זאב, in Arabic, _zeeb_, Gen. xlix, 27; Isa. xi, 6; lxv, 25; Jer.
v, 6; Ezek. xxii, 27; Zeph. iii, 3; Hab. i, 8; λύκος, Matt. vii, 15; x,
16; Luke x, 3; John x, 12; Acts xx, 29; Eccles. xiii, 17. M. Majus
derives it from the Arabic word _zaab_ or _daaba_, “to frighten;” and
hence, perhaps, the German word _dieb_, “a thief.” The wolf is a fierce,
strong, cunning, mischievous, and carnivorous quadruped; externally and
internally so nearly resembling the dog, that they seem modelled alike,
yet have a perfect antipathy to each other. The Scripture observes of
the wolf, that it lives upon rapine; is violent, bloody, cruel,
voracious, and greedy; goes abroad by night to seek its prey, and is a
great enemy to flocks of sheep. Indeed, this animal is fierce without
cause, kills without remorse, and by its indiscriminate slaughter seems
to satisfy its malignity rather than its hunger. The wolf is weaker than
the lion or the bear, and less courageous than the leopard; but he
scarcely yields to them in cruelty and rapaciousness. His ravenous
temper prompts him to destructive and sanguinary depredations; and these
are perpetrated principally in the night. This circumstance is expressly
mentioned in several passages of Scripture. “The great men have
altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds; wherefore, a lion out of
the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil
them,” Jer. v, 6. The rapacious and cruel conduct of the princes of
Israel is compared by Ezekiel, xxii, 27, to the mischievous inroads of
the same animal: “Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves
ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy lives, to get dishonest
gain;” and Zephaniah, iii, 3, says, “Her princes within her are roaring
lions, her judges are evening wolves: they gnaw not the bones till the
morrow.” Instead of protecting the innocent and restraining the evil
doer, or punishing him according to the demerit of his crimes, they
delight in violence and oppression, in blood and rapine; and so
insatiable is their cupidity, that, like the evening wolf, they destroy
more than they are able to possess. The dispositions of the wolf to
attack the weaker animals, especially those which are under the
protection of man, is alluded to by our Saviour in the parable of the
hireling shepherd: “The wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the flock,”
Matt. vii, 15. And the Apostle Paul, in his address to the elders of
Ephesus, gives the name of this insidious and cruel animal to the false
teachers who disturbed the peace and perverted the faith of their
people: “I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves
enter in among you, not sparing the flock,” Acts xx, 29.
v, 6; Ezek. xxii, 27; Zeph. iii, 3; Hab. i, 8; λύκος, Matt. vii, 15; x,
16; Luke x, 3; John x, 12; Acts xx, 29; Eccles. xiii, 17. M. Majus
derives it from the Arabic word _zaab_ or _daaba_, “to frighten;” and
hence, perhaps, the German word _dieb_, “a thief.” The wolf is a fierce,
strong, cunning, mischievous, and carnivorous quadruped; externally and
internally so nearly resembling the dog, that they seem modelled alike,
yet have a perfect antipathy to each other. The Scripture observes of
the wolf, that it lives upon rapine; is violent, bloody, cruel,
voracious, and greedy; goes abroad by night to seek its prey, and is a
great enemy to flocks of sheep. Indeed, this animal is fierce without
cause, kills without remorse, and by its indiscriminate slaughter seems
to satisfy its malignity rather than its hunger. The wolf is weaker than
the lion or the bear, and less courageous than the leopard; but he
scarcely yields to them in cruelty and rapaciousness. His ravenous
temper prompts him to destructive and sanguinary depredations; and these
are perpetrated principally in the night. This circumstance is expressly
mentioned in several passages of Scripture. “The great men have
altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds; wherefore, a lion out of
the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil
them,” Jer. v, 6. The rapacious and cruel conduct of the princes of
Israel is compared by Ezekiel, xxii, 27, to the mischievous inroads of
the same animal: “Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves
ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy lives, to get dishonest
gain;” and Zephaniah, iii, 3, says, “Her princes within her are roaring
lions, her judges are evening wolves: they gnaw not the bones till the
morrow.” Instead of protecting the innocent and restraining the evil
doer, or punishing him according to the demerit of his crimes, they
delight in violence and oppression, in blood and rapine; and so
insatiable is their cupidity, that, like the evening wolf, they destroy
more than they are able to possess. The dispositions of the wolf to
attack the weaker animals, especially those which are under the
protection of man, is alluded to by our Saviour in the parable of the
hireling shepherd: “The wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the flock,”
Matt. vii, 15. And the Apostle Paul, in his address to the elders of
Ephesus, gives the name of this insidious and cruel animal to the false
teachers who disturbed the peace and perverted the faith of their
people: “I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves
enter in among you, not sparing the flock,” Acts xx, 29.