Reference: Dog
Easton
frequently mentioned both in the Old and New Testaments. Dogs were used by the Hebrews as a watch for their houses (Isa 56:10), and for guarding their flocks (Job 30:1). There were also then as now troops of semi-wild dogs that wandered about devouring dead bodies and the offal of the streets (1Ki 14:11; 16:4; 21:19,23; 22:38; Ps 59:6,14).
As the dog was an unclean animal, the terms "dog," "dog's head," "dead dog," were used as terms of reproach or of humiliation (1Sa 24:14; 2Sa 3:8; 9:8; 16:9). Paul calls false apostles "dogs" (Php 3:2). Those who are shut out of the kingdom of heaven are also so designated (Re 22:15). Persecutors are called "dogs" (Ps 22:16). Hazael's words, "Thy servant which is but a dog" (2Ki 8:13), are spoken in mock humility=impossible that one so contemptible as he should attain to such power.
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After whom, hath the king of Israel come forth? After whom, art thou in pursuit? After a dead dog! after a single flea!
Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city, shall, the dogs, eat, and, him that dieth in the field, shall, the birds of heaven, eat, - For, Yahweh, hath spoken.
Him that dieth of Baasha in the city, shall, the dogs, eat, and, him that dieth of his in the field, shall, the birds of heaven, eat.
Then shalt thou speak unto him, saying - Thus, saith Yahweh, Hast thou committed murder, and also taken possession? Then shalt thou speak unto him, saying: Thus, saith Yahweh, In the place where the dogs have lapped up the blood of Naboth, shall the dogs lap up thy blood, even thine.
Moreover also, concerning Jezebel, hath Yahweh spoken, saying, - The dogs, shall eat Jezebel, in the town-land of Jezreel:
And, when the chariot was washed out at the pool of Samaria, the dogs lapped up his blood, also, the harlots, bathed there , - according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.
And Hazael said, But what is thy servant - the dog - that he should do this great thing? And Elisha said, Yahweh hath shown thee unto me, as king over Syria.
But, now, they who are of fewer days than I, have poured derision upon me; whose fathers I refused - to set with the dogs of my flock.
For dogs have surrounded me, - An assembly of evil doers, have encircled me, They have pierced my hands and my feet,
They return at evening, They grow like a dog, And go round the city.
Yet them return, then, at evening, Let them growl like a dog, And go round the city.
His watchmen, are blind None of them, know, All of them, are dumb dogs, they cannot bark, - Dreaming, sleeping, loving to slumber.
Beware of the dogs, beware of mischievous workers, beware of the mutilation;
Outside, are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the unchaste, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one loving and doing falsehood.
Fausets
The watch of the house, and of the flock (Isa 56:10-11; Job 30:1). Sometimes domesticated, as the Syrophoenician woman's comparison and argument imply, "the household (kunaria, 'little' or 'pet') dogs eat of the crumbs (Mt 15:26-27; Mr 7:27-28) which fall from their master's table." More commonly ownerless, and banded in troops which divide cities into so many quarters; each half-starved, ravenous troop keeps to its own quarter, and drives off any intruder; feeding on blood, dead bodies, and offal; therefore regarded as "unclean" (1Ki 14:11; 16:4; 21:19,23; 22:38; 2Ki 9:10,35-36). Their dismal howlings at night are alluded to in Ps 59:6,14-15; "they return at evening, they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city"; perhaps in allusion to Saul's agents thirsting for David's blood coming to Michal's house at evening, and to the retribution on Saul in kind, when he who had made David a wanderer himself wandered about seeking vainly for help against the Philistines, and went at last by night to the witch of Endor. As unclean (Isa 66:3), dog, dead dog, dog's head, are terms of scorn or else self-abasement (1Sa 24:14; 2Sa 3:8; 9:8; 16:9; 2Ki 8:13). A wanton, self-prostituting man is called a "dog" (De 23:18). One Egyptian god had a dog form. "Beware of the (Greek) dogs," those impure persons of whom I told you often" (Php 3:2,18-19); "the abominable" (Re 21:8; compare Re 22:15; Mt 7:6); pagan in spirit (Tit 1:15-16); dogs in filthiness, snarling, and ferocity against the Lord and His people (Ps 22:16,20); backsliding into former carnality, as the dog "is turned to his own vomit again" (2Pe 2:22). The Jews regarded the Gentiles as "dogs," but by unbelief they ceased to be the true Israel and themselves became dogs (Isa 56:10-11). "Deliver my darling from the power of the dog," i.e. my soul (literally, my unique one, unique in its preciousness) from the Jewish rabble; as "deliver My soul from the sword" is Messiah's cry for deliverance from the Roman soldiery and governor. The Assyrian hunting dog as vividly depicted on Assyrian sculptures resembled exactly our harrier or foxhound.
