Reference: Lion
American
The well-known and noble king of beasts, frequently spoken of in Scripture. He often exceeds eight feet in length and four feet in height; and his majestic and dauntless aspect, his prodigious strength and agility, and his peculiar roar, make him the terror of the forests. Lions were common in Palestine, (See JORDAN,) and the Hebrews had seven different names for them, to distinguish the different ages, etc. Five of these occur together in Job 4:10-11. See also Na 2:11-12. The psalmist alludes to the stealthy creeping of the lion till he can spring upon his prey, when he says of the crafty wicked man, "He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den;....he croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones." The Bible reader will remember the exploits of Samson and of David, Jg 14:5-6; 1Sa 17:34-36, the story of the disobedient prophet slain by a lion, 1Ki 13:28, and of the obedient Daniel, safe in the lion's den, Da 6; also the sublime image of Jehovah's care for his people, in Isa 31:4.
The Lion of the tribe of Judah, Re 5:5, is Jesus Christ, who sprung from the tribe of Judah and the race of David, and overcame death, the world, and the devil. It is supposed that a lion was the device of the tribe of Judah; whence this allusion, Ge 49:9.
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Judah, a lion's whelp; from the green leaf, my son, thou didst go up: bending, lying down, as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up?
And Samson will go down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and they will come even to the vineyards of Timnath: and behold, a young lion roared at his meeting. And the spirit of Jehovah will fall suddenly upon him, and he will rend him as rending a kid, and nothing whatever in his hand: and he announced not to his father and to his mother what he did.
And he will go and find his corpse cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the corpse: the lion ate not the carcass and brake not the ass.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lion, and the teeth of the young lions were broken. The lion perished from failure of prey, and the sons of the lioness shall be scattered.
For thus spake Jehovah to me, As the lion shall growl, and the young lion over his prey, when a fulness of shepherds shall be called against him, from their voice shall he not be terrified, and shall not he be humbled from their noise: thus shalt Jehovah of armies come down to war from mount Zion and for its hill.
Where is the dwelling of the lions and that pasture for the young lions where the lion went, the lioness there, the lion's whelp, and none terrifying? The lion tore in pieces the sufficiency of his whelps, and strangling for his lionesses; and his holes shall be filled with the prey, and his dens with that torn in pieces.
And one of the elders says to me, Weep not: behold, the Lion conquered, he being of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, to open the book, and to loose its seven seals.
Fausets
ariy, 'arieh ("the bearer," Umbreit); guwr, "the whelp" (Ge 49:9); kephir, "the young lion" in adolescent vigour, his "great teeth" grown (Ps 58:6), having his own covert (Jer 25:38); labiy, in adult maturity (Ge 49:9); libyah, "lioness"; la'ish, "an old (rather strong, from an Arabic root) lion": Job 4:11, where the five different terms occur; shachal is "the roaring lion"; labiy appears in the German lowe. The variety of names shows the abundance of lions in the regions of Scripture at that time. Now there are none in Palestine. But the names Lebaoth (Jos 15:32), Arieh (2Ki 15:25), Ariel for Jerusalem (Isa 29:1-2,7), Laish (Jg 18:7), incidentally, and so undesignedly, confirm the Scripture assertions as to their former existence.
The forests and tangled thickets have been almost swept away which were their former lair. Jordan's wooded banks, its "pride" (as some translated, but others "swelling"), gave cover to lions (Jer 49:19), "a lion from the swelling (so Calvin, the overflow forcing the lion from the woody banks) of Jordan." The Asiatic lion has a short curly mane, and is shorter and rounder than the African. It laid waste villages (2Ki 17:25-26; Pr 22:13) and slew men (1Ki 13:24; 20:35-36). Shepherds, as David, sometimes singly encountered it, and prevailed (1Sa 17:34-35; Am 3:12); oftener in bands, frightening him with shouts into a pit covered over with reed or branches lightly, to entrap it (Eze 19:4,8-9). Benaiah slew one in a pit or cistern, in which it had taken refuge in a snowstorm (2Sa 23:20).
