When this word is used in opposition to man, as Psalm xxxvi, 5,
any brute creature is signified; when to creeping things, as Lev. xi, 2,
7; xxix, 30, four-footed animals, from the size of the hare and upward,
are intended; and when to wild creatures, as Gen. i, 25, cattle, or tame
animals, are spoken of. In Isaiah xiii, 21, several wild animals are
mentioned as dwelling among the ruins of Babylon: “Wild beasts of the
desert,” ציים, those of the dry wilderness, as the root of the word
implies, “shall dwell there. Their houses shall be full of doleful
creatures,” אהים, _marsh animals_. “Owls shall dwell there,” ostriches,
“and satyrs,” שעירים, _shaggy ones_, “shall dance there. And the wild
beasts of the islands,” איים, _oases of the desert_, “shall cry in their
desolate houses, and dragons,” תנים, _crocodiles_, or amphibious
animals, “shall be in their desolate places.” St. Paul, 1 Cor. xv, 32,
speaks of fighting with beasts, &c: by which he does not mean his having
been exposed in the amphitheatre to fight as a gladiator, as some have
conjectured, but that he had to contend at Ephesus with the fierce
uproar of Demetrius and his associates. Ignatius uses the same figure in
his Epistle to the Romans: “From Syria even unto Rome I fight with wild
beasts, both by sea and land, both night and day, being bound to ten
leopards;” that is, to a band of soldiers. So Lucian, in like manner,
says, “For I am not to fight with ordinary wild beasts, but with men,
insolent and hard to be convinced.” In Rev. iv, v, vi, mention is made
of four beasts, or rather, as the word ζῶα signifies, _living
creatures_, as in Ezek. i; and so the word might have been less harshly
translated. Wild beasts are used in Scripture as emblems of tyrannical
and persecuting powers. The most illustrious conquerors of antiquity
also have not a more honourable emblem.
any brute creature is signified; when to creeping things, as Lev. xi, 2,
7; xxix, 30, four-footed animals, from the size of the hare and upward,
are intended; and when to wild creatures, as Gen. i, 25, cattle, or tame
animals, are spoken of. In Isaiah xiii, 21, several wild animals are
mentioned as dwelling among the ruins of Babylon: “Wild beasts of the
desert,” ציים, those of the dry wilderness, as the root of the word
implies, “shall dwell there. Their houses shall be full of doleful
creatures,” אהים, _marsh animals_. “Owls shall dwell there,” ostriches,
“and satyrs,” שעירים, _shaggy ones_, “shall dance there. And the wild
beasts of the islands,” איים, _oases of the desert_, “shall cry in their
desolate houses, and dragons,” תנים, _crocodiles_, or amphibious
animals, “shall be in their desolate places.” St. Paul, 1 Cor. xv, 32,
speaks of fighting with beasts, &c: by which he does not mean his having
been exposed in the amphitheatre to fight as a gladiator, as some have
conjectured, but that he had to contend at Ephesus with the fierce
uproar of Demetrius and his associates. Ignatius uses the same figure in
his Epistle to the Romans: “From Syria even unto Rome I fight with wild
beasts, both by sea and land, both night and day, being bound to ten
leopards;” that is, to a band of soldiers. So Lucian, in like manner,
says, “For I am not to fight with ordinary wild beasts, but with men,
insolent and hard to be convinced.” In Rev. iv, v, vi, mention is made
of four beasts, or rather, as the word ζῶα signifies, _living
creatures_, as in Ezek. i; and so the word might have been less harshly
translated. Wild beasts are used in Scripture as emblems of tyrannical
and persecuting powers. The most illustrious conquerors of antiquity
also have not a more honourable emblem.