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Thou shalt not bring the wages of an unchaste woman, or the hire of a dog, into the house of Yahweh thy God for any vow, - for, an abomination unto Yahweh thy God, are they both.
After whom, hath the king of Israel come forth? After whom, art thou in pursuit? After a dead dog! after a single flea!
Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city, shall, the dogs, eat, and, him that dieth in the field, shall, the birds of heaven, eat, - For, Yahweh, hath spoken.
Him that dieth of Baasha in the city, shall, the dogs, eat, and, him that dieth of his in the field, shall, the birds of heaven, eat.
Then shalt thou speak unto him, saying - Thus, saith Yahweh, Hast thou committed murder, and also taken possession? Then shalt thou speak unto him, saying: Thus, saith Yahweh, In the place where the dogs have lapped up the blood of Naboth, shall the dogs lap up thy blood, even thine.
Moreover also, concerning Jezebel, hath Yahweh spoken, saying, - The dogs, shall eat Jezebel, in the town-land of Jezreel:
And, when the chariot was washed out at the pool of Samaria, the dogs lapped up his blood, also, the harlots, bathed there , - according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.
But, now, they who are of fewer days than I, have poured derision upon me; whose fathers I refused - to set with the dogs of my flock.
For dogs have surrounded me, - An assembly of evil doers, have encircled me, They have pierced my hands and my feet,
Rescue, from the sword, my life, from the power of the dog, my solitary self:
They return at evening, They grow like a dog, And go round the city.
Yet them return, then, at evening, Let them growl like a dog, And go round the city. They, may prowl about for food, - And, if they are not satisfied, then let them whine!
His watchmen, are blind None of them, know, All of them, are dumb dogs, they cannot bark, - Dreaming, sleeping, loving to slumber.
His watchmen, are blind None of them, know, All of them, are dumb dogs, they cannot bark, - Dreaming, sleeping, loving to slumber. And, the dogs, are greedy they know not to be satisfied. Yea, they, are shepherds who know not to discern, - All of them unto their own way, have turned, Every man to his unjust gain, on every hand:
And, the dogs, are greedy they know not to be satisfied. Yea, they, are shepherds who know not to discern, - All of them unto their own way, have turned, Every man to his unjust gain, on every hand:
He that slaughtereth an ox, is as one who smiteth a man, He that sacrificeth a lamb, is as one who beheadeth a dog, he that causeth a meal-offering to ascend, offereth it with the blood of swine, He that maketh a memorial of frankincense, is as one who blesseth iniquity: They indeed, have chosen their own ways, And in their own abominations, their soul hath found delight;
Do not give what is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, - lest once they trample, them, down with their feet, and, turning, tear, you.
But, he, answering, said, It is, not seemly, to take the loaf of, the children, and cast, to the little dogs. And, she, said, True, Lord! for, even the little dogs, eat of the crumbs which are falling from the table of, their masters.