Samson slew one at Timnath (Jg 14:5-6). Lion hunting is depicted as the amusement of the Ninevite kings, who followed the great hunter Nimrod's example. Captured lions were caged, which illustrates the image in Eze 19:9. The lion symbolizes bravery, so the faces of the warriors of Gad who joined David are designated "the faces of lions" (1Ch 12:8); also might and royalty, as in the winged lion figures with human heads in the Assyrian palace remains, and in Solomon's steps to his throne (1Ki 10:19-20); so the royal tribe Judah had the lion as its standard. Messiah is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David," yet also the Lamb, combining opposites. The first of the four living creatures was like a lion (Re 4:7, compare Eze 1:10), the kingly aspect of Messiah in Matthew.
Nineveh is compared to a lion's den, full of remains of its prey, appropriately, as lion figures abounded in the Assyrian palaces, Na 2:11-12, "where is," etc.? i.e. God will so destroy it that its site will be hard to find; fulfilled to the letter (Na 1:8). Lions haunted dens in Lebanon and Hermon (Song 4:8). Balaam compares Israel to "a great lion (labiy) and a young lion" ('arieh): Nu 23:24; 24:9. Am 3:4, "will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey?" i.e., God would not threaten wrath if there were not; a guilty nation, its object (Mt 24:28); "will a young lion cry out of his den if he (the old lion) have taken nothing?" The young lion lies silent until the parent lion brings the prey near, then the scent rouses him; so the prophet would not speak against Israel if God did not reveal to him Israel's sin requiring Israel's punishment.
Satan is the "roaring lion" as well as the subtle serpent (1Pe 5:8). Sha'ag is the lion's roar in seeking prey (Ps 104:21); naham his cry when seizing it (Isa 5:29, compare Pr 19:12); hagah his growl defying any effort to snatch from him his prey (Isa 31:4); na'ar the cry of the young lion (Jer 51:38); rabats is his crouching in his lair (Ge 49:10); shacah and yashab (Job 38:40) his lying in wait; 'arab his secretly doing so (Ps 10:9); ramas his stealthily creeping after prey (Ps 104:20); zinneq his leap, flinging himself on it (De 33:22) (Smith's Bible Dictionary).
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Judah, a lion's whelp; from the green leaf, my son, thou didst go up: bending, lying down, as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up?
Judah, a lion's whelp; from the green leaf, my son, thou didst go up: bending, lying down, as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up? The rod shall not depart from Judah, and a leader from between his feet, till that Shiloh shall come: and to him the obedience of the nations.
Behold, the people will rise up as a lioness, and as a lion he will be lifted up: he will not lie down till he shall eat the prey and drink the blood of the wounded.
He bowed; he lay down as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up? Praised he praising thee, and cursed he cursing thee.
And to Dan he said, Dan a lion's whelp: he shall spring forth from Bashan.
And Lebaoth and Shilhim and Ain and Rimmon: all the cities twenty and nine and their enclosures:
And Samson will go down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and they will come even to the vineyards of Timnath: and behold, a young lion roared at his meeting. And the spirit of Jehovah will fall suddenly upon him, and he will rend him as rending a kid, and nothing whatever in his hand: and he announced not to his father and to his mother what he did.
And the five men will go and come to Laish, and they will see the people which in the midst of her, dwelling in confidence according to the judgment of the Sidonians, quiet and confiding; and none shaming the word in the land, a possessor heaping up, and they far off from the Sidonians, and the word was not to them with man.
And David will say to Saul, Thy servant was feeding for his father among the sheep, and there came the lion and with the bear, and lifted up a sheep from the flock. And I went forth after him, and I smote him, and I delivered from his mouth: and he arose upon me and I seized upon his beard, and I struck him and killed him.
And Benaiah son of Jehoida, son of a living man great of works, from Kabzeel, he struck two lions of god of Moab: and he went down and struck a lion in the midst of a well in the day of snow.
