200 references. See for example Genesis 4:2, Genesis 30:32, Leviticus 22:27, Numbers 27:17, Deuteronomy 14:4, 2 Samuel 7:8, 2 Samuel 24:17, Psalm 78:52, Psalm 95:7, Song of Solomon 6:6, Jeremiah 50:6, Ezekiel 34:12, Matthew 7:15, Matthew 10:6, John 10:3, John 10:16, John 21:16 and more for “lamb”;
Goats: 150 references. For example Genesis 30:32, Exodus 12:5, Exodus 26:7, Leviticus 4:23, Leviticus 16:8, Leviticus 16:22, Psalm 104:18 (wild goats = ibex), Song of Solomon 4:1, Daniel 8:5, Matthew 25:32;
Cattle: 59 references. For example Genesis 47:17, Deuteronomy 32:14, 1 Kings 1:25, 2 Chronicles 35:7, Matthew 22:4 and more for calf and heifer;
Camel: 58 references. For example Genesis 24:10, Genesis 31:17, Genesis 37:25, Deuteronomy 14:7, Judges 7:12, 1 Kings 10:2, Isaiah 60:6, Matthew 19:24;
Horse: 184 references. For example, Genesis 50:9, Exodus 15:1, Deuteronomy 20:1, 1 Kings 4:26, 1 Kings 10:29, 2 Kings 6:17, Job 39:19, Psalm 20:7; Donkey: 140 references. For example, Genesis 22:3, Genesis 49:11, Exodus 13:13, Numbers 22:23, Deuteronomy 22:10, Job 24:5 and Jeremiah 2:24 (in this case the “wild donkey” is the “paran” or onager, a different species from the domestic donkey), Matthew 21:5
Pig (swine): 19 references. For example, Deuteronomy 14:8, Matthew 7:6, Luke 8:32, Luke 15:16
Dog: 40 references. For example, 2 Samuel 9:8, 1 Kings 14:11, 1 Kings 21:23, Job 30:1 (a rare reference to shepherd dogs, and probably not of Israelite origin), Matthew 15:27 (rare reference to pet dogs)
Wolf: 12 references, For example, Genesis 49:27, Isaiah 11:6, Jeremiah 5:6, Ezekiel 22:27
Jackal: 17 references. For example, Job 30:29, Jeremiah 9:11, Jeremiah 51:37
Lion: 122 references. For example, Genesis 49:9, Numbers 23:24, Judges 14:18, 2 Samuel 17:10, 1 Kings 10:20, Proverbs 28:1, Isaiah 31:4, Isaiah 31:4, 1 Peter 5:8
Birds:
Nesher (usually translated “eagle” in English, but in fact a vulture): 33 references. For example, Exodus 19:4, Deuteronomy 28:49, Deuteronomy 32:11, Psalm 103:5, Isaiah 40:31
Owl (several species) 9 references. For example: Leviticus 11:17, Isaiah 13:21,
Partridge, 2 references. 1 Samuel 26:20, Jeremiah 17:11
Quail, 4 references. 16:13, Numbers 11:31, Numbers 11:32, Psalm 105:40
Dove, 32 references. For example, Genesis 8:11, Song of Solomon 1:15, Jeremiah 48:28
Marine and aquatic animals: fish and whales
Fish (mostly tilapia), 69 references. For example, Numbers 11:5, Matthew 7:10, Luke 5:9
Whales 3 references Note the “big fish” of Jonah was a whale. Jonah 1:17, Jonah 2:10
Insects:
Locust, 35 references. For example, Exodus 10:12, Leviticus 11:22, Judges 6:5, Proverbs 30:27
Bees, 3 references. Deuteronomy 1:44, Judges 14:8, Psalm 118:12
Ant, 2 references. Proverbs 6:6, Proverbs 30:25
Mythical animals:
Behemoth, 1 reference. Job 40:15
Leviathan, 5 references. Job 3:8, Job 41:1, Psalm 74:14, Psalm 104:26, Isaiah 27:1
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Linda Olsvig Whittaker worked as an ecologist for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority for 20 years and retired from that position in 2014. She lives in Har Gilo in Israel and is a researcher at Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem.