And he was saying to her - Suffer, the children, first, to be fed; for it is not seemly to take the bread of the children, and, unto the little dogs, to cast it; but she answered and saith to him - Yea, Lord! and yet, the little dogs under the table, do eat of the crumbs of the children;
Beware of the dogs, beware of mischievous workers, beware of the mutilation;
For, many, are walking - of whom I have often been telling you, and, now, even weeping, am telling, - the enemies of the cross of the Christ; Whose, end, is destruction, whose, God, is the belly, and whose , glory, is in their shame, who, upon the earthly things, are resolved.
All things, are pure, unto the pure, but, unto the polluted and faithless, nothing, is pure, but polluted are both their mind and conscience; God, they confess that they know, but, by their works, they deny him, being, abominable, and obdurate, and, as to any good work, found, worthless.
There hath befallen them the thing spoken of in the true proverb - A dog, turning back unto his own vomit, and - A sow, as soon as washed, unto wallowing in mire.
But, as for the timid, and disbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the false, their part, is in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, - which is the second death.
Outside, are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the unchaste, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one loving and doing falsehood.
Hastings
All the Bible references to dogs breathe the modern Oriental feeling with regard to them; they refer to the common pariah dogs. These creatures are in all their ways repulsive, and in the majority of cases they have not even outward attractiveness. They live in and around the streets, and act as scavengers. In the environs of Jerusalem, e.g. the Valley of Hinnom, where carcases are cast out, they may be seen prowling around and consuming horrible, putrid bodies, or lying stretched near the remains of their meal, satiated with their loathsome repast. Whole companies of dogs consume the offal of the slaughter-house. There is not the slightest doubt that they would consume human bodies to-day had they the opportunity; indeed, cases do occur from time to time (cf. 1Ki 14:11; 16:4; 21:19,23; 22:38; 2Ki 9:10,36; Jer 15:3; Ps 68:23). All night they parade the streets (Ps 59:6,14-15), each company jealously guarding that district which they have annexed, and fighting with noisy onslaught any canine stranger who ventures to invade their territory. Such a quarrel may start all the dogs in the city into a hideous chorus of furious barks. In many parts these creatures are a real danger, and the wise man leaves them alone (Pr 26:17). When they attach themselves, quite uninvited, to certain houses or encampments, they defend them from all intruders (Isa 56:10). To call a man a 'dog' is a dire insult, but by no means an uncommon one from an arrogant superior to one much below him, and to apply such an epithet to himself on the part of an inferior is an expression of humility (2Ki 8:13 etc.). A 'dead dog' is an even lower stage; it is an all too common object, an unclean animal in a condition of putridity left unconsumed even by his companions (1Sa 24:14 etc.). The feeling against casting bread to a dog is a strong one; bread is sacred, and to cast it to dogs is even to-day strongly condemned in Palestine (Mr 7:27).
The shepherd dog (Job 30:1) is, as a rule, a very superior animal; many of these are handsome beasts of a Kurdish breed, and have the intelligent ways and habits of our best shepherds' dogs at home.
Greyhounds are still bred by some Bedouin in S. Palestine, and are used for hunting the gazelle; they are treated very differently from the pariah dogs. Pr 30:31 is a very doubtful reference to the greyhound; Revised Version margin has 'war horse,' Septuagint 'cock.'
The 'price of a dog' (De 23:18) evidently has reference to degraded practices of the qed
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Thou shalt not bring the wages of an unchaste woman, or the hire of a dog, into the house of Yahweh thy God for any vow, - for, an abomination unto Yahweh thy God, are they both.
After whom, hath the king of Israel come forth? After whom, art thou in pursuit? After a dead dog! after a single flea!
Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city, shall, the dogs, eat, and, him that dieth in the field, shall, the birds of heaven, eat, - For, Yahweh, hath spoken.
Him that dieth of Baasha in the city, shall, the dogs, eat, and, him that dieth of his in the field, shall, the birds of heaven, eat.
Then shalt thou speak unto him, saying - Thus, saith Yahweh, Hast thou committed murder, and also taken possession? Then shalt thou speak unto him, saying: Thus, saith Yahweh, In the place where the dogs have lapped up the blood of Naboth, shall the dogs lap up thy blood, even thine.
