Lion, אריה, Panthera leo persica

The lion, “the mightiest of the beasts” (ליש גבור בבהמה, Prov 30:30), appears one hundred and fifty-four times in the HB, under seven different names:[1] אריה (arieh), ארי (ari), לביא (lavi’), כפיר (kfir), ליש (layish), שחל (shachal), גור אריה (gur arieh), and the female: לביא (leviya’h). The early translations and rabbinic literature suggested explanations for this plentitude of names and their interrelationships. The following discussion treats all these designations under this one entry.[2] This abundance of different names might be taken in itself as an indirect indication of the prevalence of lions in biblical times; at the very least it indicates the major importance of lion nature imagery in biblical literary compositions.

Narratives, prophecies, poetic and wisdom passages, all relate diverse interactions between lions and humans. The biblical references indicate an acquaintance with both ancient Near Eastern iconographical representations of lions and literary traditions and conventions of representation that we may assume prevailed fairly early. The lion’s habitats, predatory habits, qualities of power and persistence, etc., have all served biblical authors as metaphors that illustrate bravery and leadership, invoked in contexts of blessing and praise for leaders (e.g., 2 Sam 1:23; 2 Sam 17:10) and for tribes (Gen 49:9; Deut 33:22). But more commonly, the lion’s threatening aspect, his roar, power, and cruelty as predator characterize the cruel violence of leaders, kings, royal officials (e.g., Prov 28:15)—and God himself (e.g., Isa 31:4). Lions portray enemies of the individual (e.g., Pss 7:3; 22:14, 22), or of the nation (e.g., Jer 4:7); and God may be portrayed, like a lion, as a dangerous and threatening predator (e.g., Jer 25:34–38).

One of the intriguing questions regarding this vast lion imagery in the HB is whether these images are drawn from nature / real life or are simply literary conventions, invoking a cultural “imagination” of lions?[3] This entry considers both possibilities.

Of the more than one hundred and fifty-four occurrences of “lion” in the HB, אריה appears fifty-eight times; the form ארי occurs another thirty-five times; לביא appears eleven times, three times paired with אריה / ארי (Gen 49:9; Num 23:24; 24:9); twice paired with כפיר (Isa 5:29; Job 38:39); and twice paired with ליש (Isa 30:6; Job 4:11). כפיר occurs thirty one times, on its own (e.g., Jer 2:15; Ezek 32:2; Nah 2:14; Zech 11:3; Ps 34:11; Prov 18:12), or in diverse pairings; note כפיר אריות (e.g., Judg 14:5); גורי אריות / כפרים (Jer 51:38); and the more common pair, כפיר and אריה (Isa 31:4; Ezek 19:2, 6; Amos 3:4; Micah 5:7; Nah 2:12; Ps 17:12; Job 4:10).[4] שחל occurs seven times in the HB: on its own (Job 28:8); alongside leopard (Hos 13:7); and in the pairs: ארי and שחל (Prov 26:13); שחל and כפיר (Hos 5:14; Ps 91:13); and the triplet: כפירים, שחל, אריה (Job 4:10). ליש denoting a lion occurs three times in the HB, once as the symbol of might (Prov 30:30), and twice along with לביא (Isa 30:6; Job 4:11).[5] The female לביא (leviy’ah) occurs in only two passages, Ezek 19:1–9 (v. 2), and Nah 2:12–13 (v. 13; in the plural). In addition to the above terms, the expression גור אריה (“lion’s whelp”) occurs eight times, and with one exception (Lam 4:3, referring to the jackal’s cubs), גור is restricted in its HB occurrences to use with lions (Gen 49:9; Deut 33:22; Jer 51:38; Ezek 19:2, 3, 5; Nah 12, 13). Job 4:10–11 holds the record for most names in one context: בני לביא, ליש, כפירים, שחל, אריה.

The many different occurrences of lions in the historiography, prophecy, and poetry may be categorized in diverse ways (as indeed has been done in previous encyclopedia items and specific studies).[6] In this DNI Bible entry, I suggest that we evaluate the data using three descriptive categories: 1) “naturalistic” portrayals, reflecting empirically identifiable characteristics of lions; 2) portrayals influenced by iconographic and literary conventions; 3) “imagined” portrayals that counter known zoological features in the service of ideology, theology, etc. It is clear that these categories are somewhat permeable, and there are passages that are tough to classify in this framework. Still, I believe the framework to be of value.

1. “Naturalistic” descriptions of lions are descriptions of observable zoological characteristics. We may assume that such descriptions stem from either some sort of empirical knowledge of real lions, or knowledge of literary traditions based on empirical descriptions.[7] Even though almost all of the references to lion in the HB are used metaphorically, “naturalistic” descriptions form the basis of such usage.[8] Therefore, most of the HB mentions of lions may be placed under this first category (see the specific zoological information gathered below, in Parts, Element, Features that Are Specified in the Bible).
2. HB descriptions of lions based on, or influenced by, iconographic and literary traditions.[9] Under this category I place references to ornamental lions that decorate royal buildings and appurtenances in Jerusalem; e.g., the laver stands (1 Kgs 7:29); the king’s throne (1 Kgs 10:18–20); and possibly the gates of Samaria as well (2 Kgs 15:25).[10]

Images of lions in Ezekiel show familiarity with either Judean or Mesopotamian iconographical representations of lions. Based either on the prophet’s acquaintance with iconographic traditions in Judah or on his (newer) familiarity with Mesopotamian (mostly Neo-Assyrian) lion iconography. Note first the two occurrences of lion imagery in Ezekiel’s “visions of God” (1:10; 10:14), where lion’s face is one of the four faces of the hybrid animals that hold up the firmament. Note also the reference to Pharaoh pretending to be a כפיר גוים, though apparently he is but like a crocodile (Ezek 32:2), a contrast that builds on the presumed different royal symbolisms of Mesopotamian and Egyptian kings, although both royal cultures use leonine imagery.[11] Finally, in Ezek 41:19, the temple is ornamented with alternating human and lion faces around.[12]

Daniel’s dream (Dan 7:1–10), specifically 7:4, features four large animals, all hybrids, and thus seem to reside on iconographical traditions. The first has a lion face, the wings of a נשר, and human feet and mind.

3. Imaginative descriptions that do not cohere with (or that may even contradict) the zoological characteristics of lions. Such descriptions reflect literary traditions (or manipulations of such) either within the HB or in ancient Near Eastern literary sources.[13] Isaiah 40–66, for example, has a single reference to אריה, Isa 65:25; this verse itself paraphrases the earlier tradition in Isa 11:6–7, which predicts future harmony between natural antagonists like the lion and the ox, when both become herbivores. A second example may be seen in Nah 2:11–13, which presents an intriguing portrait of the lion providing food for his cubs and lionesses. This description counters zoological information, but seems to have a literary function and ideological agenda that needs to be deciphered (see Function in Context, below).[14]

These three categories are at times quite schematic (even arbitrary), as at least to a certain extent, lions’ imagery could reside on literary conventions, or be formulated based on pictorial symbols. However, the next part of this entry brings the detailed information one can gather from the biblical materials. This information seems to reflect observations of, even interactions with lions, either in the wild, or at times in human captivity.

