Lectionary Calendar
Friday, March 29th, 2024
Good Friday
There are 2 days til Easter!
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Bible Dictionaries
Bear

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Beans
Next Entry
Beard
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

BEAR ( dôb ). The Syrian bear ( Ursus syriacus , Arab. [Note: Arabic.] dûbb ) is still fairly common in Hermon and the Anti-Lebanon, and is occasionally found in the Lebanon and east of the Jordan; it is practically extinct in Palestine. It is smaller and of a lighter colour than the brown bear ( Ursus arctos ). It is a somewhat solitary animal, eating vegetables, fruit, and honey, but, when hungry, attacking sheep ( 1 Samuel 17:34-36 ) and occasionally, but very rarely, to-day at any rate, human beings ( 2 Kings 2:24 ). The fierceness of a bear robbed of her whelps ( 2 Samuel 17:8 , Proverbs 17:12 , Hosea 13:8 ) is well known. Next to the lion, the bear was considered the most dangerous of animals to encounter ( Proverbs 28:15 ), and that it should be subdued was to be one of the wonders of the Messiah’s kingdom ( Isaiah 11:7 ).

E. W. G. Masterman.

Bibliography Information
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Bear'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​hdb/​b/bear.html. 1909.
adsFree icon
Ads FreeProfile