HUNT, MINTER, HUNTING (hi:Hieing), (Heb. 1".g,Isale-yief, to lie in wait; 977 raw-clat: to run after).
The pursuit and capture of beasts of the field was the first means of sustenance which the human race had recourse to, this mode of gaining a livelihood having naturally preceded the engage ments of agriculture, as it presented food already provided, requiring only to be taken and slaugh tered ; whereas tillage must have been an after thought, and a later resource, since it implies accumulated knowledge, skill, and such provision aforchand of subsistence as would enable a clan or a family to wait till the fruits of the earth were matured. Hunting was, therefore, a busi ness long ere it was a sport. And originally, before man had established his empire on the earth, it must have been not only a serious, but a dangerous pursuit. In process of time, how ever, when civilization had made some progress. when cities were built and lands cultivated. hunt ing was carried on not so much for the food which it brought as for the recreation it gave and its conduciveness to health.
The East—the cradle of civilization—presents us with hunting in both the characters now spoken of, originally as a means of support, then as a manly amusement. In the early records of history we find hunting held in high repute, partly, no doubt, from its costliness, its dangers, its similitude to war, its capability of combining the energies of many, and also from the relief which it afforded to the stagnant monntony of a court, in the high and bounding spirits that it called forth. Hunting has always borne some what of a regal character, and down to the pres ent hour has worn an aristocratic air. In Baby lon and Persia this attribute is presented in bold relief. Immense fiarks (rapdacuroo were en closed for nurturing and preserving beasts of the chase. The monarch himself led the way to the sport, not only in these preserves, but also over the wide surface of the country, being attended by his nobles, especially by the younger aspirants to fame and warlike renown (Xen. Cyr. viii, 1, 38).
In the Bible—our chief storehouse of primi tive history and customs—we find hunting con nected with royalty so early as in Gen. x. The
great founder of Babel was in general repute as 'a mighty hunter before the Lord.' The patri archs, however, are to be regarded rather as herds men than hunters. if respect is had to their habitual mode of life. The condition of the herdsman ensues next to that of the hunter in the early stages of civilization ; and so we find that even Cain was a keeper of sheep. This and the fact that Abel is designated 'a tiller of the ground.' would seem to indicate a very rapid progress in the arts and pursuits of social life. The same -contrast and similar hostility we find somewhat later, in the case of Jacob and Esau ; the first, 'a plain man dwelling in tents ;' the second, 'a cunning hunter, a man of the field' (Gen. xxv : 27). The account given of Esau in connection with his father seems to show that hunting was, conjointly with tillage, pursued at that time as a means of subsistence, and that hunting had not then passed into its secondary state, and become an amusement.
In Egypt the children of Israel would be spec tators of hunting carried on extensively and pur sued by different methods, but chiefly, as appears probable, with a view rather to recreation than subsistence (Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt, vol. iii). That the land of promise into which the Hebrews were conducted on leaving Egypt was plentifully supplied with beasts of the chase appears clear from Exod. xxiii :29, 'I will not drive them out in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against thee' (comp. Deut. :22). And from the regulation given in Lev. xvii :15, it is manifest that hunting was practiced after the settlement in Canaan. and was pursued with the view of obtaining food. Prov. xii :27 proves that hunting animals for their flesh was an established custom among the Hebrews, though the turn of the passage may serve to show that at the time it was penned sport was the chief aim. If hunting was not forbidden in the 'year of rest,' special provision was made that not only the cattle, hut 'the beast of the field' should be allowed to enjoy and flourish on the uncropped spontaneous produce of the land (Exod. xxiii:1 ; Lev. xxv:7).