To illustrate the richness of the imagery built upon lions in biblical literature, the discussion below categorizes the references by various zoological characteristics concerning habitats and dens, social and anatomical characteristics, dietary needs, hunting strategies, and even anthropocentric (“human-like”) qualities related to this predator. As mentioned above, each type of characteristic may be used in either literal or metaphoric language.[15] The zoological section of this entry will address those features that emerge from the biblical literary evidence, as discussed here (see Life & Natural Sciences section).

Habitats. (a) The following areas are described as places where lions live, listed here from north to south:

* The mountains שניר and חרמון, the remote high mountains in the north of the land of Israel (Song 4:8) (ממענות אריות מהררי נמרים “from the dens of lions, from the hills of leopards”).[16]

* Cis-Jordan, e.g., the בשן as the place from which Dan as lion jumps (Deut 33:22); and מואב (Isa 15:9).

* The mainland hills and mountain ranges of Ephraim (Samaria) and Judah, where narratives place encounters between humans and lions.

Areas and place names in the Northern Kingdom:

בית אל (in 1 Kgs 13:23–28), where the “man of God” (איש האלהים) hosted by a prophet resident of Beth El was killed by a lion on the way leading out of town.

Samaria and its vicinity, where one of the “disciples of the prophets” (בני הנביאים) meets Ahab king of Israel (1 Kgs 20:36, and vv. 39–43). Again, when the new residents of the Assyrian province Samarina face lions said to have been sent by YHWH, the God of the land (2 Kgs 17:24–28, v. 25).

Judean Shefelah and Judah: Samson, on his way to Timna on the Judean Shefelah, is threatened by a roaring כפיר אריות (LXX: σκύμνος λεόντων “a lion cub”; NJPS: “a full-grown lion,” Judg 14:5–9).

Benaiah son of Jehoiada, from Kabzeel in Judah, one of David’s heroes and a major officer in his army, kills a lion in a trap (2 Sam 23:20 || 1 Chron 11:22).

David shepherds in the vicinity of Beth Lehem of Judah, where he fought both lions and bears (1 Sam 17:34, 36, 37).

* Lions, לביא and ליש, are listed among the predators of the Negev that endanger armies and passersby (Isa 30:6).

These geographical arenas suggest the geographic distribution of lions in this region of the Levant. In addition, two other habitats are less concrete, but mentioned often with reference to lions in prophetic literature; they refer to vegetation units from the Jordan and westward:

* גאון הירדן “thickets of the Jordan” (Jer 49:19; 50:44; and Zech 11:3) is a habitat in which lions reside and from which they threaten shepherds in Neve Eithan.

* סבך “thickets” (Jer 4:7) and יער “forest and thickets” are the vegetation arenas from which lions emerge to attack humans and flocks. See Jer 5:6: על כן הכם אריה מיער (“Therefore, the lion of the forest strikes them down”); Jer 12:8: היתה לי נחלתי כאריה ביער (“My own people acted toward Me like a lion in the forest”); Amos 3:4: הישאג אריה ביער וטרף אין לו (“Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?”); Micah 5:7: כאריה בבהמות יער (“Like a lion among beasts of the wild”). These thickets and forests are within the Mediterranean phytogeographical area, see the DNI entry: Forest, יער, Forest/Chapparal.

In addition, several place names have one of the lion’s names. Note the earlier name of Dan, ליש (Judg 18:7, 14, 27, 29; Josh 19:47); כפירה in the territory of Benjamin (Josh 9:17; 18:26; Ezra 2:25; Neh 7:29); ה)כפירים) (Neh 6:2); אריאל as one of the many names of Jerusalem (Isa 29:1, 2, 7); לבאות in the territory of Judah (Josh 15:32); בית לבאות in the territory of Simeon in the Negev (Josh 19:6); מעלה גור in Judah (2 Kgs 9:27); and גור בעל (in 2 Chron 26:7).[17]

(b) Lion’s dens. מעון / מעונה (Amos 3:4; Nah 2:13); the sense is broadened in Nah 2:12  to denote a much more general habitat: איה מעון אריות ומרעה הוא לכפרים, אשר הלך אריה לביא שם גור אריה ואין מחריד (“What has become of that lions’ den, that pasture of great beasts, where lion and lion’s breed walked, and lion’s cub—with none to disturb them?”). Another term for a lion’s den is סכה, e.g., Jer 25:38: עזב ככפיר סכו (“like a lion, He has gone forth from His lair”; and see Ps 10:9); or he comes out of the thickets: עלה אריה מסבכו (“The lion has come up from his thicket,” Jer 4:7). The long list of rhetorical questions addressed to Job in God’s speech, Job 38:39–40, mentions both terms, מעונה and סכה, see התצוד ללביא טרף, וחית כפירים תמלא. כי ישחו במעונות, ישבו בסכה למו ארב (“Can you hunt prey for the lion, and satisfy the appetite of the king of beasts? [40] They crouch in their dens, lie in ambush in their lairs”). According to these verses, lions’ dens could be either hiding spaces within the thickets (e.g., Pss 10:9; 17:12); or open pastures (e.g., Nah 2:12), in which lions both eat their prey, and lie down there.[18]

(C) The Aramaic equivalent, גב אריותא (“lions’ den”) in Daniel 6:7–29, is an artificially built lions’ residence, located in the royal court, which was used for carrying out death sentences on traitors against the king (6:9, 13). According to the Daniel story, that death sentence was carried out upon the Babylonian officials who first accused Daniel, while he was saved due to his God’s intervention: ולא מטו לארעית גבא עד די שלטו בהון אריותא וכל גרמיהון הדקו (“They had hardly reached the bottom of the den when the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones,” v. 25). Daniel’s salvation is an attestation to YHWH’s protection and to his ability to overcome these threatening predators (vv. 17, 23, and then 27–28), simply by closing the lions’ mouths (v. 23).

Physiological / Anatomical Characteristics of the lions

* The lion’s body. The story of Samson’s bravery in killing the lion (Judg 14:8, 9) also refers to the body of the animal. After certain time, Samson comes back to מפלת האריה (“the remains of the lion”) or גוית האריה (“the lion’s skeleton”); the dead lion’s body has become a “home” to a swarm of bees.[19]

* Paws. 1 Sam 17:34, 37 (מיד הארי); Dan 6:28 (מן יד אריותא “from the hands/paws of the lions”). These references are short and do not give any special descriptions of the lion’s paws.