Six steps to the throne, and the head rounded to the throne from its back parts: and hands hence and thence upon the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the hands. And twelve lions standing there upon the six steps, hence and thence: there was not made thus to all the kingdoms.
And he will go, and a lion will find him in the way and kill him: and his corpse will be cast in the way, and the ass standing by it., and the lion standing by the corpse.
And a man, one of the sons of the prophets, said to his neighbor in the word of Jehovah, Strike me now. And the man refused to strike him. And he will say to him, Because thou heardst not to the voice of Jehovah, behold thee going from me, and the lion striking thee. And he will go from beside him, and the lion will find him and strike him.
And Pekah son of Remaliah, his third, will conspire against him, and will strike him in Shomeron, in the fortress of the king's house, with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men from the sons of the Gileadites: and he will kill him, and reign in his stead.
And it will be in the beginning of their dwelling there, they will not fear Jehovah; and Jehovah will send against them lions, and they will be killing among them. And they will say to the king of Assur, saying, The nations which thou carriedst into exile, and thou wilt set in the cities of Shomeron, knew not the judgment of the God of the land, and he will send among them lions, and behold them slaying them because they knew not the judgment of the God of the land.
And of the Gadites they separated to David to the castle from the desert strong ones of power, men of the army for war, setting in array the shield and spear, and the face of a lion their faces, and as roes upon the mountain to make haste;
The lion perished from failure of prey, and the sons of the lioness shall be scattered.
For they will sink down in the dwellings; they will dwell in the thicket to lie in wait
He will lie in wait in secret as the lion in her den: he will lie in wait to catch the poor one: he will catch the poor one in drawing him into his net
God destroyed their teeth in their mouth: Jehovah broke down the young lions' grinders.
Thou didst set darkness and it will be night: in it all the beasts of the forest shall creep. The young lions roaring for prey, and to seek from God their food.
The king's wrath growling as the young lion, and his acceptance as dew upon the grass.
The slothful one said, A lion without; I shall be slain in the midst of the broad places.
Thou shalt come with me from Lebanon, O bride, with me from Lebanon: thou shalt go round about from the head of faith, from the head of Shenir and Hermon, from the dwellings of lions, from the mountains of panthers.
The roaring to him as the lion, and he roared as the young lions: and they shall groan and shall lay hold of the prey, and it shall escape, and none delivering.
Wo to Ariel, Ariel, the city David encamped in! add ye year upon year; the festivals shall run their circle. And I pressed upon Ariel, and there was sorrow and sighing, and it was to me as Ariel.
And it was as a dream of a vision of the night, the multitude of all the nations warring against Ariel and all warring against her and her fastnesses, and those pressing upon her.
For thus spake Jehovah to me, As the lion shall growl, and the young lion over his prey, when a fulness of shepherds shall be called against him, from their voice shall he not be terrified, and shall not he be humbled from their noise: thus shalt Jehovah of armies come down to war from mount Zion and for its hill.
He forsook his booth as the young lion: for their land was for a desolation from the face of the burning of him oppressing, and from the face of the burning of his anger.
Behold, as the lion he shall come up from the excellency of Jordan against the habitation of strength: for I will wink, I will cause him to run from her: and who the chosen I shall appoint to her? for who like me? and who shall testify for me? and who this shepherd which shall stand before me?
Together as lions shall they roar: they shook themselves as the lion's whelps.
And the likeness of their face, the face of a man and the face of a lion, to the right, to these four: and the face of an ox from the left to these four; and the face of an eagle to these four.
And the nations will hear concerning him; in their pit he was taken, and they will bring him with hooks to the land of Egypt
And the nations will give against him round about from the provinces, and they will spread their net upon him, being taken in their pit And they will give him in a prison with hooks, and they will bring him to the king of Babel: they will bring him into fastnesses so that his voice shall no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
And they will give him in a prison with hooks, and they will bring him to the king of Babel: they will bring him into fastnesses so that his voice shall no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
Will the lion roar in the forest and not tearing in pieces for him? will the young lion give his voice from his cave if he took nothing?