Moreover also, concerning Jezebel, hath Yahweh spoken, saying, - The dogs, shall eat Jezebel, in the town-land of Jezreel:
And, when the chariot was washed out at the pool of Samaria, the dogs lapped up his blood, also, the harlots, bathed there , - according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.
And Hazael said, But what is thy servant - the dog - that he should do this great thing? And Elisha said, Yahweh hath shown thee unto me, as king over Syria.
But, now, they who are of fewer days than I, have poured derision upon me; whose fathers I refused - to set with the dogs of my flock.
They return at evening, They grow like a dog, And go round the city.
Yet them return, then, at evening, Let them growl like a dog, And go round the city. They, may prowl about for food, - And, if they are not satisfied, then let them whine!
That thou mayest bathe thy foot in blood, - The tongue of thy dogs, from the foes, hath its portion.
As he who layeth hold of the ears of a dog, is a passer-by, who giveth vent to his wrath over a quarrel, not his!
The greyhound, or the he-goat, - and a king, having a band of soldiers with him.
His watchmen, are blind None of them, know, All of them, are dumb dogs, they cannot bark, - Dreaming, sleeping, loving to slumber.
And I will set in charge over them - four species Declareth Yahweh, The sword to slay, and The dogs to trail along, - and The bird of the heavens and The beast of the earth to devour and to destroy.
And he was saying to her - Suffer, the children, first, to be fed; for it is not seemly to take the bread of the children, and, unto the little dogs, to cast it;
Morish
Constantly referred to in scripture as an unclean and debased animal: hence the unclean Gentiles or heathen are compared to dogs. Ps 22:16; 59:6,14. The price of a dog was forbidden to be put into the Lord's treasury, it was an abomination. De 23:18. Hazael, a heathen, said, "Is thy servant a dog?" and the most offensive epithet was to call a man a dead dog. They were, and are, the scavengers of Eastern cities. All refuse is thrown into the streets and the dogs eat it. It was the dogs who ate the body of Jezebel, and licked up the blood of Naboth and of Ahab. In the N.T. it is the same: 'without are dogs,' ' beware of dogs' used symbolically of those cut off and of the unclean: they return to their vomit again. The only apparent exception to the above is when the Lord compared the Syrophenician woman to a dog, and she said, "Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." In these passages the diminutive of the word is used, implying 'little dogs or puppies,' and these are often kept in houses until they grow up. But this does not remove the contempt implied in the term. Mt 15:27. Wyclif translated 'houndis' and 'litil whelpis' in Mr 7:27-28.
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Thou shalt not bring the wages of an unchaste woman, or the hire of a dog, into the house of Yahweh thy God for any vow, - for, an abomination unto Yahweh thy God, are they both.
For dogs have surrounded me, - An assembly of evil doers, have encircled me, They have pierced my hands and my feet,
They return at evening, They grow like a dog, And go round the city.
Yet them return, then, at evening, Let them growl like a dog, And go round the city.
And, she, said, True, Lord! for, even the little dogs, eat of the crumbs which are falling from the table of, their masters.
And he was saying to her - Suffer, the children, first, to be fed; for it is not seemly to take the bread of the children, and, unto the little dogs, to cast it; but she answered and saith to him - Yea, Lord! and yet, the little dogs under the table, do eat of the crumbs of the children;
Smith
Dog,
an animal frequently mentioned in Scripture. It was used by the hebrews as a watch for their houses,
and for guarding their flocks.
Then also, as now troops of hungry and semi-wild dogs used to wander about the fields and the streets of the cities, devouring dead bodies and other offal,
1Ki 14:11; 21:19,23; 22:38; Ps 59:6
and thus became so savage and fierce and such objects of dislike that fierce and cruel enemies are poetically styled dogs in
moreover the dog being an unclean animal,
the epithets dog, dead dog, dog's head, were used as terms of reproach or of humility in speaking of one's self.
