Reference: Herd
Easton
Ge 13:5; De 7:14. (See Cattle.)
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Lot also, which went with him, had sheep, cattle and tents:
Thou shalt be blessed above all nations; there shall be neither man nor woman unfruitful among you, nor anything unfruitful 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 open before thee: In the best place of the land make both thy father and thy brethren dwell. And even in the land of Goshen let them dwell. Moreover, if thou know any men of activity among them, make them rulers over my cattle."
And behold Saul came following his oxen out of the field, and asked what ailed the people to weep. And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh.
Then the people gat them to the spoil and took sheep oxen and calves, and slew them on the ground and did eat with the blood.
And there was there, the same day, a certain man of the servants of Saul abiding before the LORD named Doeg; an Edomite, the chiefest of Saul's herdsmen.
And he built towers in the wilderness and digged many wells. For he had much cattle, both in the valley and also in the plain; and plowmen and vinedressers in the mountains and in Carmel, for he loved husbandry.
and made store houses for the fruits of corn, wine and oil; and stables for all manner of beasts, and folds for sheep. And he made him towns because he had cattle of sheep and oxen great abundance. For God had given him substance exceeding much.
For all the beasts of the forest are mine, and so are the cattle upon a thousand hills.
The cow and the Bear shall feed together, and their young ones shall lie together. The Lion shall eat straw like the ox, or the cow.
Woe is my heart for Moab's sake. They fled unto the city of Zoar, which is like a fair young bullock of three years old; they went up to Luhith, weeping. The way toward Horonaim was full of lamentation for the hurt.
In that day shall it be said, "Lo, this is our God: we have waited for him, and he shall save us. This is the LORD in whom we have hoped: Let us rejoice, and delight in his salvation.
yea, thine oxen and Mules that till the ground, shall eat good fodder which is purged with the fan.
And therefore I am joyful in the LORD, and my soul rejoiceth in my God. For he shall put upon me the garment of salvation, and cover me with the mantle of righteousness. He shall deck me like a bridegroom, and as a bride that hath her apparel upon her.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat hay like the bullock. But earth shall be the serpent's meat. There shall no man hurt nor slay another, in all my holy hill, sayeth the LORD.
For the fig trees shall not be green, and the vines shall bear no fruit. The labour of the olive shall be but lost, and the land shall bring no corn: the sheep shall be taken out of the fold, and there shall be no cattle in the stalls.
Ye shall tread down the ungodly: for they shall be like the ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that I shall make, sayeth the LORD 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 open before thee: In the best place of the land make both thy father and thy brethren dwell. And even in the land of Goshen let them dwell. Moreover, if thou know any men of activity among them, make them rulers over my cattle."
The land of Egypt is open before thee: In the best place of the land make both thy father and thy brethren dwell. And even in the land of Goshen let them dwell. Moreover, if thou know any men of activity among them, make them rulers over my cattle."
And they brought their cattle unto Joseph. And he gave them bread for horses and sheep, and oxen and asses: so he fed them with bread for all their cattle that year.
But the LORD shall make a division between the beasts of the Israelites, and the beasts of the Egyptians: so that there shall nothing die of all that pertaineth to the children of Israel.'"
And as many as feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made their servants and their beasts flee to house:
Our cattle therefore shall go with us, and there shall not one hoof be left behind, for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God. Moreover, we cannot know wherewith we shall serve the LORD, until we come thither."
And at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his seat, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in prison, and all firstborn of the cattle.
And much common people went also with them, and sheep, and oxen, and cattle exceeding much.
offered and brought their gifts before the LORD: six covered chariots and twelve oxen, two and two a chariot and an ox every man, and they brought them before the habitation.
With butter of the kine and milk of the sheep, with fat of the lambs, and fat rams and he-goats, with fat kidneys and with wheat. And of the blood of grapes, thou drunkest wine.
And there was there, the same day, a certain man of the servants of Saul abiding before the LORD named Doeg; an Edomite, the chiefest of Saul's herdsmen.
Moreover, they that were nigh to them, as Issachar, Zebulun and, Naphtali, brought bread on asses, camels, mules and oxen, and meat: flour, figs, raisins, wine, oil, oxen, and sheep abundantly. For there was mirth in Israel.
This shall please the LORD better than a bullock, that hath horns and hoofs.
How he smote their cattle also with hail stones, and their flocks with hot thunderbolts;
Bel is fallen, and Nebo is broken down: whose images were a burden for the beasts and cattle, to overladen them, and to make them weary.
For whoso slayeth an ox for me, doth me so great dishonour, as he that killeth a man. He that killeth a sheep for me, choketh a dog. He that bringeth me meat offerings, offereth swine's blood. Who so maketh me a memorial of incense, praiseth the thing that is unright. Yet take they such ways in hand, and their soul delighteth in these abominations.