Thus said Jehovah: As the shepherd will deliver from the mouth of the lion two legs, and part of an ear, thus shall the sons of Israel be delivered dwelling in Shomeron in the extremity of a tribe, or in Damascus under a roof.
With an inundation passing through he will make a completion of her place, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
Where is the dwelling of the lions and that pasture for the young lions where the lion went, the lioness there, the lion's whelp, and none terrifying? The lion tore in pieces the sufficiency of his whelps, and strangling for his lionesses; and his holes shall be filled with the prey, and his dens with that torn in pieces.
For wherever be the fall, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Be abstemious, watch; for your adversary the accuser, as a roaring lion, walks around, seeking whom he might swallow down:
And the first living creature like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature having the face as a man, and the fourth living creature like a spreading eagle.
Hastings
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Judah, a lion's whelp; from the green leaf, my son, thou didst go up: bending, lying down, as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up?
Judah, a lion's whelp; from the green leaf, my son, thou didst go up: bending, lying down, as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up?
Judah, a lion's whelp; from the green leaf, my son, thou didst go up: bending, lying down, as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up?
Behold, the people will rise up as a lioness, and as a lion he will be lifted up: he will not lie down till he shall eat the prey and drink the blood of the wounded.
Behold, the people will rise up as a lioness, and as a lion he will be lifted up: he will not lie down till he shall eat the prey and drink the blood of the wounded.
He bowed; he lay down as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up? Praised he praising thee, and cursed he cursing thee.
And to Dan he said, Dan a lion's whelp: he shall spring forth from Bashan.
And he will go up and announce to his father and his mother, and will say, I saw a woman in Timnath from the daughters of Philisteim: and now take her to me for a wife.
And the spirit of Jehovah will fall suddenly upon him, and he will rend him as rending a kid, and nothing whatever in his hand: and he announced not to his father and to his mother what he did.
And he will turn back after days to take her, and he will turn aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, an assembly of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.
And David will say to Saul, Thy servant was feeding for his father among the sheep, and there came the lion and with the bear, and lifted up a sheep from the flock.
And he will go, and a lion will find him in the way and kill him: and his corpse will be cast in the way, and the ass standing by it., and the lion standing by the corpse.
And a man, one of the sons of the prophets, said to his neighbor in the word of Jehovah, Strike me now. And the man refused to strike him.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lion, and the teeth of the young lions were broken.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lion, and the teeth of the young lions were broken. The lion perished from failure of prey, and the sons of the lioness shall be scattered.
The lion perished from failure of prey, and the sons of the lioness shall be scattered.
And wherefore didst thou bring Me forth from the belly? I shall expire, and eye shall not see me.
Upon the lion and the asp, shalt thou tread: thou shalt tread down the young lion and the dragon.
The king's wrath growling as the young lion, and his acceptance as dew upon the grass.
The terror of the king growling as the young lion: he overflowing against him sinned against his soul.
The lion strong among cattle, and he will not turn back from the face of all;
The burden of quadrupeds of the south: into the land of straits and distress, the lioness and the lion from them, the viper and the burning flying they will lift up upon the shoulder of young asses, their riches, and upon the humps of camels their treasures, for a people who shall not profit
For thus spake Jehovah to me, As the lion shall growl, and the young lion over his prey, when a fulness of shepherds shall be called against him, from their voice shall he not be terrified, and shall not he be humbled from their noise: thus shalt Jehovah of armies come down to war from mount Zion and for its hill.
And thou shalt prophesy to them all these words, and say to them; Jehovah shall roar from on high, and he will give his voice from his holy habitation; roaring, he will roar from his seat; he shall cry aloud as they treading, to all the inhabitants of the earth.
Behold, as the lion he shall come up from the excellency of Jordan against the habitation of strength: for I will wink, I will cause him to run from her: and who the chosen I shall appoint to her? for who like me? and who shall testify for me? and who this shepherd which shall stand before me?
