Reference: Cattle
Easton
abounded in the Holy Land. To the rearing and management of them the inhabitants chiefly devoted themselves (De 8:13; 12:21; 1Sa 11:5; 12:3; Ps 144:14; Jer 3:24). They may be classified as,
(1.) Neat cattle. Many hundreds of these were yearly consumed in sacrifices or used for food. The finest herds were found in Bashan, beyond Jordan (Nu 32:4). Large herds also pastured on the wide fertile plains of Sharon. They were yoked to the plough (1Ki 19:19), and were employed for carrying burdens (1Ch 12:40). They were driven with a pointed rod (Jg 3:31) or goad (q.v.).
According to the Mosaic law, the mouths of cattle employed for the threshing-floor were not to be muzzled, so as to prevent them from eating of the provender over which they trampled (De 25:4). Whosoever stole and sold or slaughtered an ox must give five in satisfaction (Ex 22:1); but if it was found alive in the possession of him who stole it, he was required to make double restitution only (Ex 22:4). If an ox went astray, whoever found it was required to bring it back to its owner (Ex 23:4; De 22:1,4).
(2.) Small cattle. Next to herds of neat cattle, sheep formed the most important of the possessions of the inhabitants of Palestine (Ge 12:16; 13:5; 26:14; 21:27; 29:2-3). They are frequently mentioned among the booty taken in war (Nu 31:32; Jos 6:21; 1Sa 14:32; 15:3). There were many who were owners of large flocks (1Sa 25:2; 2Sa 12:2, comp. Job 1:3). Kings also had shepherds "over their flocks" (1Ch 27:31), from which they derived a large portion of their revenue (2Sa 17:29; 1Ch 12:40). The districts most famous for their flocks of sheep were the plain of Sharon (Isa 65:10), Mount Carmel (Mic 7:14), Bashan and Gilead (Mic 7:14). In patriarchal times the flocks of sheep were sometimes tended by the daughters of the owners. Thus Rachel, the daughter of Laban, kept her father's sheep (Ge 29:9); as also Zipporah and her six sisters had charge of their father Jethro's flocks (Ex 2:16). Sometimes they were kept by hired shepherds (Joh 10:12), and sometimes by the sons of the family (1Sa 16:11; 17:15). The keepers so familiarized their sheep with their voices that they knew them, and followed them at their call. Sheep, but more especially rams and lambs, were frequently offered in sacrifice. The shearing of sheep was a great festive occasion (1Sa 25:4; 2Sa 13:23). They were folded at night, and guarded by their keepers against the attacks of the lion (Mic 5:8), the bear (1Sa 17:34), and the wolf (Mt 10:16; Joh 10:12). They were liable to wander over the wide pastures and go astray (Ps 119:176; Isa 53:6; Ho 4:16; Mt 18:12).
Goats also formed a part of the pastoral wealth of Palestine (Ge 15:9; 32:14; 37:31). They were used both for sacrifice and for food (De 14:4), especially the young males (Ge 27:9,14,17; Jg 6:19; 13:15; 1Sa 16:20). Goat's hair was used for making tent cloth (Ex 26:7; 36:14), and for mattresses and bedding (1Sa 19:13,16). (See Goat.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And he treated Abram well for her sake; he acquired sheep, oxen, he-donkeys, menservants, maidservants, she-donkeys, and camels.
And He said to him, Bring to Me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a league or covenant.
He owned flocks, herds, and a great supply of servants, and the Philistines envied him.
Go now to the flock, and from it bring me two good and suitable kids; and I will make them into appetizing meat for your father, such as he loves.
So [Jacob] went, got [the kids], and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared appetizing meat with a delightful odor, such as his father loved.
And she gave the savory meat and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.
As he looked, he saw a well in the field; and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was a big one, And when all the flocks were gathered there, [the shepherds] would roll the stone from the well's mouth, water the sheep, and replace the stone on the well's mouth.
While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she shepherded them.
Then they took Joseph's [distinctive] long garment, killed a young goat, and dipped the garment in the blood;
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
If a man steals an ox or sheep and kills or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, or four sheep for a sheep.
If the beast which he stole is found in his possession alive, whether it is ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double.
If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
And make curtains of goats' hair to be a [second] covering over the tabernacle; eleven curtains shall you make.
And he made eleven curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle.
The land the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and your servants have cattle.
And when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all you have is multiplied,
If the place where the Lord your God has chosen to put His Name [and Presence] is too far from you, then you shall kill from your herd or flock which the Lord has given you, as I [Moses] have commanded you; eat in your towns as much as you desire.
You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep being driven away or stolen, and hide yourself from [your duty to help] them; you shall surely take them back to your brother.
You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fall down by the way, and hide from [your duty concerning] them; you shall surely help him to lift them up again.
You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.
Then they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
After [Ehud] was Shamgar son of Anath, who slew 600 Philistine men with an oxgoad. He also delivered Israel.
Then Gideon went in and prepared a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them to Him under the oak and presented them.