* Heart. In 2 Sam 17:20 the heart occurs as a reference to the lion’s bravery, the image is applied metaphorically to the hearts of Absalom’s warriors.

* Face. The lion’s face bears its major symbolic force; thus it appears in the metaphor of the warriors who come to David from the tribe of Gad: ופני אריה פניהם וכצבאים על ההרים למהר (“they had the faces [NJPS: appearance] of lions, and were as swift as gazelles upon the mountains,” 1 Chron 12:9). Otherwise, references to lion’s face occur in iconographic contexts (e.g., Ezek 1:10; 10:14), where the face identifies the hybrid animals that carry God (and see Dan 7:4).

* Mane, or rather, “beard”? One of the major differences between the Panthera leo (African lion) and the Panthera leo persica (Asiatic lion) concerns their mane. For the African lion, the mane circles the head and creates an image of a halo; whereas the Asiatic lion’s mane spreads mainly under its chin, thus creating the look of a beard (see Life & Natural Sciences section). This morphological difference is crucial for David’s boast to Saul about how he would kill both lions and bears, while serving as a shepherd (1 Sam 17:34–35): ובא הארי ואת הדוב ונשא שה מהעדר. ויצאתי אחריו והכתיו והצלתי מפיו, ויקם עלי והחזקתי בזקנו והכתיו והמיתיו (“and if a lion or a bear came and carried off an animal from the flock, [35] I would go after it and fight it and rescue it from its mouth. And if it attacked me, I would seize it by the beard and strike it down and kill it”).   

* Mouth. Mentioned in 1 Sam 17:35; Amos 3:12; Dan 6:23, as the major organ of this carnivore.

* Tongue. In Ps 57:5 along with לבאים, who are described as man-eating (להטים בני אדם); “whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongue is a sharp sword” (שניהם חנית וחצים ולשונם חרב חדה).

* Teeth. Joel 1:6 brings a frightening description of the human enemy, numerous in number, who have invaded the land, using the image of the lion’s teeth: שניו שני אריה ומתלעות לביא לו (“With teeth like the teeth of a lion, with the fangs of a lion’s breed”). The two terms that designate this predators’ teeth are thus שנים and מתלעות (Joel 1:6; Ps 57:5; and with no explicit reference to lion, Job 29:18; Prov 30:14).

Job 4:10: שאגת אריה וקול שחל, ושני כפירים נתעו (“The lion may roar, the cub may howl, but the teeth of the king of beasts are broken”) evokes both the lion’s roar and its teeth thus focusing on the general area of the lion’s mouth.[20]

Social Characteristics within a Pride of Lions. There are several mentions of groups of lions. The most detailed is the fable in Ezek 19:1–9: מה אמך לביא בין אריות, רבצה בתוך כפרים רבתה גוריה (“What a lioness was your mother among the lions! Crouching among the great beasts, she reared her cubs,” v. 2). The allegory focuses on the roles of the lioness in bringing up her two cubs, including teaching them how to hunt, which they learn  by observationוילמד לטרף טרף (“he learned to hunt prey,” vv. 3, 6). Did Ezekiel have a chance to see lions in the wild; or was he familiar with the behaviors of lionesses as parents, either through observation of the royal “zoo” in Babylon, or because of the pictorial traditions of royal hunts (e.g., for vv. 4, 8–9)?[21]

It is remarkable to find a description that contradicts this normative zoological picture in Nah 2:12–13, where the male lion is portrayed as tearing the prey apart to feed cubs and lionesses: אריה טרף בדי גרותיו ומחנק ללבאתיו, וימלא טרף חריו ומענתיו טרפה (“[Where is] the lion that tore victims for his cubs and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his lairs with prey and his dens with mangled flesh?”). In this case, the predatory male stands for the human enemy who God will cut off (v. 14). It may be this metaphorical application that spurs the transfer of the image from the female to the male lion.

For other references to lions (in the plural), see 2 Kgs 17:25, 26; Zech 11:3; Ps 104:21–22; Job 39:39–40; Song 4:8; Lam 4:3; Dan 6:8, 13, 17, 20, 21, 23, 25, 28; and כפיר אריות (Judg 14:5) understood as “a young lion from a / the pride of lions.”[22]

Roar. The lion’s roar is a powerful call that may work for the good, announcing salvation and gathering, e.g., Hos 11:10: אחרי יהוה ילכו כאריה ישאג, כי הוא ישאג ויחרדו בנים מים (“The LORD will roar like a lion, and they shall march behind Him; when He roars, His children shall come fluttering out of the west”).[23]

But oftentimes, the lion’s roar designates a fearful threat of a coming attack, e.g., Jer 2:15: עליו ישאגו כפרים נתנו קולם, וישיתו ארצו לשמה (“Lions have roared over him, they have raised their cries. They have made his land a waste”).[24] In Amos 3:8: אריה שאג מי לא יירא, אדני יהוה דבר מי לא ינבא (“A lion has roared, who can but fear? My Lord GOD has spoken, who can but prophesy?”) this threat causes fear of God and brings the prophet to obey God’s call.

Biblical references commonly understand the roar as associated with hunting.[25] Amos 3:4 asks a rhetorical question based on the behavior of lions when they have seized their prey: הישאג אריה ביער וטרף אין לו, היתן כפיר קולו ממענתו בלתי אם לכד (“Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a great beast let out a cry from its den without having made a capture?”). Isaiah 5:29 describes the highly alert, tireless, and well-equipped enemy God has summoned against his people (vv. 26–28), and closes this threatening description by comparing the enemies with a lion: שאגה לו כלביא ושאג (ק: ישאג) ככפירים וינהם ויאחז טרף ויפליט ואין מציל (“Their roaring is like a lion’s, they roar like the great beasts; when they growl and seize a prey, they carry it off and none can recover it”); the enemies of an individual may be similarly described, e.g., Ps 22:14: פצו עלי פיהם, אריה טרף ושאג (“They open their mouths at me, like tearing, roaring lions”). The image of roaring may also occur in more neutral contexts; e.g., in praise, Ps 104:21: הכפירים שאגים לטרף, ולבקש מאל אכלם (“The lions roar for prey, seeking their food from God”); or in a wisdom speech, Job 4:10: שאגת אריה וקול שחל, ושני כפירים נתעו (“The lion may roar, the cub may howl, but the teeth of the king of beasts are broken).[26]

It is of interest to note that the majority of these physical descriptions are focused on the head and its organs, and more specifically the on area of the mouth as the source of the lion’s terrifying, expressed in his vocalizations as well as in the fact of his killing and consuming his prey.