Behold, as a lion he will come up from the excellency of Jordan to the habitation of strength: for I will wink; I will cause them to run away from her: and who the chosen I shall appoint to her? for who like me? and who shall arraign me? and who that shepherd who shall stand before me?
And say, What thy mother? a lioness: between lions she lay down, in the midst of young lions she brought up her whelps
And say, What thy mother? a lioness: between lions she lay down, in the midst of young lions she brought up her whelps
For I as the lion to Ephraim, and as the young lion to the house of Judah I, I will rend and go away; I will take away and none delivering.
And Jehovah shall cry out from Zion, and from Jerusalem he shall give his voice; and the heavens and the earth trembled: and Jehovah the refuge to his people, and the fortress to the sons of Israel.
The lion roared, who shall not be afraid? the Lord Jehovah spake, who shall not prophesy?
Thus said Jehovah: As the shepherd will deliver from the mouth of the lion two legs, and part of an ear, thus shall the sons of Israel be delivered dwelling in Shomeron in the extremity of a tribe, or in Damascus under a roof.
And the remnant of Jacob was among the nations in the midst of many peoples as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he passed through, and he trod down and pulled in pieces, and none delivering.
A voice of wailing of the shepherds, for their greatness was destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of Jordan was destroyed.
Be abstemious, watch; for your adversary the accuser, as a roaring lion, walks around, seeking whom he might swallow down:
And one of the elders says to me, Weep not: behold, the Lion conquered, he being of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, to open the book, and to loose its seven seals.
Morish
There are several Hebrew words translated 'lion,' the principal of which is ari, from 'to tear.' The lion is declared to be the "strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any." Pr 30:30. This shows that the lion may be taken as a symbol of 'strength,' and as such the Lord is called the lion of the tribe of Judah, to which is attached the symbol of royalty, for Judah held the sceptre. Ge 49:9-10; Re 5:5. Satan also has a kingdom and is called a strong one, Mt 12:26; and he is the 'lion' seeking whom he may devour. He is compared to a 'roaring lion,' because he is like that animal, which roars when it is sure of its prey: cf. Am 3:4. The Lord knows how to deliver His servants even out of the mouth of the lion.
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Judah, a lion's whelp; from the green leaf, my son, thou didst go up: bending, lying down, as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up? The rod shall not depart from Judah, and a leader from between his feet, till that Shiloh shall come: and to him the obedience of the nations.
The lion strong among cattle, and he will not turn back from the face of all;
Will the lion roar in the forest and not tearing in pieces for him? will the young lion give his voice from his cave if he took nothing?
And if Satan casts out Satan, he was divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?
And one of the elders says to me, Weep not: behold, the Lion conquered, he being of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, to open the book, and to loose its seven seals.
Smith
Lion.
The most powerful, daring and impressive of all carnivorous animals, the most magnificent in aspect and awful in voice. At present lions do not exist in Palestine; but they must in ancient times have been numerous. The lion of Palestine was in all probability the Asiatic variety, described by Aristotle and Pliny as distinguished by its short and curly mane, and by being shorter and rounder in shape, like the sculptured lion found at Arban. It was less daring than the longer named species, but when driven by hunger it not only ventured to attack the flocks in the desert in presence of the shepherd,
but laid waste towns and villages,
and devoured men.
Among the Hebrews, and throughout the Old Testament, the lion was the achievement of the princely tribe of Judah, while in the closing book of the canon it received a deeper significance as the emblem of him who "prevailed to open the book and loose the seven seals thereof."
On the other hand its fierceness and cruelty rendered it an appropriate metaphor for a fierce and malignant enemy.
and hence for the arch-fiend himself.
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And David will say to Saul, Thy servant was feeding for his father among the sheep, and there came the lion and with the bear, and lifted up a sheep from the flock.
And he will go, and a lion will find him in the way and kill him: and his corpse will be cast in the way, and the ass standing by it., and the lion standing by the corpse.
And he will say to him, Because thou heardst not to the voice of Jehovah, behold thee going from me, and the lion striking thee. And he will go from beside him, and the lion will find him and strike him.
