List of Animals in The Bible - F

F

• Falcon. — See HAWK (inf.).

• Fallow-deer (Cervus dama or Dama vulgaris) believed by some to be signified by Hebrew yáhmûr. The fallow-deer is scarce in the Holy Land and found only north of Mount Thabor. If it is mentioned at all in the Bible, it is probably ranked among the deer.

• Fawn (Proverbs 5:19), for Hebrew, yá'alah, feminine of yã'el which should be regularly, as it is in several passages, rendered by wild goat (ibex syriacus). See GOAT, WILD (inf.).

• Faun. — An equivalent in D.V. (Jeremiah 1:39), after St. Jerome, for Hebrew, 'íyyîm. St. Jerome explains that they were wild beings, denizens of deserts and woods, with a hooked nose, a horned forehead, and goat feet. He translated the Hebrew as fig-faun, adding to the original the adjective ficarii, possibly following in this the pagan idea which, supposing that figs incline to lust, regarded fig-groves a well fitted abode for fauns. The same Hebrew word is rendered in Is., xiii, 22 as owls, and in Is., xxxiv, 14, as monsters, which shows a great perplexity on the part of the translators. The true meaning, being "howlers", seems to point out the jackal, called the "howler" by the Arabs.

• Fish. — Fish are mentioned extensively in the Bible, although no particular species is named. Fishermen are mentioned in both Old and New Testaments, including several of Jesus' followers. Jonah's fish: According to the Book of Jonah, a "great fish" swallowed the prophet Jonah (Jonah 1:17 A.V.), and he was in its belly for three days, before being vomited up. Matthew 12:40 refers to it as a whale.

• Flea, spoken of I K., xxiv, 15; xxvi, 20, as the most insignificant cause of trouble that may befall a man.

• Flock. — The flocks of Israel include generally both sheep and goats: "The sheep eat only the fine herbage, whereas the goats browse on what the sheep refuse. They pasture and travel together in parallel columns, but seldom intermingle more closely, and at night they always classify themselves. The goats are for the most part black, the sheep white, dappled or piebald, forming a very marked contrast..." (Tristram). The shepherd usually leads the flock, calling the sheep by their names from time to time; in his footsteps follows an old he-goat, whose stately bearing affords to the natives matter for several comparisons; the Arabs, indeed to this day, call a man of stately mien a "he-goat". The shepherd at sunset waters his flock, folds them ordinarily in some of the many caves found on every hillside, and with trained dogs guards them at night.

• Fly. — Two Hebrew words are thus translated:

• • (1) 'ãrõbh is the name of the Egyptian fly of the fourth plague; this name, a collective one, though translated as dog-fly in the Septuagint, seems to signify all kinds of flies. Flies are at all times an almost insufferable nuisance; the common house-fly, with the gnat, vexes men, while gad-flies of every description tsetse, œstru, hippoboscida, tabanus marocanus, etc., infest animals.
  • (2) Zebhûbh is likewise the collective name of the Israeli fly, but more specifically of the gad-fly.

Though a trifle less annoying than in Egypt, flies were, however, deemed a plague severe enough in Israel to induce the natives to have recourse to the power of a special god, Bá'ál-zebhûbh, the master of the flies, that they and their cattle be protected against that scourge.

• Fowl. — This word which, in its most general sense, applies to anything that flies in the air (Genesis 1:20, 21), and which frequently occurs in the Bible with this meaning, is also sometimes used in a narrower sense, as, for instance, III K., iv, 23, where it stands for all fatted birds that may be reckoned among the delicacies of a king's table; so likewise Gen., xv, 11 and Is., xviii, 6, where it means birds of prey in general. In this latter signification allusions are made to their habit of perching on bare or dead trees, or of flocking together in great numbers.

• Fox. — Thus is usually rendered the Hebrew, shû'ãl, which signifies both fox and jackal, even the latter more often than the former. The fox, however, was well known by the ancient Hebrews, and its cunning was as proverbial among them as among us (Ezekiel 13:4; Luke 13:32).

• Frog. — Though not rare in Israel, this word is only mentioned in the Old Testament in connection with the second plague of Egypt. Two species of frogs are known to live in the Holy Land: the rana esculenta, or common edible frog, and the hyla arborea, or green tree-frog. The former throngs wherever there is water. In Apoc., xvi, 13, the frog is the emblem of unclean spirits.