איל, Deut. xii, 15; xiv, 5; Psalm xlii, 1; Isaiah xxxv, 6, the
stag, or male deer. Dr. Shaw considers its name in Hebrew as a generic
word including all the species of the deer kind; whether they are
distinguished by round horns, as the stag; or by flat ones, as the
fallow deer; or by the smallness of the branches, as the roe. Mr. Good
observes that the hind and roe, the hart and the antelope, were held,
and still continue to be, in the highest estimation in all the eastern
countries, for the voluptuous beauty of their eyes, the delicate
elegance of their form, or their graceful agility of action. The names
of these animals were perpetually applied, therefore, to persons,
whether male or female, who were supposed to be possessed of any of
their respective qualities. In 2 Sam. i, 19, Saul is denominated “the
roe of Israel;” and in the eighteenth verse of the ensuing chapter, we
are told that “Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe:” a phraseology
perfectly synonymous with the epithet _swift-footed_, which Homer has so
frequently bestowed upon his hero Achilles. Thus again: “Her princes are
like harts which find no pasture; they are fled without strength before
their pursuers,” Lam. i, 6. “The Lord Yahweh is my strength; he will
make my feet like hinds’ feet; he will cause me to tread again on my own
hills,” Hab. iii, 19. See HIND.
stag, or male deer. Dr. Shaw considers its name in Hebrew as a generic
word including all the species of the deer kind; whether they are
distinguished by round horns, as the stag; or by flat ones, as the
fallow deer; or by the smallness of the branches, as the roe. Mr. Good
observes that the hind and roe, the hart and the antelope, were held,
and still continue to be, in the highest estimation in all the eastern
countries, for the voluptuous beauty of their eyes, the delicate
elegance of their form, or their graceful agility of action. The names
of these animals were perpetually applied, therefore, to persons,
whether male or female, who were supposed to be possessed of any of
their respective qualities. In 2 Sam. i, 19, Saul is denominated “the
roe of Israel;” and in the eighteenth verse of the ensuing chapter, we
are told that “Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe:” a phraseology
perfectly synonymous with the epithet _swift-footed_, which Homer has so
frequently bestowed upon his hero Achilles. Thus again: “Her princes are
like harts which find no pasture; they are fled without strength before
their pursuers,” Lam. i, 6. “The Lord Yahweh is my strength; he will
make my feet like hinds’ feet; he will cause me to tread again on my own
hills,” Hab. iii, 19. See HIND.