Transcriber's note:
Spelling and punctuation inconsistencies have been harmonized. The original hyphenation and use of accented words has been retained. Obvious printer errors have been repaired.Bible references are as they are in the original book.
THE OSTRICH.
"What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider."—Job xxxix. 18.
BIBLE ANIMALS;
BEING A DESCRIPTION OF
EVERY LIVING CREATURE MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES,
FROM THE APE TO THE CORAL.
BY THE
REV. J. G. WOOD, M.A., F.L.S. ETC.,
AUTHOR OF "HOMES WITHOUT HANDS,"
"COMMON OBJECTS OF THE SEA-SHORE AND COUNTRY," ETC.
WITH ONE HUNDRED NEW DESIGNS BY W. F. KEYL, T. W. WOOD, AND E. A. SMITH.
ENGRAVED BY G. PEARSON.
NEW EDITION.
LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
1883./ppiv
LONDON:
R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
BREAD STREET HILL.
PREFACE.
Owing to the conditions of time, language, country, and raceunder which the various books of the Holy Scriptures werewritten, it is impossible that they should be rightly understoodat the present day, and in this land, without the aid of manydepartments of knowledge. Contemporary history, philology,geography, and ethnology must all be pressed into the service ofthe true Biblical scholar; and there is yet another science whichis to the full as important as either of the others. This isNatural History, in its widest sense.
The Oriental character of the Scriptural books causes them toabound with metaphors and symbols, taken from the commonlife of the time. They embrace the barren precipitous rocksalternating with the green and fertile valleys, the trees, flowers,and herbage, the creeping things of the earth, the fishes of thesea, the birds of the air, and the beasts which abode with man ordwelt in the deserts and forests. Unless, therefore, we understandthese writings as those understood them for whom theywere written, it is evident that we shall misinterpret insteadof rightly comprehending them. Even with secular books ofequally ancient date, the right understanding of them would beimportant, but in the case of the Holy Scriptures it is more thanimportant, and becomes a duty. The field which is laid opento us is so large that only one department of Natural History,namely Zoology, can be treated in this work, although it isviillustrated by many references to other branches of NaturalHistory, to the physical geography of Palestine, Egypt, and Syria,the race-character of the inhabitants, and historical parallels.The importance of Zoology in elucidating the Scriptures cannotbe overrated, and without its aid we shall not only miss thepoint of innumerable passages of the Old and New Testament,but the words of our Lord Himself will either be totally misinterpreted,or at least lose the greater part of their significance.
The object of the pr