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Bible Dictionaries
Ass
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or חמור , Arabic, chamara and hamar. There are three words referred by translators to the ass:
1. חמור , which is the usual appellation, and denotes the ordinary kind;
such as is employed in labour, carriage, and domestic services.
2. פרא , rendered onager, or "wild ass."
3. אתון , rendered she ass. To these we must add רדיא , rendered wild asses, Daniel 5:21 . The prevailing colour of this animal in the east
is reddish; and the Arabia word, chamara. signifies to be red. In his natural state he is fleet, fierce, formidable, and intractable; but when domesticated, the most gentle of all animals, and assumes a patience and submission even more humble than his situation. Le Clerc observes, that the Israelites not being allowed to keep horses, the ass was not only made a beast of burden, but used on journeys; and that even the most honourable of the nation were wont to be mounted on asses, which in the eastern countries were much larger and more beautiful than they are with us. Jair of Gilead had thirty sons who rode on as many asses, and commanded in thirty cities, Judges 10:4 . Abdon's sons and grandsons rode also upon asses, Judges 12:4 . And Christ makes his solemn entry into Jerusalem riding upon an ass, Matthew 21:4; John 12:14 . To draw with an ox and ass together was prohibited in the Mosaic law, Deuteronomy 22:10 . This law is thought to have respect to some idolatrous custom of the Gentiles, who were taught to believe that their fields would be more fruitful if thus ploughed; for it is not likely that men would have yoked together two creatures so different in their tempers and motions, had they not been led to it by some superstition. There might be, however, a physical reason for this injunction. Two beasts of a different species cannot well associate together; and on this account never pull pleasantly either in the cart or plough, and are not therefore "true yoke fellows." Le Clerc considers this law as merely symbolical, importing that we are not to form improper alliances in civil and religious life; and he thinks his opinion confirmed by these words of St. Paul,
2 Corinthians 6:14 : "Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers;" which are simply to be understood as prohibiting all intercourse between Christians and idolaters, in social, matrimonial, and religious life. To teach the Jews the propriety of this, a variety of precepts relative to improper and heterogeneous mixtures were interspersed through their law; so that in civil and domestic life they might have them ever before their eyes.
The wild ass, called PARA, is probably the onager of the ancients. It is taller and a much more dignified animal than the common or domestic ass; its legs are more elegantly shaped; and it bears its head higher. It is peculiarly distinguished by a dusky woolly mane, long erect ears, and a forehead highly arched. The colour of the hair, in general, is of a silvery white. These animals associate in herds, under a leader, and are very shy. They inhabit the mountainous regions and desert parts of Tartary, Persia, &c. Anciently, they were likewise found, in Lycaonia, Phrygia, Mesopotamia, and Arabia Deserta. They are remarkably wild; and Job 39:5-8 , describes the liberty they enjoy, the place of their retreat, their manners, and wild, impetuous, and untamable spirit. "Vain man would be wise, though he be born a wild ass's colt," Job 11:12; עיר פדא , "ass colt," not "ass's colt;" יר being in apposition with פדא , and not in government. The whole is a proverbial expression, denoting extreme perversity and ferocity, and repeatedly alluded to in the Old Testament. Thus, Genesis 16:12 , it is prophesied of Ishmael that he should be פדא ארם , a wild ass man; rough, untaught, and libertine as a wild ass. So Hosea 13:15; "He (Ephraim) hath run wild (literally assified himself) amidst the braying monsters." So again, Hosea 8:9 , the very same character is given of Ephraim, who is called "a solitary wild ass by himself," or perhaps a solitary wild ass of the desert; for the original will bear to be so rendered. This proverbial expression has descended among the Arabians to the present day, who still employ, as Schultens has remarked, the expressions, "the ass of the desert," or "the wild ass," to describe an obstinate, indocile, and contumacious person. The Prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 32:14 , describes great desolation by saying that "the wild asses shall rejoice where a city stood." There is another kind of ass called, אתון . Abraham had ATONOTH, Genesis 12:16; Balaam rode on an ATON, Numbers 22:23 . We find from 1 Chronicles 27:30 , that David had an officer expressly appointed to superintend his ATONOTH; not his ordinary asses, but those of a nobler race; which implies at least equal dignity in this officer to his colleagues mentioned with him. This notion of the ATON gives also a spirit to the history of Saul, who, when his father's ATONOTH were lost, was at no little pains to seek them; moreover, as beside being valuable, they were uncommon, he might the more readily hear of them if they had been noticed or taken up by any one; and this leads to the true interpretation of the servant's proposed application to Samuel, 1 Chronicles 27:6 , as though he said, "In his office of magistracy this honourable man may have heard of these strayed rarities, and secured them; peradventure he can direct us."
Thus we find that these atonoth are mentioned in Scripture, only in the possession of judges, patriarchs, and other great men; insomuch that where these are there is dignity, either expressed or implied. They were also a present for a prince; for Jacob presented Esau with twenty, Genesis 32:15 . What then shall we say of the wealth of Job, who possessed a thousand? Another word which is rendered "wild ass" by our translators, Job 39:5 , is ORUD; which seems to be the same, that in the Chaldee of Daniel, 5:21, is called oredia. Mr. Parkhurst supposes that this word denotes the brayer, and that PARA and ORUD are only two names for the same animal. But these names may perhaps refer to different races, though of the same species: so that a description of the properties of one may apply to both, though not without some variation.
Who sent out the para free?
Or who hath loosed the bands of the orud? Whose dwelling I have made the wilderness, And the barren land (salt deserts) his resort: The range of open mountains are his pasture, And he searcheth after every green thing.
Gmelin observes that the onager is very fond of salt. Whether the "deserts" of the above text were salt marshes, or salt deserts, is of very little consequence; the circumstance shows the correctness of the Hebrew poet. In Daniel we read that Nebuchadnezzar dwelt with the OREDIA. We need not suppose that he was banished to the deserts, but was at most kept safely in an enclosure of his own park, where curious animals were kept for state and pleasure. If this be correct, then the ORUD was somewhat, at least, of a rarity at Babylon; and it might be of a kind different from the PARA, as it is denoted by another name. May it not be the Gicquetei of Professor Pallas, the wild mule of Mongalia? which surpasses the onager in size, beauty, and perhaps in swiftness.
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Ass'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/a/ass.html. 1831-2.