And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, Pray, let us detain you that we may prepare a kid for you.
Then [he] said to Jesse, Are all your sons here? [Jesse] said, There is yet the youngest; he is tending the sheep. Samuel said to Jesse, Send for him; for we will not sit down to eat until he is here.
And David said to Saul, Your servant kept his father's sheep. And when there came a lion or again a bear and took a lamb out of the flock,
And Michal took the teraph (household good luck image) and laid it in the bed, put a pillow of goats' hair at its head, and covered it with a bedspread.
And when the messengers came in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair at its head.
A very rich man was in Maon, whose possessions and business were in Carmel. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
Honey, curds, sheep, and cheese of cows for David and the people with him to eat; for they said, The people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.
So Elijah left there and found Elisha son of Shaphat, whose plowing was being done with twelve yoke of oxen, and he drove the twelfth. Elijah crossed over to him and cast his mantle upon him.
Also those who were near them from as far as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali brought food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen, abundant supplies of meal, cakes of figs, bunches of raisins, wine, oil, oxen, and sheep, for there was joy in Israel.
And over the flocks, Jaziz the Hagrite. All these were stewards of King David's property.
He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very great body of servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East.
Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live; and I will observe Your word [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it].
When our oxen are well loaded; when there is no invasion [of hostile armies] and no going forth [against besiegers -- "when there is no murder or manslaughter] and no outcry in our streets;
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.
And [the plain of] Sharon shall be a pasture and fold for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for My people who seek Me, inquire of Me, and require Me [by right of their necessity and by right of My invitation].
[We have been ruined as a nation by our faithlessness and idolatry] for the shameful thing has consumed all for which our fathers toiled from our youth -- "their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
For Israel has behaved stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. How then should he expect to be fed and treated by the Lord like a lamb in a large pasture?
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations in the midst of many peoples like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion [suddenly appearing] among the flocks of sheep which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no deliverer.
Rule and feed Your people with Your rod and scepter, the flock of Your inheritance who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of Carmel [a garden land]; they shall feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Rule and feed Your people with Your rod and scepter, the flock of Your inheritance who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of Carmel [a garden land]; they shall feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves; be wary and wise as serpents, and be innocent (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves.
What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray and gets lost, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and go in search of the one that is lost?
But the hired servant (he who merely serves for wages) who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away. And the wolf chases and snatches them and scatters [the flock].
But the hired servant (he who merely serves for wages) who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away. And the wolf chases and snatches them and scatters [the flock].
Hastings
The word commonly used in OT is miqneh, meaning primarily possessions or wealth
See Verses Found in Dictionary
When that year was ended, they came to [Joseph] the second year and said to him, We will not hide from my lord [the fact] that our money is spent; my lord also has our herds of livestock; there is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands.
Behold, the hand of the Lord [will fall] upon your livestock which are out in the field, upon the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds and the flocks; there shall be a very severe plague.
He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very great body of servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East.
He gave also their crops to the caterpillar and [the fruit of] their labor to the locust.
Morish
Various Hebrew words are used in reference to the cow and the ox as 'cattle.' The word miqneh, however, often used for 'cattle,' signifies 'possession,' because the principal property of nomadic tribes consisted of their cattle: the word includes also sheep and goats, but not horses and asses. Ex 9:3-21, etc. Another word, tson, signifies small cattle, that is, sheep and goats. Ge 30:39-43; 31:8-43; Ec 2:7. seh has the same meaning, Ge 30:32; Eze 34:17-22: in Isa 7:25 it is translated 'lesser cattle,' and in Isa 43:23 'small cattle.'
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted animal and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and such shall be my wages.
The flocks bred and conceived in sight of the rods and brought forth lambs and kids streaked, speckled, and spotted. Jacob separated the lambs, and [as he had done with the peeled rods] he also set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the dark in the [new] flock of Laban; and he put his own droves by themselves and did not let them breed with Laban's flock. read more. And whenever the stronger animals were breeding, Jacob laid the rods in the watering troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed and conceive among the rods. But when the sheep and goats were feeble, he omitted putting the rods there; so the feebler animals were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. Thus the man increased and became exceedingly rich, and had many sheep and goats, and maidservants, menservants, camels, and donkeys.
