Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SHEEP

Along with goats, the most common domesticated animals during biblical times, evidenced linguistically in biblical and extrabiblical sources and supported by zooarchaeological finds at many sites. Biblical references to herding and to small cattle (Heb. ṣōʾn, miqneh) are numerous, including the two main components of the group, sheep (kebeś) and goats (ʿēz). Furthermore, in the ancient Near East riches were measured, in part, by the size of the herd a person owned.

Sheep were raised for wool or hair, milk and its products (yogurt, butter, cheeses), meat, skins, bones and horns, and dung. The significance of milk (ḥālāḇ) in the biblical diet is apparent since it connotes plenty and nutritional richness, especially when mentioned with another whole and complete food, honey (dĕḇaš), a combination used in many ancient societies for sacrifice (cf. the expression describing the land of Israel as “flowing with milk and honey”; e.g., Exod. 3:8).

Milking in pre-industrial societies was done by setting the ewes one opposite the other and tying them in pairs by a long rope, creating two long rows (riḇqâ). While sheep were raised also for their meat, it was not consumed on a daily basis. In antiquity, meat and milk production were very important endeavors in which private individuals, as well as temples and the royal palace, participated (1 Chr. 27:29, 31; 2 Chr. 26:10). The Levites were given large tracts of land where they were supposed to “keep their cattle, their livestock, and all their animals” (Num. 35:3; cf. Josh. 14:4). A small number of animals was kept for fattening. Apparently raising and selling fattened animals were lucrative because even kings (2 Kgs. 3:4) and other leaders (Ezek. 27:21) were involved. Fat (ḥēleḇ) was considered a nutritious food element, therefore from very early times (Gen. 4:4) it was a major component of sacrifices (Exod. 29:13).

Artistic representations from Ur (Uruk III), Assyria, Arabia, and Israel suggest that the sheep raised in antiquity were closely related to the fat-tail Awassi sheep, the most numerous and widespread breed in the Near East today (cf. also Herodotus). The Awassi sheep is usually white with brown head and feet; entire whiteness, or black heads and feet, are frequent. However, entirely black or gray as well as dappled are uncommon, which may explain Laban’s willing acceptance of Jacob’s offer to take “every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb” as his wages (Gen. 30:31-32).

The process of domestication led to animals becoming less resistant and, even worse, more susceptible to diseases. Biblical references to flock diseases are infrequent and in general terms. The curses accompanying the Covenant include the broad statement: “Cursed shall be . . . the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock” (Deut. 28:18), but there is no enumeration as in the curses concerning humans or crops.

Wool is an important by-product of sheep. Shearing of wool (gēz, Deut. 18:4) is done once a year in April-May, just before the summer heat commences. If water is available, the sheep are washed beforehand (Cant. 4:2; 6:6), but otherwise the wool is sold by the fleece and not by weight, since it is dirty and heavy. Shearing was an event that brought together many people engaged in caring for the animals, and like during the ingathering of other crops was an occasion for great celebration (1 Sam. 25; 2 Sam. 13:23-28).

Bibliography. D. Brothwell and P. Brothwell, Food in Antiquity, rev. ed. (Baltimore, 1998); H. Epstein, The Awassi Sheep (Rome, 1985); S. Hirsch, Sheep and Goats in Palestine (Tel Aviv, 1933).

Oded Borowski

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SHEEP

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)