And it will be in the beginning of their dwelling there, they will not fear Jehovah; and Jehovah will send against them lions, and they will be killing among them. And they will say to the king of Assur, saying, The nations which thou carriedst into exile, and thou wilt set in the cities of Shomeron, knew not the judgment of the God of the land, and he will send among them lions, and behold them slaying them because they knew not the judgment of the God of the land.
Lest he shall rend my soul as the lion, breaking in pieces and none delivering.
Save me from the mouth of the lion: and thou didst answer me from the horns of the high.
My soul is in the midst of lions: I shall lie down with the flaming, the sons of man, their teeth spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
The slothful one said, A lion without; I shall be slain in the midst of the broad places.
The slothful one said, A lion in the way; a lion between the broad places.
For thus spake Jehovah to me, As the lion shall growl, and the young lion over his prey, when a fulness of shepherds shall be called against him, from their voice shall he not be terrified, and shall not he be humbled from their noise: thus shalt Jehovah of armies come down to war from mount Zion and for its hill.
Be abstemious, watch; for your adversary the accuser, as a roaring lion, walks around, seeking whom he might swallow down:
And one of the elders says to me, Weep not: behold, the Lion conquered, he being of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, to open the book, and to loose its seven seals.
Watsons
LION, ???, or ???, Ge 49:9; De 33:22; Ps 7:2; 22:13; Ho 13:8; Mic 5:8; a large beast of prey, for his courage and strength called the king of beasts. This animal is produced in Africa, and the hottest parts of Asia. It is found in the greatest numbers in the scorched and desolate regions of the torrid zone, in the deserts of Zaara and Billdulgerid, and in all the interior parts of the vast continent of Africa. In these desert regions, from whence mankind are driven by the rigorous heat of the climate, this animal reigns sole master. His disposition seems to partake of the ardour of his native soil. Inflamed by the influence of a burning sun, his rage is tremendous, and his courage undaunted. Happily, indeed, the species is not numerous, and is said to be greatly diminished; for, if we may credit the testimony of those who have traversed those vast deserts, the number of lions is not nearly so great as formerly. Mr. Shaw observes that the Romans carried more lions from Libya in one year for their public spectacles, than could be found in all that country at this time. The lion was also found in Palestine, and the neighbouring countries. The length of the largest lion is between eight and nine feet, the tail about four, and its height about four feet and a half. The female is about one-fourth part less, and without a mane. As the lion advances in years, his mane grows longer and thicker. The hair on the rest of the body is short and smooth, of a tawny colour, but whitish on the belly. Its roaring is loud and dreadful. When heard in the night it resembles distant thunder. Its cry of anger is much louder and shorter. The attachment of a lioness to her young is remarkably strong. For their support she is more ferocious than the lion himself; makes her incursions with greater boldness; destroys, without distinction, every animal that falls in her way, and carries it reeking to her cubs. She usually brings forth in the most retired and inaccessible places; and when afraid that her retreat should be discovered, endeavours to hide her track by brushing the ground with her tail. When much disturbed or alarmed, she will sometimes transport her young, which are usually three or four in number, from one place to another in her mouth; and, if obstructed in her course, will defend them to the last extremity. The habits of the lion and the lioness afford many spirited, and often sublime, metaphors to the sacred writers.
The lion has several names in Scripture, according to his different ages or character:
1. ???, a little lion, a lion's whelp, De 33:22; Jer 51:38; Eze 19:2; Na 2:13.
2. ????, a young lion that has done sucking the lioness, and, leaving the covert, begins to seek prey. for himself. So Eze 19:2-3: "The lioness hath brought up one of her whelps; it became a chephir; it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men." See Ps 91:13; Pr 19:12.
3. ???, a grown and vigorous lion, having whelps, eager in pursuit of prey for them, Na 2:12; valiant, 2Sa 17:10; arrogantly opposing himself, Nu 23:24. This is, indeed, the general name, and occurs frequently.
4. ??? one in the full strength of his age; a black lion, Job 4:10; 10:16; Ps 91:13; Pr 26:13; Ho 5:14; 13:7.