If he said, The speckled shall be your wages, then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said, The streaked shall be your hire, then all the flock bore streaked. Thus God has taken away the flocks of your father and given them to me. read more. And I had a dream at the time the flock conceived. I looked up and saw that the rams which mated with the she-goats were streaked, speckled, and spotted. And the Angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob. And I said, Here am I. And He said, Look up and see, all the rams which mate with the flock are streaked, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban does to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and where you vowed a vow to Me. Now arise, get out from this land and return to your native land. And Rachel and Leah answered him, Is there any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted by him as strangers? For he sold us and has also quite devoured our money [the price you paid for us]. For all the riches which God has taken from our father are ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do it. Then Jacob rose up and set his sons and his wives upon the camels; And he drove away all his livestock and all his gain which he had gotten, the livestock he had obtained and accumulated in Padan-aram, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep [possibly to the feast of sheepshearing], and Rachel stole her father's household gods. And Jacob outwitted Laban the Syrian [Aramean] in that he did not tell him that he [intended] to flee and slip away secretly. So he fled with all that he had, and arose and crossed the river [Euphrates] and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead. But on the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. So he took his kinsmen with him and pursued after [Jacob] for seven days, and they overtook him in the hill country of Gilead. But God came to Laban the Syrian [Aramean] in a dream by night and said to him, Be careful that you do not speak from good to bad to Jacob [peaceably, then violently]. Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent on the hill, and Laban coming with his kinsmen pitched [his tents] on the same hill of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What do you mean stealing away and leaving like this without my knowing it, and carrying off my daughters as if captives of the sword? Why did you flee secretly and cheat me and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with joy and gladness and with singing, with tambourine and lyre? And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons [grandchildren] and my daughters good-bye? Now you have done foolishly [in behaving like this]. It is in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Be careful that you do not speak from good to bad to Jacob [peaceably, then violently]. And now you felt you must go because you were homesick for your father's house, but why did you steal my [household] gods? Jacob answered Laban, Because I was afraid; for I thought, Suppose you would take your daughters from me by force. The one with whom you find those gods of yours, let him not live. Here before our kinsmen [search my possessions and] take whatever you find that belongs to you. For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen [the images]. So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he went from Leah's tent into Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the images (gods) and put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. Laban searched and felt through all the tent, but did not find them. And [Rachel] said to her father, Do not be displeased, my lord, that I cannot rise up before you, for the period of women is upon me and I am unwell. And he searched, but did not find the gods. Then Jacob became angry and reproached and argued with Laban. And Jacob said to Laban, What is my fault? What is my sin, that you so hotly pursued me? Although you have searched and felt through all my household possessions, what have you found of all your household goods? Put it here before my brethren and yours, that they may judge and decide between us. These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your she-goats have not lost their young, and the rams of your flock have not been eaten by me. I did not bring you [the carcasses of the animals] torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss of it; you required of me [to make good] all that was stolen, whether it occurred by day or by night. This was [my lot]; by day the heat consumed me and by night the cold, and I could not sleep. I have been twenty years in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks; and you have changed my wages ten times. And if the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread [lest he should fall] and Fear [lest he offend] of Isaac, had not been with me, surely you would have sent me away now empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and humiliation and the [wearying] labor of my hands and rebuked you last night. Laban answered Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, these children are my children, these flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do today to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne?
Behold, the hand of the Lord [will fall] upon your livestock which are out in the field, upon the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds and the flocks; there shall be a very severe plague. But the Lord shall make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and nothing shall die of all that belongs to the Israelites. read more. And the Lord set a time, saying, Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land. And the Lord did that the next day, and all [kinds of] the livestock of Egypt died; but of the livestock of the Israelites not one died. Pharaoh sent to find out, and behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened [his mind was set] and he did not let the people go. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Take handfuls of ashes or soot from the brickkiln and let Moses sprinkle them toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast in all the land [occupied by the Egyptians]. So they took ashes or soot of the kiln and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw them toward the sky, and it became boils erupting in sores on man and beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of their boils; for the boils were on the magicians and all the Egyptians. But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, making it strong and obstinate, and he did not listen to them or heed them, just as the Lord had told Moses. Then the Lord said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For this time I will send all My plagues upon your heart and upon your servants and your people, that you may recognize and know that there is none like Me in all the earth. For by now I could have put forth My hand and have struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this very purpose have I let you live, that I might show you My power, and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth. Since you are still exalting yourself [in haughty defiance] against My people by not letting them go, Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very heavy and dreadful fall of hail, such as has not been in Egypt from its founding until now. Send therefore now and gather your cattle in hastily, and all that you have in the field; for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home shall be struck by the hail and shall die. Then he who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses and shelters. And he who ignored the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field.
I bought menservants and maidservants and had servants born in my house. Also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.
And as for all the hills that were formerly cultivated with mattock and hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where oxen are let loose to pasture and where sheep tread.
You have not brought Me your sheep and goats for burnt offerings, or honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not required you to serve with an offering or treated you as a slave by demanding tribute or wearied you with offering incense.
And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between the rams and the great he-goats [the malicious and the tyrants of the pasture]. Is it too little for you that you feed on the best pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? And to have drunk of the waters clarified by subsiding, but you must foul the rest of the water with your feet? read more. And My flock, must they feed on what your feet have trodden and drink what your feet have fouled? Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I Myself, will judge between fat sheep and impoverished sheep, or fat goats and lean goats. Because you push with side and with shoulder and thrust with your horns all those that have become weak and diseased, till you have scattered them abroad, Therefore will I rescue My flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
Smith
Cattle.
[BULL].
See Bull, Bullock