the Fourth Week after Easter
Click to donate today!
Bible Dictionaries
Sheep
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or SHEEP .
1 . tsôn , ‘small cattle,’ such as sheep and goats, Genesis 4:2 etc.; a single sheep or goat, Exodus 22:1 . Exodus 22:2 . seh , Deuteronomy 14:4 etc., a sheep or goat; collectively, like 1, in Isaiah 7:25 etc. 3 . ’ayil , Genesis 15:9 ‘ram.’ 4 . râchçl , Genesis 31:38; Genesis 32:14 , Song of Solomon 6:6 etc., ‘ewe.’ See prop. name Rachel. 5 . kar , Deuteronomy 32:14 etc., ‘young lamb .’ 6 . kebes , Numbers 7:15 , Isaiah 5:17 , and keseb , Leviticus 3:7 , a lamb from one to three years old; the lamb of sacrifice. 7 . taleh (Arab. [Note: Arabic.] tully ), 1 Samuel 7:9 , Isaiah 40:11; Isaiah 65:25 , a lamb, older than the preceding. 8 . ’immar ( Aram [Note: ram Aramaic.] . [Note: Aramaic.] ), Ezra 6:9 ‘lamb.’ 9 . In Genesis 33:19 AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] has ‘lambs’ as tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of qÄ•sîtâh . See Kesitah. 10 . (Gr.) amnos , John 1:29 etc., ‘lamb.’ 11 . arçn , Luke 10:3 etc., ‘lamb.’ 12 . arnion Revelation 5:6 etc., the equivalent of Heb. keseb . 13 . Probaton , John 10:1-4 etc., a general term like Nos. 1 and 2 .
The common sheep of Palestine is the fat-tailed sheep ( Ovis aries , var. laticaudata ). The mass of tail-fat is sometimes enormous; it is the ‘whole rump’ (Heb. and Arab. [Note: Arabic.] ’alyâh ) of Exodus 29:22 , Leviticus 3:9 etc. Sheep are usually pastured with goats except when the land is too rocky and harren for the former. The flock is led by the shepherd , though the shepherd’s boy may bring up the rear; on a journey a shepherd of experience must drive the flock ( Genesis 33:13 ), while another leads. When away from villages, the sheep are herded at night in folds , which are roughly made enclosures of piled-up stones; the shepherd lives in a cave or hut adjoining, and is in very intimate touch with his sheep, each of which he knows unfailingly at a glance. The skin of a sheep, roughly tanned with all the wool on, is the common wioter jacket ( furweh ) of a shepherd or peasant. To kill a sheep or lamh for a stranger’s meal is one of the first acts of Bedouin hospitality. In the country, sheep are killed only in such circumstances or in honour of some festive occasion (cf. 1 Samuel 25:18 , 1 Kings 1:19 ).
E. W. G. Masterman.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Sheep'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/s/sheep.html. 1909.