Hunting Strategies. The lion is the greatest carnivore, and thus Isa 11:6–7 is remarkable in placing the lions (כפיר and אריה) as herbivores side by side with the calf and ox (עגל and בקר), which are their common food. The predatory prowess of the lion is referred to in many passages that seem to know quite accurately “natural” aspects of the ways lions capture their prey.

* Rising up and persisting until it captures its prey –  Num 23:24: הן עם כלביא יקום וכארי יתנשא, לא ישכב עד יאכל טרף ודם חללים ישתה (“Lo, a people that rises like a lion, leaps up like the king of beasts, rests not till it has feasted on prey and drunk the blood of the slain”)

* Willingness to wait for a long to get the prey, with no fear of the shepherds—this image serves as metaphor for God’s persistence (or rather, insistence) on punishing Jerusalem – כאשר יהגה האריה והכפיר על טרפו אשר יקרא עליו מלא רעים מקולם לא יחת ומהמונם לא יענה, כן ירד יהוה צבאות לצבא על הר ציון ועל גבעתה (“As a lion—a great beast—growls over its prey and, when the shepherds gather in force against him, is not dismayed by their cries nor cowed by their noise—So the LORD of Hosts will descend to make war against the mount and the hill of Zion,” Isa 31:4).

* Lying in wait, watching for the appropriate moment to attack, describes the enemy in Ps 10:9:  יארב במסתר כאריה בסכה יארב לחטוף עני, יחטף עני במשכו ברשתו (“He waits in a covert like a lion in his lair to seize the lowly; he seizes the lowly as he pulls his net shut”); (for the necessity to wait, see also Job 38:39–40); and Ps 17:12: דמינו כאריה יכסוף לטרוף, וככפיר ישב במסתרים (“He is like a lion eager for prey, a king of beasts lying in wait”). These vivid descriptions have the clear role of raising divine empathy and calling upon God to rescue (e.g., Ps 22:22).

But note that this same image of the lurking lion (and bear) is exactly the image used to describe God acting against the poet in Lam 3:10: דב ארב הוא לי, אריה (ק: ארי) במסתרים (“He is a lurking bear to me, a lion in hiding”).

* Lion attacks on the road – The consolation prophecy in Isa 35:9 excludes the possibility that lions will threaten the people on their return to Judah: לא יהיה שם אריה ופריץ חיות בל יעלנה לא תמצא שם, והלכו גאולים (“No lion shall be there, no ferocious beast shall set foot on it—these shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk it”).

* Sudden attack – the גור אריה (gur Arieh, the lion’s whelp) “leaps from the Bashan” (זינק, Deut 33:22).

* Pursuit with no escape – such is God’s attack against Ephraim and Judah: כי אנכי כשחל לאפרים וככפיר לבית יהודה, אני אני אטרף ואלך  אשא ואין מציל (“No, I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great beast to the House of Judah; I, I will attack and stride away, carrying the prey that no one can rescue”).

* Eating the prey – the lion consumes it all, the meat and the bones. Gad is portrayed in Deut 33:20, as a לביא that tears off זרוע אף קדקד (“arm and scalp”). This total consumption becomes an image of total annihilation in Amos 3:12: כאשר יציל הרעה מפי הארי שתי כרעים או בדל אזן כן ינצלו בני ישראל הישבים בשמרון (“As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s jaws two shank bones or the tip of an ear, so shall the Israelites escape who dwell in Samaria”); and similarly in Jer 50:17: שה פזורה ישראל אריות הדיחו, הראשון אכלו מלך אשור וזה האחרון עצמו נבוכדראצר מלך בבל (“Israel are scattered sheep, harried by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured them, and in the end King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon crunched their bones”).

This sense of complete destruction lends a sense of exceptionality to the story of the lion attack on the “man of God” (איש האלהים) hosted by a prophet from Beth El (1 Kgs 13:23–28). The man of God riding on his donkey was killed by a lion, which nevertheless neither consumed his victim nor harmed his donkey: לא אכל האריה את הנבלה ולא שבר את החמור (v. 28).

* Lying down –in two contexts this appears to be a posture for eating the meat, and the bones; and for digesting the meal for long hours after eating, when the lion is observed lying down with no interest in moving, and with no fear that requires alertness. Lying down in the open has thus become a symbol of relaxation and security; see Gen 49:9: גור אריה יהודה מטרף בני עלית, כרע רבץ כאריה וכלביא מי יקימנו (“Judah is a lion’s whelp; on prey, my son, have you grown. He crouches, lies down like a lion, like the king of beasts—who dares rouse him?”); and similarly, Num 24:8–9:  … יאכל גוים צריו ועצמתיהם יגרם וחציו ימחץ. כרע שכב כארי וכלביא מי יקימנו (“They shall devour enemy nations, crush their bones, and smash their arrows. [9] They crouch, they lie down like a lion, Like the king of beasts; who dare rouse them?”). This picture of security and relaxation may be behind the comparison of the righteous to a lion in Prov 28:1: נסו ואין רדף רשע, וצדיקים ככפיר יבטח (“The wicked flee though no one gives chase, but the righteous are as confident as a lion”).

* Hunting verbs: To add to these descriptions, Brent Strawn brought a full list of the verbs that describe the lion’s actions while hunting.[27] The list includes thirty-six verbs, beginning with A.) the need / desire to hunt (כסף, בקש, חיה, להט); B.) hunting (צוד, מצא, פקד); C.) waiting / lurking / hiding (for prey) (בטח, ארב, ישב); D.) chasing / driving (נדח Hif’il, רוץ Hif’il, רגע Hif’il); E.) taking / grabbing / seizing / dragging off (prey) (פלט Hif’il ;אחז, חטף, לכד,  נשא, פרק, משך); F.) breaking / harming / trampling (שבר, דקק, עמס, חבל, Hif’il רעע); G.) ripping / tearing / scratching (טרף [v.] טרף / טרפה [n.], קרע,  piel פשח); H.) killing (נכה Hif’il; הרג, רצח, שלט;  Hif’il שחט; piel חנק; Hif’il שלם; piel מלא).

Other Anthropocentric “Qualities.” The lion’s manner of devouring its prey was taken to embody certain qualities, which are presented from an anthropocentric perspective (i.e., using human personified language); and then transformed again to symbolize different human qualities.

* The great powers related to the lion are described through a variety of attributes: the lion is גבור (Prov 30:30), in fact it is the mightiest among the beasts! So it appears also in Samson’s riddle: ומה עז מארי (“and what is stronger than a lion?” Judg 14:18); in David’s dirge over Saul and Jonathan, the lion symbolizes military bravery: מנשרים קלו מאריות גברו (“They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions!” 2 Sam 1:23).