5. ???, a fierce or enraged lion, Job 4:11; Pr 30:30; Isa 25:6. A regard to these characteristics and distinctions is very important for illustrating the passages of Scripture where the animal is spoken of, and discovering the propriety of the allusions and metaphors which he so often furnishes to the Hebrew poets. The lion of the tribe of Judah, mentioned Re 5:5, is Jesus Christ, who sprung from the tribe of Judah, and overcame death, the world, and the devil. The lion from the swelling of Jordan, Jer 50:44, is Nebuchadnezzar marching against Judea, with the strength and fierceness of a lion. Isaiah, describing the happy time of the Messiah, says, that then the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling should lie down together; and that a little child should lead them; and that the lion should eat straw like the ox, Isa 11:6-7, which is hyberbolical, and signifies the peace and happiness which the church of Christ should enjoy. "The lion hath roared, and who shall not fear?" Am 3:8. "The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion. Who provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul," Pr 19:12; 20:2; that is, he seeketh his own death. Solomon says, "A living dog is better than a dead lion," Ec 10:4; showing that death renders those contemptible who otherwise are the greatest, most powerful, and most terrible.
Then went Samson down, and, behold, a young lion roared against him, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand, Jg 14:5-6. An instance in quite modern times of an unarmed man attempting to combat a lion is related by Poiret: "In a douar, or a camp of Bedouin Arabs, near La Calle, a French factory, a young lion had seized a cow. A young Moor threw himself upon the savage beast, to tear his booty from him, and as at were to stifle him in his arms, but he would not let go his prey. The father of the young man hastened to him, armed with a kind of hoe; and aiming at the lion, struck his son's hand, and cut off three of his fingers. It cost a great deal of trouble to rescue the prey from the lion. I saw this young man, who was attended by Mr. Gay, at that time surgeon to the hospital of La Calle." David, according to 1Sa 17:34, had, when a shepherd, once fought with a lion, and another time with a bear, and rescued their prey from them. Tellez relates, that an Abyssinian shepherd had once killed a lion of extraordinary size with only two poles. "Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong," Jer 49:19. The comparison used by the prophet in these words will be perfectly understood by the account which Mr. Maundrell gives of the river Jordan: "After having descended," says he, "the outermost bank of Jordan, you go about a furlong upon a level strand, before you come to the immediate bank of the river. This second bank is so beset with bushes and trees, such as tamarisks, willows, oleanders, &c, that you can see no water till you have made your way through them. In this thicket anciently, and the same is reported of it at this day, several sorts of wild beasts were wont to harbour themselves, whose being washed out of the covert by the over-flowings of the river gave occasion to that allusion: 'He shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan.'" "He shall be cast into the den of lions," Da 6:7. "In Morocco," says Host, "the king has a lions' den, into which men, particularly Jews, are sometimes thrown; but the latter generally come off unhurt; because the keepers of these animals are Jews, who may safely be with them, with a rod in the hand, if they only take care to go out backward, as the lion does not suffer any one to turn his back upon him. The other Jews do not let their brethren remain longer than a night among the lions, as they might otherwise become too hungry; but ransom them with money, which is, in fact, the king's object." In another place in the same work we find the following description of the construction of this lions' den: "At one end of the royal palace there is a place for ostriches and their young; and beyond the other end, toward the mountains, there is a large lions' den, which consists of a large square hole in the ground, with a partition, in the middle of which there is a door, which the Jews, who are obliged to maintain and keep them for nothing, are able to open and shut from above, and can thus entice the lions, by means of the food, from one division to the other, to clean the other in the mean time. It is all in the open air, and a person may look down over a wall, which is a yard and a quarter high."
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Judah, a lion's whelp; from the green leaf, my son, thou didst go up: bending, lying down, as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall raise him up?
Behold, the people will rise up as a lioness, and as a lion he will be lifted up: he will not lie down till he shall eat the prey and drink the blood of the wounded.
And to Dan he said, Dan a lion's whelp: he shall spring forth from Bashan.
