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Bible Dictionaries
Bear
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
or The Ursus Syriacus is the particular species meant in Scripture. Akin to the polar bear. As large as the European brown bear, but lower on the legs. it has a high mane of bristling hair between the shoulders. Of a buff or yellow white color. One is represented in an Egyptian picture of tribute brought to Thothmes III by Phoenicians. The crusader Godfrey of Bouillon rescued a man from its attack, at, the imminent risk of his own life, being unhorsed and severely wounded by it. The she-bear is peculiarly fierce when she has lost or is defending her cubs (2 Samuel 17:8; Proverbs 17:12; Hosea 13:8). Almost as formidable as the lion (Amos 5:19). The instrument of punishing the 42 youths who mocked Elisha, in a wood between Jericho and Bethel, probably in winter when bears descend from the mountains to the lowlands (2 Kings 2:24).
It attacks flocks and cattle (1 Samuel 17:34-37; Isaiah 11:7). Its roaring, ranging widely for food, and lying in wait for its prey, are alluded to in Isaiah 59:11, where however translate, "We moan like (hungry) bears," growling for food (Proverbs 28:15; Lamentations 3:10). It was carnivorous. Daniel 7:5; "it raised up itself on one side," lying on one of its fore feet and standing on the other; a figure still to be seen in Babylonian monuments, but see margin. Persia is meant. Media was the lower and passive side; Persia, the upper and active. It had three ribs in its mouth, namely, it seized on Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt. From a Hebrew root, "to move by creeping": dob , dabab . Bochart, from Arabic," hairy."
These files are public domain.
Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Bear'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fbd/b/bear.html. 1949.
