Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DOG

A domesticated carnivorous mammal (canis familiaris). In Palestine wild dogs roamed in packs living on the outskirts of towns. Dog skeletons excavated at Ashkelon suggest dogs were also kept as pets. Skeletons of young dogs were found carefully placed in individual graves, as one would bury a pet, rather than thrown into a pit as one would dispose of a stray animal. In the Bible the dog (Heb. keleḇ) carries a very negative image, representing the despised, the unclean, or the enemy waiting to devour. In the dietary laws (Exod. 22:31) the Israelites are instructed to throw food unfit for humans to dogs. Male prostitutes are called dogs (Deut. 23:18), and calling oneself a dog indicates self-debasement (1 Sam. 17:43; Job 30:1). The NT also uses the dog (Gk. kýōn) to refer to the unclean (Matt. 15:26-7 par.; Rev. 22:15).

Dogs were scavengers and kept towns clean by consuming garbage and unburied corpses (Ps. 59:14-15[MT 15-16]). It was considered a horrible fate to have one’s corpse eaten or one’s blood licked by dogs rather than having a proper burial (cf. the fate prophesied of the descendants of Jeroboam, Baasha, Jezebel, and Ahab; 1 Kgs. 14:11; 16:4; 21:23-24; fulfilled at 22:38; 2 Kgs. 9:36).

The psalmist’s enemies are presented as menacing dogs (Ps. 22:16[17]), and dogs represent a fool in Prov. 26:11, where the folly or sins of the fool are compared to the filth of dog vomit. Israel’s sentinels are called “silent dogs” who sleep rather than bark, while Israel’s enemy is described as a voracious, devouring dog (Isa. 56:10-11).

Dogs were also cultic figures. In Egypt, as symbols of deities, dogs were often mummified and buried with their owners, and identified with the gods of the dead, Khenti-Amentiu and Anubis. In Mesopotamia dogs were used in the cult of Gula, the goddess of healing, as depicted on clay reliefs and seals. In a healing ritual a dog and a pig were waved over the patient to absorb the patient’s illness, then burned. The dog and pig were also used in exorcisms of Lamaštu, the demon of sickness and fever. The use of keleḇ for male prostitutes (Deut. 23:18) may be a reference to such cultic activity.

Bibliography. D. W. Thomas, “Kelebh ‘Dog’: Its Origin and Some Usages of It in the Old Testament,” VT 10 (1960): 410-27; P. Wapnish and B. Hesse, “Pampered Pooches or Plain Pariahs? The Ashkelon Dog Burials,” BA 56 (1993): 55-80.

Michelle Ellis Taylor

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DOG

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)