* The lion’s general control over other animals, wild and inhabited, is encapsulated in comparisons of the lion to other animals, ליש גבור בבהמה (“the mightiest of the beasts,” Prov 30:30); כפיר גוים (“great beast among the nations,” Ezek 32:2). Thus, the image is used to denote the great strength of the Remnant of Jacob among the nations in Micah 5:7: כאריה בבהמות יער ככפיר בעדרי צאן, אשר אם עבר ורמס וטרף ואין מציל (“Like a lion among beasts of the wild, like a fierce lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples wherever it goes and rends, with none to deliver”).

* The lion’s bravery is expressed as residing either in its face (1 Chron 12:9; see above); or in its heart (2 Sam 17:10). Hushai illustrates his advice to Absalom with two similes: the first concerns the bravery of David and his men, who are like “a bear in the wild robbed of her whelps” (2 Sam 17:8); the second diminishes the courage that will be shown by Absalom’s warriors: even if they are brave, “with the heart of a lion,” still their hearts will melt in fear (המס ימס). This usage of the two similes is of interest as it places the bear “robbed of her whelps” as stronger than the lion.

* The lion’s endurance and persistence in laying in wait for the prey; is used metaphorically to describe God’s watching over Jerusalem while waiting to punish it, Isa 31:4 (see above).

Human Interactions with Lions. One of the interesting aspects of lion imagery is the way interaction between humans and lions are portrayed. There are two main images.

* Lions kill humans: The threat of lions against shepherds is repeatedly invoked: (1) against David (1 Sam 17); (2) against the shepherds of Israel / Judah in a metaphoric sense; e.g., Isa 31:4, where God is the lion and the shepherds are the people’s leaders trying to push him away, though he is determined to get his prey, the people of Jerusalem.

In two prophetic narratives, this threat of a lion attack against humans serves to underscore the theological-didactic lesson that God’s word demands obedience.

(1) 1 Kgs 13:24–25: A “man of God” (איש האלהים) was killed by a lion on the way out of town (1 Kgs 13:23–28). As mentioned above, the anecdote emphasizes that this is a divine judgment on that man’s disobedience to God’s words (vv. 20–22, 26); thus, though the lion kills the man, it exceptionally neither harms the body, nor injures the donkey (vv. 25, 28).

(2) This demand for obedience is again demonstrated in 1 Kgs 20:36, where another of the “disciples of the prophets” (בני הנביאים) is threatened by his friend for not adhering to a divine command (to bite him), and then is indeed killed by a lion.

Another theological lesson is learnt from the short anecdote in 2 Kgs 17:24–28: The new residents of the Assyrian province Samarina, brought by Sargon II, face lions that are said to have been sent by YHWH, the God of the land (v. 25).

* Humans kill lions – three such stories recur in the HB:

(1) Judg 14:5–9, Samson is threatened by a roaring כפיר אריות (“a young lion from a / the pride of lions”), which he kills as easily as if it was a goat kid (גדי). The story emphasizes Samson’s bravery and courage, underscored by the fact that he seeks out the dead predator on his way back, and scoops honey from the carcass (Judg 14:8, 9). Furthermore, Samson does not tell his parents the origins of that honey he brought them, as if unworthy of sharing this note. This incident will provide the background to Samson’s riddle, which will then build his fame at the wedding feast (and ever since): מהאכל יצא מאכל ומעז יצא מתוק (“Out of the eater came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet,” v. 14), and its solution: מה מתוק מדבש ומה עז מארי (“What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion?”).

(2) 1 Sam 17:34, 36, 37, David boasts of killing lions and bears during his time as a shepherd; this illustrate his abilities and bravery, which qualify him to face Goliath, the human enemy.[28]

(3) 2 Sam 23:20, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, from Kabzeel, one of David’s heroes, killed שני אראל (“two [sons] of Ariel”) as well as a lion (האריה Q: הארי) in a pit.

* Killing lions – there are several hints about how this might be done: Several verbs may define the warrior’s actions: שסע piel (Judg 14:6, as one does to a goat kid); הכה (in 1 Sam 17:34, 36; 2 Sam 23:20). Another strategy is laying traps, as may be implied in the anecdote about Benaiah son of Jehoiada.

This rich array of leonine imagery shows that in both literal and metaphorical contexts, “naturalistic,” description, evoking observable traits of lions and their behavior, was required to validate the narrative description or the vehicle of the metaphor. An aspect that deserves further study is the abundant use of anthropocentric-personifying language, by which “natural” features are used to describe lions, relating “human-like” qualities to this predator.

With all the detailed information one may gather from references to lions in the HB, it is significant to note that most of these references are used symbolically, as similes or metaphors; and no less important, that the naturalistic information put forth about lions is used for didactic, ideological, and theological purposes. Hence (as mentioned above in B. Distribution), the distinction between “naturalistic” and “metaphorical” usages is often unsatisfactory. The following comments are aimed at highlighting some of the special features that characterize the utilization of lion imagery in the different biblical compositions.[29]

* Mentions of lions in the Pentateuch are restricted to contexts of eponymous blessings, occurring  only in poetic passages. אריה (aryeh) occurs in the two poetic blessings to the tribes, in the metaphorical phrase גור אריה (“lion’s whelp”). In Gen 49:9 this image is applied to Judah; in Moses’s blessing (Deut 33:22), Gad is called a לביא (Deut 33:20) and Dan as is called a גור אריה (“lion’s whelp,” 33:22).[30] Both לביא and ארי are the two symbols applied to the people of Israel as a whole in Balaam’s prophetic blessings (Num 23:24; 24:9).

* Biblical narratives in Judges, Samuel, and Kings use the interaction between lions and humans in various ways, emphasizing either the role of the predator or that of the human individual (shepherd or otherwise) threatened by lions.

Stories of humans killing lions are important anecdotes that show the bravery and warlike abilities of biblical heroes. Such are the stories of Samson (a judge), David (a king-to-be), and Benaiah (one of David’s might men and a major army officer, Judg 14:5–9; 1 Sam 17:34, 36, 37; and 2 Sam 23:20). As Brent Strawn observed, it is quite surprising that there are so few instances that treat the kings of Israel and Judah as lions.[31] The exceptions are Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam 1:23); the last kings of Judah (Ezek 19:2–9); and possibly indirectly 12:13; 17:20.

Narratives that tell of lions killing humans illustrate divine judgment for disobedience to God’s commands (1 Kgs 13:22–28; 20:35–36). This is mainly illustrated by the extraordinary outcome of such incidents, in comparison to the customary results when lions hunt for themselves (1 Kgs 13:22–28).