And to Dan he said, Dan a lion's whelp: he shall spring forth from Bashan.
And Samson will go down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and they will come even to the vineyards of Timnath: and behold, a young lion roared at his meeting. And the spirit of Jehovah will fall suddenly upon him, and he will rend him as rending a kid, and nothing whatever in his hand: and he announced not to his father and to his mother what he did.
And David will say to Saul, Thy servant was feeding for his father among the sheep, and there came the lion and with the bear, and lifted up a sheep from the flock.
And he also the son of strength whose heart according to the heart of the lion, melting, will melt away: for all Israel knew that thy father is mighty, and the sons of strength which are with him.
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lion, and the teeth of the young lions were broken. The lion perished from failure of prey, and the sons of the lioness shall be scattered.
And shall it be lifted up? Thou wilt hunt me as the lion, and thou wilt turn back, thou wilt show thyself wonderful upon me.
Lest he shall rend my soul as the lion, breaking in pieces and none delivering.
They opened their mouth upon me, a lion rending and roaring.
Upon the lion and the asp, shalt thou tread: thou shalt tread down the young lion and the dragon.
Upon the lion and the asp, shalt thou tread: thou shalt tread down the young lion and the dragon.
The king's wrath growling as the young lion, and his acceptance as dew upon the grass.
The king's wrath growling as the young lion, and his acceptance as dew upon the grass.
The terror of the king growling as the young lion: he overflowing against him sinned against his soul.
The slothful one said, A lion in the way; a lion between the broad places.
The lion strong among cattle, and he will not turn back from the face of all;
If the spirit of him ruling shall go up against thee, thou shalt not leave thy place; for quietness will put down great sins.
The wolf dwelt with the lamb; and the panther will lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the falling together, and a little boy leading with them. And the heifer and the bear shall feed together, and their young shall lie down; and the lion shall eat straw as the ox.
Jehovah of armies will make to all peoples in this mountain a drinking of fatness, a drinking of lees of wine, fatness of marrows, strained lees of wine.
Behold, as the lion he shall come up from the excellency of Jordan against the habitation of strength: for I will wink, I will cause him to run from her: and who the chosen I shall appoint to her? for who like me? and who shall testify for me? and who this shepherd which shall stand before me?
Behold, as a lion he will come up from the excellency of Jordan to the habitation of strength: for I will wink; I will cause them to run away from her: and who the chosen I shall appoint to her? for who like me? and who shall arraign me? and who that shepherd who shall stand before me?
Together as lions shall they roar: they shook themselves as the lion's whelps.
And say, What thy mother? a lioness: between lions she lay down, in the midst of young lions she brought up her whelps
And say, What thy mother? a lioness: between lions she lay down, in the midst of young lions she brought up her whelps And she will bring up one of her whelps: it was a young lion, and it will learn to rend the prey eating man.
All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and satraps, and counselors and governors, will counsel together to set up a statute of the kingdom, and to make strong an interdict that whoever shall seek a request from any God and man even to thirty days, except from thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
For I as the lion to Ephraim, and as the young lion to the house of Judah I, I will rend and go away; I will take away and none delivering.
And I will be to them as a lion: as a panther upon the way I will look around. I will fall upon them as a bear bereaved, and I will rend the enclosure of their heart, and devour them there as a lion: the beast of the field shall cleave them asunder.
The lion roared, who shall not be afraid? the Lord Jehovah spake, who shall not prophesy?
And the remnant of Jacob was among the nations in the midst of many peoples as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he passed through, and he trod down and pulled in pieces, and none delivering.
The lion tore in pieces the sufficiency of his whelps, and strangling for his lionesses; and his holes shall be filled with the prey, and his dens with that torn in pieces. Behold me against thee, says Jehovah of armies; and I burnt her chariot in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions, and I cut of thy prey from the land, and the voice of her messengers shall no more be heard.
And one of the elders says to me, Weep not: behold, the Lion conquered, he being of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, to open the book, and to loose its seven seals.