Reference: Herd
Easton
Ge 13:5; De 7:14. (See Cattle.)
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And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
You shall be blessed above all people. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your 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 you. Make your father and brothers to live in the best of the land; in the land of Goshen let them live. And if you know men of ability among them, then make them overseers of livestock, over what is mine.
And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field. And Saul said, What is wrong with the people that they weep? And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh.
And the people flew on the spoil, and took sheep and oxen and calves, and killed them on the ground. And the people ate with the blood.
And a man from the servants of Saul was there that day, held before Jehovah. And his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen.
And he built towers in the desert, and dug many wells. For he had many cattle, both in the low country and in the plains. He also had husbandmen and vinedressers in the mountains, and in Carmel. For he loved the earth.
And he made storehouses for the increase of grain and wine and oil, and stalls for all kinds of animals, and stalls for flocks. And he provided himself cities, and possessions of flocks and herds, in abundance. For God had given him very many things.
For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
My heart shall cry to Moab; his fugitives flee to Zoar, a heifer of three years. He goes up the ascent to Luhith with weeping; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of ruin.
And one shall say in that day, Lo, 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.
Also the oxen and the young asses that plow the ground shall eat clean fodder, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.
I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, my soul will be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the robes of salvation, He covered me with the robe of righteousness like a bridegroom adorns himself with ornaments, and like a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the food of the snake. They will not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says Jehovah.
Though the fig tree shall not blossom, and fruit is not on the vines; the labor of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food. The flock is cut off from the fold, and no herd is in the stalls;
And you shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day which I am preparing, says 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 you. Make your father and brothers to live in the best of the land; in the land of Goshen let them live. And if you know men of ability among them, then make them overseers of livestock, over what is mine.
The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and brothers to live in the best of the land; in the land of Goshen let them live. And if you know men of ability among them, then make them overseers of livestock, over what is mine.
And they brought their cattle to Joseph. And Joseph gave them food for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses. And he fed them with food for all their cattle for that year.
And Jehovah shall separate between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt. And there shall nothing die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel.
He that feared the Word of Jehovah among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle to flee into the houses.
Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall not be a hoof left behind. For we must take from them to serve Jehovah our God. And we do not know with what we must serve Jehovah until we come there.
And it happened at midnight Jehovah struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive that was in the prison; also all the first-born of cattle.
And also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks, and herds, very much cattle.
And they brought their offerings before Jehovah: six covered wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for two of the rulers, an ox for each one. And they brought them before the tabernacle.
butter from cows, and milk from sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the sons of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat. And you drank the blood of the grape.
And a man from the servants of Saul was there that day, held before Jehovah. And his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen.
And also those who were near them, even to Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen. And they brought food, meal, cakes of figs and bunches of raisins, and wine and oil, and oxen and sheep abundantly. For there was joy in Israel.
This also shall please Jehovah better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
He gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire.
Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle; the things you carried about have become a load, a burden for the weary.
He who kills an ox is is as if he killed a man; he who sacrifices a lamb is as if he broke a dog's neck; he who offers an offering is as if he offered swine's blood; he who burns incense is as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.