* Prophetic literature mentions lions in several metaphorical contexts. Prophets construct their messages against individuals, against Israel (or Judah), and against the people’s enemies, by invoking the leonine qualities described above: their power, their threatening aspect, and their actual attacks on humans, extended to signify attacking entire nations.[32] In those contexts, lions stand for internal powerful and sinful leadership, for human enemies, and for God.

Leaders, traders, powerful figures of society as lions. Raising princes to becoming kings is presented in the allegory of Ezekiel on the lioness that raises her cubs, Ezek 19:1–9. The allegory covers a whole life cycle of the two cubs till they were each caught and taken, the one to the Egypt and the other to the king of Babylon (vv. 4 and 9). Another example where כפירים refer to the royal leadership is in Nah 2:14 וכפיריך תאכל חרב (“and the sword shall devour your lions [NJPS: great beasts]”). According to Zephaniah, sinful officials are active in Jerusalem: שריה בקרבה אריות שאגים (“The officials within her are roaring lions,” Zeph 3:3), and Ezekiel designates prophets as כארי שואג טרף טרף (“Her gang of prophets are like roaring lions in her midst,” Ezek 22:25).

Ezekiel refers to foreign traders as lions, Ezek 38:13: שבא ודדן וסחרי תרשיש וכל כפריה (“Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants and all the magnates of Tarshish”).

The people as a lion: Once does Jeremiah draw the image of the people as a roaring lion in the forest threatening, not else but God (12:8); and once “a ravening lion” serves to illustrate the internal struggle in Judah against God’s prophets (2:30).

Human enemies as lions: Judgment prophecies often evoke rich descriptions of the fierce human enemy as a lion, summoned by God against his people; e.g., Isa 5:29 (see above); Isa 30:6, enumerating לביא וליש side by side with two snakes—that also symbolize enemies; Jer 4:7, where the human enemy from the north is a lion that comes out of the thickets: עלה אריה מסבכו; or Jer 5:6, where the lion is the first in a list of predators summoned by God against Judah. In Joel 1:6 the enemy horde invading the land is likened to the lions’ teeth: שניו שני אריה ומתלעות לביא לו (“With teeth like the teeth of a lion, with the fangs of a lion’s breed”).

* God as a lion is a major image in the prophetic literature. In Amos 3:8, the lion’s strength, and impressive and threatening roar, are ascribed to God: אריה שאג מי לא יירא, אדני יהוה דבר מי לא ינבא (“A lion has roared, who can but fear? My Lord GOD has spoken, who can but prophesy?”).

In several prophecies, lion imagery is used to portray God as the enemy. In these instances, harsher features are evoked. See Hos 5:14, where Hosea describes God’s attack against Ephraim and Judah as that of a hunting lion, from which there is no escape: כי אנכי כשחל לאפרים וככפיר לבית יהודה, אני אני אטרף ואלך  אשא ואין מציל (“No, I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great beast to the House of Judah; I, I will attack and stride away, Carrying the prey that no one can rescue”). This same line of imagery is followed in Hos 13:7–8: ואהי להם כמו שחל, כנמר על דרך אשור. אפגשם כדב שכול ואקרע סגור לבם, ואכלם שם כלביא חית השדה תבקעם (“So I become like a lion to them, like a leopard I lurk on the way. (8) Like a bear robbed of her young I attack them, and rip open the casing of their hearts; I will devour them there like a lion, the beasts of the field shall mangle them”).

In Isa 31:4, God is configured as a predator against his own people. Like the lion, who persists in standing over his prey without fearing the shepherds, so God will persist against his people.כאשר יהגה האריה והכפיר על טרפו אשר יקרא עליו מלא רעים מקולם לא יחת ומהמונם לא יענה, כן ירד יהוה צבאות לצבא על הר ציון ועל גבעתה (“As a lion—a great beast—growls over its prey and, when the shepherds gather in force against him, is not dismayed by their cries nor cowed by their noise—So the LORD of Hosts will descend to make war against the mount and the hill of Zion”).

In two judgment prophecies against the nations, Jer 49:19; 50:44, God is the lion that threatens the shepherds of Edom and of Babylon. Though addressed to those two nations, the imagery is situated in Ge’on HaYarden.

* Several individual laments (and one communal lament) in Psalms use the image of a lion to denote the human enemy of the psalmist. The enemy, like a lion, tears apart his prey (Pss 7:3; 22:14), or waits secretly to seize his prey (Ps 10:9). These vivid descriptions are clearly intended to evoke divine sympathy and call God to the rescue (e.g., Ps 22:22).

In Lam 3:10, however, this same image of the lion in hiding, ready to pounce, is applied not to the human enemy, but to God himself.

* Wisdom literature features proverbs with observations on leaders; several address the danger in a king or a ruler that roars like a lion in anger, creating fear (Prov 19:12; 20:2; 28:15). In a very different portrayal, Prov 28:1 refers to the righteous as a secure lion.

Outside the prophetic literature, Job dares to present God as lion that hunts him (Job 10:16; 16:9); this kind of a complaint also appears in the individual lament in Isa 38:13 (and with no explicit mention of a lion, Lam 3:4).

The only occurrence of אריה in Ecclesiastes is the proverb in 9:4 that compares a dead lion to a living כלב, recognizing the hierarchal difference between the two animals, and works by contrasting the great powers of the lion with those of the lowly dog.

In sum: Leonine imagery in the Bible often utilizes “naturalistic” features. These may be confirmed by zoological evidence (see Life & Natural Sciences section below); though it is possible that such descriptions were based, not on empirical observation, but on the stock of traditional culturally available knowledge about lions and their habits. In several examples it is clear that literary, ideological, and/or theological agendas have taken over the “naturalistic” description to the point that they reverse or contradict the zoological characteristics.

It is helpful to compare the use of leonine imagery in Jeremiah and Ezekiel such a comparison opens the way to consider the distinction between “naturalistic” descriptions and pictorial / literary ones. Jeremiah seems to have had an acquaintance with actual lions (or with “naturalistic” literary traditions), whereas Ezekiel seems to have known them primarily through iconography (e.g., 1:10; 10:14); though it is at least theoretically possible that he saw lionesses and cubs in captivity in Babylon (Ezek 19:1–9).

Within the range of the leonine imagery applied to God, in both the prophetic literature and the individual and communal laments, it is of interest that the symbolic-language attributes to God the predatory skills of the lion—its power and devouring strategies. These characteristics fit well with the zoological characteristics of the male lion. In this framework, Ps 111:5’s imagery of the lion providing prey to his family appears as an exceptional, contrary-to-fact description.[33]

* Pairings of diverse names for lions

גור אריה (“lion’s whelp”), in reference to Judah (Gen 49:9); and also to Dan (Deut 33:22). גור “Lion’s whelp” occurs eight times in the HB, restricted to lions (Gen 49:9; Deut 33:22; Jer 51:38; Ezek 19:2, 3, 5; Nah 12, 13; with one exception, Lam 4:3, jackal’s cubs).

