List of Animals in The Bible - E

E

• Eagle. - So is generally rendered the Hebrew, néshér, but there is a doubt as to whether the eagle or some kind of vulture is intended. It seems even probable that the Hebrews did not distinguish very carefully these different large birds of prey, and that all are spoken of as though they were of one kind. Anyway, four species of eagles are known to live in Israel: aquila chrysœtos, aquila nœvia, aquila heliaca, and circœtos gallicus. Many allusions are made to the eagle in the Bible: its inhabiting the dizziest cliffs for nesting, its keen sight, its habit of congregating to feed on the slain, its swiftness, its longevity, its remarkable care in training its young, are often referred to (see in particular Job 39:27-30). When the relations of Israel with their neighbours became more frequent, the eagle became, under the pen of the Jewish prophets and poets, an emblem first of the Assyrian, then of the Babylonian, and finally of the Persian kings.

• Elephant. — We learn from Assyrian inscriptions that before the Hebrews settled in Syria, there existed elephants in that country, and Tiglath-Pileser I tells us about his exploits in elephant hunting. We do not read, however, of elephants in the Bible until the Machabean times. True, III Kings speaks of ivory, or "elephants' teeth", as the Hebrew text puts it, yet not as indigenous, but as imported from Ophir. In the post-exilian times, especially in the books of the Machabees, elephants are frequently mentioned; they were an important element in the armies of the Seleucides. These animals were imported either from India or from Africa.

• Ericus, a Latin name of the hedgehog, preserved in the D.V. as a translation of the Hebrew word qíppôdh (Isaiah 14:23; 34:11; Zephaniah 2:14, the word urchin has been used) and qîppôz (Isaiah 34:15). The above identification of the qíppôdh is based both on the Greek rendering and the analogy between this Hebrew word and the Talmudic (qúppádh), Syriac (qufdô'), Arabic (qúnfúd) and Ethiopian (qinfz) names of the hedgehog. Several scholars, however, discard this identification, because the hedgehog, contrary to the qíppôdh, lives neither in marshes nor ruins, and has no voice. The bittern meets all the requirements of the texts where the qíppôdh is mentioned. It should be noticed nevertheless that hedgehogs are far from rare in Israel. As to the qîppôz of Is., xxxiv, 15, read qíppôdh by some Hebrew Manuscripts, and interpreted accordingly by the Septuagint, Vulgate and the versions derived therefrom, its identity is a much discussed question. Some, arguing from the authorities just referred to, confound it with the qíppôdh, whereas others deem it to be the arrow-snake; but besides that no such animal as arrow-snake is known to naturalists, the context seems to call for a bird.

• Ewe. — In Hebrew, six names at least, with their feminines, express the different stages of development of the sheep. Its domestication goes back to the night of time, so that the early traditions enshrined in the Bible speak of the first men as shepherds. Whatever may be thought of this point, it is out of question that from the dawn of historical times down to our own, flocks have constituted the staple of the riches of the land. The ewe of Israel is generally the ovis laticaudata, the habits of which, resembling those of all other species of sheep, are too well known to be here dwelt upon. Let it suffice to notice that scores of allusions are made in the Holy Books to these habits as well as to the different details of the pastoral life.