Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JACKAL

A member of the dog family common to southwest Asia and North Africa. The oriental or golden jackal (Canus aureus) resembles a large fox in shape and manner, with sharp face, short ears, and a bushy tail. Its fur is dirty yellow in color, mottled with reds, browns, whites, and grays. Unlike the fox, jackals are social creatures, mating for life and foraging in small packs on the fringes of human habitation. They are shy, nocturnal scavengers, feeding on carrion, refuse, vegetation, and unprotected small stock. Their eerie wail accounts for their Hebrew nickname, “the howlers” (tannîm, tannîn). In Egyptian mythology Anubis, the jackal-headed deity, was a guardian of the dead.

In the Bible the jackal is presented as a symbol of isolation, destruction, and abandonment (Job 30:29; Ps. 44:19[MT 20]; Jer. 9:11[10]). It is possible that the animals caught by Samson and loosed with firebrands tied to their tails were jackals (Judg. 15:4-5; NRSV “fox”), as were the “wall-breaking” creatures of Tobiah’s jest (Neh. 4:3[3:25]).

Identifying jackals in the biblical tradition is difficult due to the number of Hebrew words and their Greek translations. The LXX translates Hebrew tannîm as Gk. drákontes, “dragons,” or seirḗnes, “sirens.” This produced the translations “monsters” or “sea monsters” in the KJV. Another Hebrew term, šûʿāl, is frequently translated “foxes” (Gk. alṓpēx) but may, in places, be better understood as jackals (e.g., Judg. 15:4; Ps. 63:10[11]; Ezek. 13:4; Neh. 4:3).

Mark Ziese

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JACKAL

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)