לביא  is paired with אריה / ארי  in Gen 49:9; Num 23:24; 24:9.

לביא and כפיר occur together in Isa 5:29; and לביא and ליש in Isa 30:6.

כפיר אריות, Judg 14:5.

גורי אריות / כפרים, Jer 51:38.

כפיר and אריה, Isa 31:4; Ezek 19:2, 6; Amos 3:4; Micah 5:7; Nah 2:12; Ps 17:12; Job 4:10.

ארי and שחל, Prov 26:13.

שחל and כפיר, Hos 5:14; Ps 91:13; and the triplet: כפירים, שחל, אריה, Job 4:10.

ליש (layish) alongside לביא, Isa 30:6; Job 4:11.

Clusters of more than two lion-names in a row appear in Nah 2:12: גור אריה, לביא, אריה, כפרים, אריות.

A cluster of five names of lions in one passage occurs in Job 10–11: בני לביא, ליש, כפירים, שחל, אריה.

Lions and other animals (the list is not complete):

Clusters of predators:

אריה and דב, e.g., Lam 3:10.

שחל (shachal) and נמר, Hos 13:7.

אריה and צבי (gazelles) symbolize heroic warriors characterized by power and speed, e.g., 2 Sam 1:23, and 1 Chron 12:9.

A dead אריה  and a living כלב, Eccl 9:4 recognizes the hierarchal difference between them, sets the comparison between.

[1]    This high number of occurrences denotes the explicit references to lions in the HB; Brent Strawn adduced about fifty more verses in which lions are implicitly referred to. See his What Is Stronger than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (OBO 212; Fribourg: Fribourg Academic Press; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005), Appendix 1, 293–325, and Appendix 2, 327–56.

[2]    See Rashi on Job 4:10–11; and Alkana Bilik, “Lion,” Encyclopedia Mikrait  (8 vols.; Jerusalem: Bialik, 1950), 1:560–64, esp. 561–63. Rabbinic literature treated the lion as the king of the beasts, b. Hagiga 13b. For a thorough study of lion imagery, see Strawn, What Is Stronger than a Lion?  Appendix 1. Strawn argues that including the possibility that the different names may stand for diverse subspecies within the species lion.

[3]    Strawn (What Is Stronger than a Lion? 27, and passim) used the thoughtful phrase “imag(in)ed,” and thus left open both possibilities. Nevertheless, his basic conclusion – based on the large number of passages that mention lions in the HB – was that lions were prevalent in ancient Israel/Palestine. While he noted that this conclusion is debated, he still took this position as his working hypothesis. I find myself agreeing with him (and others) on this point.

[4] On the basis of Ezek 19:1–9 and several other passages, כפיר was thought to denote the young cubs.

[5] ליש also occurs as a place name, the earlier name of the territory of Dan (Judges 18, see discussion infra).

[6] See for instance, Alkana Bilik, “Lion,” Encyclopedia Miqrait (18 vols.; Jerusalem: Bialik, 1950), 1:560–64; William S. McCullough and Friedrich S. Bodenheimer, “Lion,” IDB (4 vols.; New York and Nashville: Abingdon, 1962), 3:136–37; and in a much more detailed discussion, Strawn, What Is Stronger than a Lion? Ch. 2, 25–68, and Appendix 2.

[7] On the theoretical basis of using “naturalistic” descriptions to understand metaphor and imagery language in general, see Strawn, What Is Stronger than a Lion? 5–20.

[8]    Note Strawn’s important methodological observation (ibid., 28), that a reference that could be “exclusively naturalistic in presentation might be symbolic or metaphoric in function.” This could also happen in the opposite direction; to quote Strawn again: “even highly developed metaphorical instances of lion imagery often contain naturalistic information” (28).

[9]   The information mentioned here is restricted to the evidence of the HB, see the discussion on the iconography data in section 4 below.

[10]   The two accusatives, את הארגב ואת האריה in 2 Kgs 15:25 have been much discussed. I here follow Markham Geller’s suggestion to understand them as figures of an eagle and a lion flanking the gates of the Samaria palace; see Markham J. Geller, “A New Translation to 2 Kings 15:25,” VT 26 (1976): 374–77; and see Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, II Kings (AB 11; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1988), 173.

[11]  For royal ideologies in Egypt, Mesopotamia and other ancient Near Eastern cultures, and their much more prominent use of leonine imagery and symbols, see Strawn, What Is Stronger than a Lion? 174–83. Strawn (pp. 174–78) pointed out the abundant use of leonine imagery in Egypt throughout its history, particularly in “contexts of military victory,” to illustrate “concepts of power, domination, ferocity, and violence” (177); and this is fairly similar to the use of the lion in Mesopotamian royal imagery, 178–80.

[12]   In addition, see the allegory in Ezek 19:1–9 below. This allegory reflects details that may be based on observation of lionesses and cubs, as well as on acquaintance with pictorial representations of lions hunting (19:8–9).

[13]    Compare to Strawn (What Is Stronger than a Lion? 43–46), who used the rubric of stories that portray lions “in an atypical fashion” (45). His examples were: 1 Kgs 13:24, 25, 28; Dan 6:23; and he added to these, stories where the killer becomes the killed (Judg 14:5–6; 1 Sam 17:35, 36; 2 Sam 23:20 || 1 Chron 11:22); the cumulative effect of these stories gave Strawn “a good reason to consider this an atypical, symbolic lion” (46). He also observed that in these stories, “despite their legendary prowess, boldness, strength, fearsomeness, and the like, lions are killable. That is, the lion is a very real, very mortal creature, at least in naturalistic contexts, despite its legendary and mythological use in many other contexts” (46). I agree, and thus consider the above-named passages as additional indicators either of the acquaintance of authors with “naturalistic” features of lions, or of their recognition that leonine imagery should cohere with “naturalistic” features, even if the imagery itself stems from a literary tradition.

[14]   Strawn (ibid., 49) also noted Ps 111:5, in which God provides prey for his adherents (and Strawn did concede that טרף stands generally for food, which then would exclude this passage from our lists of leonine imagery). If we follow Strawn here in counting this verse as a lion reference, then this would be another image that stands in contradiction to the zoological information, for good theological reasons. See D. Function in Context, on God as a lion, where indeed the imagery highlights different of divine activity, but never that of providing food.

