Reference: Herd
Easton
Ge 13:5; De 7:14. (See Cattle.)
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And Lot also who went with Abram had flocks, and herds, and tents.
Thou shalt be blessed above all the peoples; there shall not be male or female barren with thee, or with thy cattle;
Fausets
Cattle formed a considerable part of Israel's wealth. The full grown ox was seldom slaughtered, being more useful for plowing, threshing, and carrying burdens. The people's act, recorded in 1Sa 14:32, was one of excess. The third year was the time for breaking to service (Isa 15:5). Fattening for beef is not practiced in the East. Grazing is afforded in the South region (the Negeb), Carmel, Dothan, and Sharon. The ox ate foliage too in Bashan and Gilead (Ps 50:10). Uzziah "built towers in the desert" (wasteland) to guard the pasturing cattle.
When pasture failed "provender," Hebrew a mixture of various grains, was used. Isa 30:24, "clean (chamits, 'salted') provender," or well fermented maslin, composed of grain, beans, vetches, hay, and salt, which beasts of burden in the East relish. The Arabs say, "sweet provender is as bread to camels, salted provender as confectionery." Also chopped straw (Isa 11:7; 65:25). The sense in Mal 4:3 is, "Ye shall go forth, and grow up, as calves of the stall," which when set free from the stall disport with joy; the believer's future joy at the Lord's second coming (Isa 25:9; 61:10; 1Pe 1:8).
When harvest was over, and open pastures failed because of the heat, the ox was fed in stalls (Hab 3:17) until vegetation returned. Saul himself had herded cattle, and Doeg his chief herdsman was high in his favor (1Sa 11:5; 21:7). Joseph's brethren were assigned the office as an honourable one by Pharaoh (Ge 47:6). Hezekiah and Uzziah, when the land was less disturbed by hostile inroads, revived cattle tending which had previously declined (2Ch 26:10; 32:28-29).
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The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land settle thy father and thy brethren: let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if thou knowest men of activity among them, then set them as overseers of cattle over what I have.
And behold, Saul came after the oxen from the field; and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they related to him the words of the men of Jabesh.
And the people fell on the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood.
(Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Jehovah; and his name was Doeg, the Edomite, chief of the shepherds that belonged to Saul.)
And he built towers in the desert and digged many cisterns; for he had much cattle, both in the lowland and on the plateau, husbandmen also and vinedressers on the mountains and in Carmel; for he loved husbandry.
storehouses also for the increase of corn and new wine and oil, and stalls for all manner of beasts, and he procured flocks for the stalls. And he provided for himself cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God gave him very much substance.
For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle upon a thousand hills;
And the cow and the she-bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
My heart crieth out for Moab; their fugitives have fled unto Zoar, unto Eglath-Sheli-shijah: for by the ascent of Luhith, with weeping they go up by it; for in the way of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.
And it shall be said in that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is Jehovah, we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
and the oxen and the asses that till the ground shall eat salted provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with the priestly turban, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith Jehovah.
For though the fig-tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labour of the olive-tree shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls:
And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I prepare, saith Jehovah of hosts.
Hastings
Smith
(a collection of cattle), Herdsmen. The herd was greatly regarded in both the patriarchal and the Mosaic period. The ox was the most precious stock next to horse and mule. The herd yielded the most esteemed sacrifice,
also flesh meat, and milk, chiefly converted probably, into butter and cheese.
De 32:14; 2Sa 17:29
The agricultural and general usefulness of the ox in ploughing, threshing, and as a beast of burden,
made a slaughtering of him seem wasteful. Herdsmen, etc., in Egypt were a low, perhaps the lowest, caste; but of the abundance of cattle in Egypt, and of the care there bestowed on them, there is no doubt.
So the plague of hail was sent to smite especially the cattle,
the firstborn of which also were smitten.
The Israelites departing stipulated for,
and took "much cattle" with them. ch.
Cattle formed thus one of the traditions of the Israelitish nation in its greatest period, and became almost a part of that greatness. The occupation of herdsman was honorable in early times.
Ge 47:6; 1Sa 11:5; 1Ch 27:29; 28:1
Saul himself resumed it in the interval of his cares as king, also Doeg was certainly high in his confidence
Pharaoh made some of Joseph's brethren "rulers over his cattle." David's herd-masters were among his chief officers of state. The prophet Amos at first followed this occupation.
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The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land settle thy father and thy brethren: let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if thou knowest men of activity among them, then set them as overseers of cattle over what I have.
The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land settle thy father and thy brethren: let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if thou knowest men of activity among them, then set them as overseers of cattle over what I have.
And they brought their cattle to Joseph; and Joseph gave them bread for horses, and for flocks of sheep, and for herds of cattle, and for asses; and he fed them with bread for all their cattle that year.
And Jehovah will distinguish between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; and there shall nothing die of all that the children of Israel have.
He that feared the word of Jehovah among the bondmen of Pharaoh made his bondmen and his cattle flee into the houses.
Our cattle also must go with us: there shall not a hoof be left behind; for we must take thereof to serve Jehovah our God; and we do not know with what we must serve Jehovah, until we come there.
And it came to pass that at midnight Jehovah smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.
And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks and herds very much cattle.
and they brought their offering before Jehovah, six covered waggons, and twelve oxen; a waggon for two princes, and an ox for each; and they presented them before the tabernacle.
Cream of kine, and milk of sheep, With the fat of lambs, And rams of the breed of Bashan, and he-goats, With the fat of kidneys of wheat; And thou didst drink pure wine, the blood of the grape.
(Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Jehovah; and his name was Doeg, the Edomite, chief of the shepherds that belonged to Saul.)
and those too that were near them, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen; provisions of meal, fig-cakes and raisin-cakes, and wine and oil, and oxen and sheep, abundantly; for there was joy in Israel.
And it shall please Jehovah more than an ox, a bullock with horns and cloven hoofs.
And he delivered up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts.
Bel is bowed down, Nebo bendeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things ye carried are laid on, a burden to the weary beast.
He that slaughtereth an ox, smiteth a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, breaketh a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, it is as swine's blood; he that presenteth a memorial of incense, is as he that blesseth an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations,