Wolf:
Heb. zeeb, frequently referred to in Scripture as an emblem of treachery and cruelty. Jacob's prophecy, "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf" (Gen 49:27), represents the warlike character of that tribe (see Judg. 19-21). Isaiah represents the peace of Messiah's kingdom by the words, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb" (Isa 11:6). The habits of the wolf are described in Jer 5:6; Hab 1:8; Zep 3:3; Eze 22:27; Mat 7:15; 10:16; Act 20:29. Wolves are still sometimes found in Palestine, and are the dread of shepherds, as of old.
Wolf:
woolf
(1) ze'ebh (Ge 49:27; Isa 11:6; Isa 65:25; Jer 5:6; Eze 22:27; Hab 1:8; Ze 3:3; also as proper name, Zeeb, prince of Midian, Jud 7:25; 8:3; Ps 83:11); compare Arabic dhi'b, colloquial dhib, or dib;
(2) lukos (Mt 7:15; 10:16; Lu 10:3; Joh 10:12; Ac 20:29; Ecclesiasticus 13:17; compare 2 Esdras 5:18, lupus);
(3) iyim, the Revised Version (British and American) "wolves" (Isa 13:22; 34:14; Jer 50:39):
While the wolf is surpassed in size by some dogs, it is the fiercest member of the dog family (Canidae), which includes among others the jackal and the fox. Dogs, wolves and jackals are closely allied and will breed together. There is no doubt that the first dogs were domesticated wolves. While there are local varieties which some consider to be distinct species, it is allowable to regard all the wolves of both North America, Europe, and Northern Asia (except the American coyote) as members of one species, Canis lupus. The wolf of Syria and Palestine is large, light colored, and does not seem to hunt in packs. Like other wolves it is nocturnal. In Palestine it is the special enemy of the sheep and goats. This fact comes out in two of the seven passages cited from the Old Testament, in all from the New Testament, and in the two from Apocrypha. In Ge 49:27 Benjamin is likened to a ravening wolf. In Eze 22:27, and in the similar Ze 3:3, the eiders of Jerusalem are compared to wolves. In Jer 5:6 it is a wolf that shall destroy the people of Jerusalem, and in Hab 1:8 the horses of the Chaldeans "are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves." Babylon and Edom (Isa 13:22; 34:14; Jer 50:39) are to be the haunts of iyim (the Revised Version (British and American) "wolves") and other wild creatures.
The name of Zeeb, prince of Midian (Jud 7:25; 8:3), has its parallel in the Arabic, Dib or Dhib, which is a common name today. Such animal names are frequently given to ward off the evil eye.
Written by Alfred Ely Day
Wolf: Ravenous
Gen 49:27; Jer 5:6; Eze 22:27; Zep 3:3; Jhn 10:12
Wolf: Figurative:
Of the enemies of the righteous,
Mat 7:15; 10:16; Jhn 10:12; Act 20:29.
Of the reconciling power of the gospel,
Isa 11:6.
Wolf:
occurs in Mat 10:16; Luk 10:3; Jhn 10:12 (twice); metaphorically, Mat 7:15; Act 20:29.
Wolf:
There can be little doubt that the wolf of Palestine is the common Canis lupus, and that this is the animal so frequently mentioned in the Bible (The wolf is a fierce animal of the same species as the dog, which it resembles. The common color is gray with a tinting of fawn, and the hair is long and black. The Syrian wolf is of lighter color than the wolf of Europe it is the dread of the shepherds of Palestine.-ED.) Wolves were doubtless far more common in biblical times than they are now, though they are occasionally seen by modern travelers. The following are the scriptural allusions to the wolf: Its ferocity is mentioned in Genesis 49:27; Ezekiel 22:27; Habakkuk 1:8; Matt 7:15. Its nocturnal habits, in Jeremiah 5:6; Zephaniah 3:3; Habakkuk 1:8. Its attacking sheep and lambs, Matthew 10:16; Luke 10:3; John 10:12. Isaiah (Isaiah 11:6; 65:25) foretells the peaceful reign of the Messiah under the metaphor of a wolf dwelling with a lamb: cruel persecutors are compared with wolves (Matthew 10:16; Acts 20:29).
Totemism:
to'-tem-iz'-m: How far the belief in totems and totemistic relationships existed in early Israel cannot be discussed at length here. Evidence of the belief in deified animal ancestors is supposed by some writers to be found in the tribal names Leah ("wild cow"?), Rachel ("ewe"), Simeon (synonymous with the Arabic sim‘u, which denotes a cross between a wolf and a hyena), Hamor ("ass"), Caleb ("dog"), Zibiah ("gazelle"), etc. But these names in themselves "do not prove a totem stage in the development of Israel" (HPN, 114); philologically, the view has a shaky foundation (see, e.g. article "Leah" in 1-vol HDB).
Again, it is true that, as a rule, in totemic communities the individual may not kill or eat the name-giving object of his kin, these animals being regarded as sacred in totem worship and therefore "unclean" (taboo) as food. But the attempt to connect such personal names as Shaphan ("rock-badger"), Achbor ("mouse"), Huldah ("weasel")-all from the time of Josiah (2Ki 22:3,12,14; compare Deborah ("bee"), Gaal ("beetle"?), Told ("crimson worm," "cochineal"), Nabash ("serpent"))-with the list of unclean animals in Le 11 (see 11:5 (margin), 29) and De 14 is beset with difficulties (compare, however, Isa 66:17; Eze 8:10 f), since all the names cannot possibly be explained on this ground.
See also SACRIFICE, II, 2, (4); VI, 1.
Robertson Smith (followed by Stade and Benzinger) strongly advocated the view "that clear traces of totemism can be found in early Israel" (see HDB, III, 100). G. B. Gray also seems inclined to favor the view that some of these names may be "indirectly derivative from a totem stage of society" (HDB, III, 483 f), while at the same time he recognizes that "the only question is whether other explanations are not equally satisfactory" (HPN, 105).
Other writers, such as Wellhausen, Noldeke (ZDMG, 157 f, 1886), Marti (Gesch. der israelit. Religion, 4th edition, 24), Addis (Hebrew Rel., 33 f), have opposed or abandoned theory as applied to Israel.
"Upon the whole we must conclude once more that, while it is certainly possible that Totemism once prevailed in Israel, its prevalence cannot be proved; and, above all, we must hold that the religion of Israel as it presents itself in the Old Testament has not retained the very slightest recollection of such a state of things" (Kautzsch, HDB, extra vol, 614 f; compare p. 623).
The theory is also opposed by Job. Jacobs (article "Are there Totem-Clans in the Old Testament?" in Archaeol. Review, III (1889), number 3, 145 ff); F.V. Zapletal, Der Totemismus u. die Religion Israels; and S. A. Cook, in JQR, XIV, number 55.
The evidence on either side is inconclusive, but the weight of authority is opposed to the view that totemism ever existed in Israel. What is certain is that totemism was never a potent factor, either in the early religion of Israel as an organized people, or in any of the dominant cults of the historical period as a whole (see articles "Family" in HDB, I, 850 (Bennett); "Sacrifice," HDB, IV, 331 (Paterson], and DEFILEMENT (Crannell), IMAGES, 3, 6 (Cobern), and ISRAEL, RELIGION OF, II, 1, (4) (Orelli), in this Encyclopedia).
LITERATURE.
In addition to the works cited in the text, see, for theory of the prevalence of totemism in early Israel, W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites (2nd edition, 1894), Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (1903); A. F. Scot, Offering and Sacrifice (1900); and I. Benzinger, Hebraische Archaol. (1907); against, Eric Brit, 11th edition, XIII, 177, article "Hebrew Religion" (Whitehouse); Standard BD, 782; Temple DB, article "Shaphan." For a general account and discussion of totemism, see Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy (1910) and The Golden Bough (3rd edition, 1907-13); Westermarck, History of Human Marriage (1891); Deans, Tales from the Totems of Hidery (1898); Lang, Myth, Ritual, Religion (new edition, 1899), The Secret of the Totem (1905), and article "Totemism" in Encyclopedia Brit, 11th edition, XXVII, with extensive bibliography; HDB, extra vol, 115; and Cymru, 1892-93, p. 137; 1893-94, p. 7.
Written by M. O. Evans
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