[15]    See Strawn’s list of naturalist images (Ibid., 28 n. 13): Judg 14:5, 8, 9, 18(?); 1 Sam 17:34, 36, 37; 2 Sam 23:20; 1 Kgs 13:24, 25, 26, 28, 36; 2 Kgs 17:25, 26; Isa 15:9(?); Isa 30:6; Jer 5:6(?); Amos 3:4, 8(?), 12; 5:19; Zech 11:3(?); Ps 104:21; Job 28:8(?); 38:39; Prov 22:13; 26:13; 30:30; Song 4:8; Eccl 9:4; Lam 4:3; Dan 6:8, 13, 17, 20, 21, 23, 25, 28; 1 Chron 11:22. To these Strawn added the following occurrences, taken from the list of other passages that evoke lion imagery (in his Appendix 2): Gen 37:33 (חיה רעה) and 44:28 (טרף טרף); Exod 22:12 (טרף יטרף); Judg 14:14(?) (note that the riddle is part of the context of the story in vv. 5–18]; 1 Sam 17:35 (v. 34 has הארי והדב); Jer 12:5 (גאון הירדן with no lion, in contrast to Jer 49:19); Ps 104:22 (v. 21 has כפירים); Job 3:40 (v. 39: לביא, כפירים). In my categorization, all of these examples would fall in group 1.

[16]    Amanah, Snir, Hermon are hapaxes in the Song of Songs, while Lebanon occurs seven times in the scroll. They each and all together represent the furthest northern and remote mountain areas in the Song of Songs; see also Song 4:11, 15; the cedar among the trees of Lebanon, Song 3:9; 5:15; or the height of Lebanon, 7:5. Yair Zakovitch (Song of Songs [Mikra LeYisrael; Tel Aviv: Am Oved; Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 1992], 92) took these place names as simply standing for exotic distances. The general geography of the Song is more commonly located around the city of Jerusalem and the Judean Desert, but there is an observable tendency in the Song to mention remote places (ibid., 29).

[17]   Although, as Strawn (What Is Stronger than a Lion? 42–43) pointed out, the גור component could stand for גור I, “to sojourn.”

[18]   For a much longer and detailed list of the different habitats, see Strawn, What Is Stronger than a Lion? 349–52. From a zoological point of view, the distinctions between geographical areas of habitat and different dens is rather arbitrary, as lions move around in their territory. But, in the current discussion I wanted to highlight the geographical spread of lions in this region of the Levant.

[19]Scholars often take this description as a piece of fantasy that relates “the verisimilitude of the marvelous,” as characterized by George F. Moore, Judges (ICC; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1895), 332–33; and see Strawn, What Is Stronger than a Lion?, 34.

[20]   Note the three different names for lions brought together in this one verse: אריה, שחל, כפיר.

[21]   See the zoological discussion below. The “naturalistic” background of the allegory in Ezek 19:1–9 has been challenged, see Ingo Kottsieper, “Was ist deine Mutter? Eine Studie zu Ez 19,2–9,” ZAW 105 (1993): 444–461. On the royal hunt and Ezekiel’s use of it, see Dalit Rom-Shiloni, “Nature Imagery in the Interplay between Different Metaphors in the Book of Ezekiel,” in Networks of Metaphors in the Hebrew Bible (ed. Danilo Verde and Antje Labahn; BETL; Louvain, 2020), 93–109.

[22]  Thus Strawn, What Is Stronger than a Lion? 32 n. 39

[23]   See Strawn (What Is Stronger than a Lion? 345–49) for the different terms and verbal phrases that are used to express the lion’s vocalizations.

[24]    See Edward R. Hope, “Problems of Interpretation in Amos 3:4,” BT 42 (1991): 201–5. For a study of the lion’s roar, see George B. Schaller, The Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator–Prey Relations (Wildlife Behavior and Ecology 86; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976).

[25]   See the zoological section of this entry, which notes that the roar is not connected to the activity of hunting. This is a significant contradiction between the “naturalistic” detail and the frequent (and general) references to the circumstances in which lions roar.

[26]   Note the three different names for lions brought together in this one verse: אריה, שחל, כפיר.

[27]  Strawn, What Is Stronger than a Lion? 333–39.

[28]David’s boasting parallels royal ideology, illustrated time and again in Assyrian pictography of the kings hunting lions.

[29]    The internal categories of the metaphorical usages of lion imagery are a great challenge in themselves. Strawn (What Is Stronger than a Lion? 46–65) distinguished positive and negative images, though he clarified (p. 49) that his reference to images as “positive” is “somewhat misleading” and that they are positive only “in appropriation; the tone of the metaphorical connection is, in reality, quite negative and violent.” He further argued that even those “positive” ones build on the lion’s power (perceived in itself as negative), just like the “negative” ones. Strawn also invoked this antonymy in his discussion of leonine images of God as “positive” or “negative” (pp. 58–65). I find this categorization and terminology very problematic (it is always a matter of perspective), and would not use it in this context.

[30]    Note that in Gen 49:16–17, Dan is likened to the snake, shfifon; and Gad (vv. 19–20) is characterized by the region’s agricultural product, oil.

[31]   Strawn, What Is Stronger than a Lion? 55–56.

[32]   See Strawn (What Is Stronger than a Lion? 26–27), who argued that the “polyvalent symbol” lion imagery serves in all depends on the primary two aspects, the threat and the power.

[33] See n. 15 above. The other exception refers to the human enemy as a lion that provides  food for his cubs and lionesses (Nah 2:12–13). I understand both as having been crafted in contradiction to the zoological information, for good theological reasons.

Alkana Bilik, “Lion,” Encyclopedia Miqrait  (18 vols.; Jerusalem: Bialik, 1950), 1:560–64.

Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, II Kings (AB 11; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1988).

Markham J. Geller, “A New Translation to 2 Kings 15:25,” VT 26 (1976): 374–77.

Edward R. Hope, “Problems of Interpretation in Amos 3:4,” BT 42 (1991): 201–5.

Ingo Kottsieper, “Was ist deine Mutter? Eine Studie zu Ez 19,2–9,” ZAW 105 (1993): 444–61.

William S. McCullough and Friedrich S. Bodenheimer, “Lion,” IDB (4 vols.; New York and Nashville: Abingdon, 1962), 3:136–37.

George F. Moore, Judges (ICC; Edinburgh: T& TClark, 1895).

Dalit Rom-Shiloni, “Nature Imagery in the Interplay between Different Metaphors in the Book of Ezekiel,” in Networks of Metaphors in the Hebrew Bible, edited by D. Verde and A. Labahn, Bibliotheca Ephmeridaum Theologicarum Lovaniensium (Louvan: Brill, 2020), 93–109.

George B. Schaller, The Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator–Prey Relations (Wildlife Behavior and Ecology 86; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976).

Brent Strawn, What Is Stronger than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East, OBO 212 (Fribourg: Fribourg Academic Press;  Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005).

Yair Zakovitch, Song of Songs, Mikra LeYisrael (Tel Aviv: Am Oved; Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 1992).

Other sources:

1. Ḥagiga 13b