Reference: Herd
Easton
Ge 13:5; De 7:14. (See Cattle.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Lot, who went with Abram, also had herds and tents.
You shall be blessed more than all of the peoples; among you there shall not be sterility and bareness, even among domestic animals.
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).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The land of Egypt [is] before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them live in the land of Goshen, and if you know there is among them men of ability, then appoint them overseers of my own livestock."
{Just then}, Saul was coming from the field behind the cattle. Saul said, "What [is the matter] with the people, that they [are] weeping?" So they recounted to him the words of the men of Jabesh.
Then the troops took the plunder: they took sheep and cattle and {calves} and slaughtered [them] on the ground and the troops ate [them all] with the blood.
Now there was a man from the servants of Saul on that day, detained before Yahweh, whose name [was] Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's shepherds.
And he built towers in the desert and hewed many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the Shephelah and on the plain, [along with] farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.
and storage buildings for the yield of grain, new wine, and olive oil; and animal stalls for all [kinds of] animals, and animals and herds for animal stalls. And he made cities for himself, and livestock of sheep and abundant cattle, for God had given to him very abundant possessions.
because every animal of the forest is mine, [the] cattle on a thousand hills.
And a cow and a bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together. And a lion shall eat straw like the cattle.
My heart cries out for Moab; its fugitives [flee] up to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For [at] the ascent of Luhith it goes up it with weeping; for [on] the road of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.
And one will say, on that day, "Look! This [is] our God! We have waited for him and he saved us! This [is] Yahweh; we waited for him! Let us be glad, and let us rejoice in his salvation."
and the oxen and the donkeys that till the ground will eat fodder, sorrel that [has] been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
I will rejoice greatly in Yahweh; my being shall shout in exultation in my God. For he has clothed me [with] garments of salvation, he has covered me [with the] robe of righteousness, as bridegroom adorns [himself] [with] a head wrap like a priest, and as bride adorns herself [with] her jewelry.
[The] wolf and [the] lamb shall feed like one, and [the] lion shall eat straw like the ox, but dust [shall be] [the] serpent's food. They shall do no evil, and they shall not destroy on all {my holy mountain}," says Yahweh.
Though the fig tree [does] not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of [the] olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; [the] flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls,
You will trample down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I [am] going to act," says Yahweh 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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The land of Egypt [is] before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them live in the land of Goshen, and if you know there is among them men of ability, then appoint them overseers of my own livestock."
The land of Egypt [is] before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them live in the land of Goshen, and if you know there is among them men of ability, then appoint them overseers of my own livestock."
So they brought their herds to Joseph, and Joseph gave food to them in exchange for horses, their flocks, and their cattle and donkeys. And he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.
But Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and not a thing will die from all [that belongs] to the {Israelites}.'"
Anyone from the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of Yahweh caused his servants and livestock to flee to the houses.
our livestock must also go with us. Not a hoof can be left because we must take from them to serve Yahweh our God. And we will not know [with] what we are to serve Yahweh until we come there."
{And} in the middle of the night, Yahweh struck all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who [was] in the prison house and every firstborn of an animal.
And also a {mixed multitude} went up with them and sheep and goats and cattle, very numerous livestock.
They brought their offering before the presence of Yahweh, six covered utility carts and twelve cattle, a utility cart for two of the leaders, and a bull for each; and they presented them {before} the tabernacle.
[With] curds from [the] herd, and [with] milk from [the] flock, with [the] fat of young rams, and rams, the offspring of Bashan, and with goats [along] with the finest kernels of wheat, and [from] the blood of grapes you drank fermented wine.
Now there was a man from the servants of Saul on that day, detained before Yahweh, whose name [was] Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's shepherds.
And also their relatives, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on donkeys, on camels, on mules, and on oxen--provisions of flour, cakes of figs, raisin cakes, wine and oil, cattle and sheep in abundance, for [there was] great joy in Israel.
For Yahweh it will be better than an ox [or] bull, horned [and] hoofed.
He also handed their cattle over to the hail and their livestock to the lightning bolts.
Bel bows down; Nebo [is] stooping. Their idols are {on} animals and {on} cattle; your {cargo} is carried [as] a burden {on} weary [animals].
The one who slaughters bull strikes a man; the one who slaughters lamb for sacrifice breaks the neck [of] a dog. The one who offers an offering, [the] blood of swine; the one who offers frankincense blesses an idol. Indeed, they themselves have chosen their ways, and their soul delights in their abhorrence.