That the lion and other ravenous beasts of prey were not wanting in Palestine, many pas sages of the Bible make obvious ( I Sam. xvii : 34 ; 2 Sam. xxiii :2o; Kings xiii :24 ; Harris, Natural History of the Bible ; Kitto's Pictorial Palestine). The lion was even made use of to catch other animals (Ezek. xix :3), and Harmer long ago remarked that, as in the vicinity of Gaza, so also in Judma, leopards were trained and used for the same purpose (Harmer, iv:358 ; Hab. i :8). That lions were taken by pitfalls, as well as by nets, appears from Ezck. xix :4. 8 (Shaw, p. 172). In the latter verse the words of the prophet, 'and spread their net over him,' allude to the custom of enclosing a wide extent of country with nets. into which the animals were driven by hunters (Wilkinson, Anc. EgyPt, :4).
The spots thus enclosed were usually in a hilly country and in the vicinity of water brooks; whence the propriety and force of the language of Ps. xlii :1, 'As the (hunted) hart panteth after the water brooks.' These places were selected be cause they were those to which the animals were in the habit of repairing in the morning and evening. Scenes like the one now supposed are
found portrayed in the Egyptian paintings (Wil kinson).
Hounds were used for hunting in Egypt, and, if the passage in Josephus (Antlq. iv :8, 9) may be considered decisive, in Palestine as well. From Gen. xxvii :3, 'Now take thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow,' we learn what arms were em ployed, at least in capturing game. Bulls, after being taken, were kept at least for a time in a net (Is. li :20). Various missiles, pitfalls, snares, and gins were made use of in hunting (Ps. xci: 3 ; Amos iii :5 ; 2 Sam. xxiii :20). That hunting continued to be followed till towards the end of the Jewish state appears from Josephus (De Bell. Jud. i:2o, 13), where the historian speaks of Herod as 'ever a most excellent hunter, for in one day he caught forty wild beasts.' The same passage makes it clear that horses were employed in the pursuits of the chase (comp. Joseph., Antiq. xv:7, 7; xvi no, 3). J. R. B.