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After whom, hath the king of Israel come forth? After whom, art thou in pursuit? After a dead dog! after a single flea!
Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city, shall, the dogs, eat, and, him that dieth in the field, shall, the birds of heaven, eat, - For, Yahweh, hath spoken.
Then shalt thou speak unto him, saying - Thus, saith Yahweh, Hast thou committed murder, and also taken possession? Then shalt thou speak unto him, saying: Thus, saith Yahweh, In the place where the dogs have lapped up the blood of Naboth, shall the dogs lap up thy blood, even thine.
Moreover also, concerning Jezebel, hath Yahweh spoken, saying, - The dogs, shall eat Jezebel, in the town-land of Jezreel:
And, when the chariot was washed out at the pool of Samaria, the dogs lapped up his blood, also, the harlots, bathed there , - according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.
But, now, they who are of fewer days than I, have poured derision upon me; whose fathers I refused - to set with the dogs of my flock.
For dogs have surrounded me, - An assembly of evil doers, have encircled me, They have pierced my hands and my feet,
Rescue, from the sword, my life, from the power of the dog, my solitary self:
They return at evening, They grow like a dog, And go round the city.
His watchmen, are blind None of them, know, All of them, are dumb dogs, they cannot bark, - Dreaming, sleeping, loving to slumber.
He that slaughtereth an ox, is as one who smiteth a man, He that sacrificeth a lamb, is as one who beheadeth a dog, he that causeth a meal-offering to ascend, offereth it with the blood of swine, He that maketh a memorial of frankincense, is as one who blesseth iniquity: They indeed, have chosen their own ways, And in their own abominations, their soul hath found delight;
Watsons
DOG, ???, an animal well known. By the law of Moses, the dog was declared unclean, and was held in great contempt among the Jews, 1Sa 17:43; 24:14; 2Sa 9:8; 2Ki 8:13. Yet they had them in considerable numbers in their cities. They were not, however, shut up in their houses or courts, but forced to seek their food where they could find it. The Psalmist compares violent men to dogs, who go about the city in the night, prowl about for their food, and growl, and become clamorous if they be not satisfied, Ps 59:6,14-15. Mr. Harmer has illustrated this by quotations from travellers into the east. The Turks also reckon the dog a filthy creature, and therefore drive him from their houses; so that with them dogs guard rather the streets and districts, than particular houses, and live on the offals that are thrown abroad. In 1Sa 25:3, Nabal is said to have been "churlish and evil in his manners; and he was of the house of Caleb;" but Caleb here is not a proper name. Literally, it is, "He was the son of a dog;" and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic render it,
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Then said the Philistine unto David, A dog, am, I, that thou art coming unto me, with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David, by his god.
After whom, hath the king of Israel come forth? After whom, art thou in pursuit? After a dead dog! after a single flea!
Now, the name of the man, was Nabal, and, the name of his wife, Abigail, - and, the woman, was of good understanding, and of beautiful figure, - but, the man, was unfeeling and of evil practices, and he was a Calebite.
Moreover also, concerning Jezebel, hath Yahweh spoken, saying, - The dogs, shall eat Jezebel, in the town-land of Jezreel:
And, when the chariot was washed out at the pool of Samaria, the dogs lapped up his blood, also, the harlots, bathed there , - according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken.
They return at evening, They grow like a dog, And go round the city.
Yet them return, then, at evening, Let them growl like a dog, And go round the city. They, may prowl about for food, - And, if they are not satisfied, then let them whine!
As he who layeth hold of the ears of a dog, is a passer-by, who giveth vent to his wrath over a quarrel, not his!
And I will set in charge over them - four species Declareth Yahweh, The sword to slay, and The dogs to trail along, - and The bird of the heavens and The beast of the earth to devour and to destroy.
Do not give what is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, - lest once they trample, them, down with their feet, and, turning, tear, you.