SHEEP (shep), (Heb. say; jTS, hone). It appears to be occasionally used as a collective term, including goats; Arab. zain; Heb. t3; keh bes' a lamb under a year old; ajil, the adult ram, but originally applied also to the males of other ruminants, such as deer, etc.; female or ewe sheep —all referable to Hebrew roots with opposite meanings, deserving the more confidence since the earliest patriarchs of the nation, being themselves shepherds and graziers, had never at any time received this portion of their domesticated cattle from foreign nations, and therefore had indigenous names for them.
The normal animal, from which all or the greater part of the western domestic races ate assumed to be descended, is still found wild in the high mountain regions of Persia, and is readily distinguished from two other wild species border ing on the same region. What breeds the earliest shepherd tribes reared in and about Palestine can now be only inferred from negative charac ters; yet they are sufficient to show that they were the same, or nearly so, as the common horned variety of Egypt and continental Europe: in gen eral white, and occasionally black, although there was on the Upper Nile a speckled race; and so early as the time of Aristotle the Arabians pos sessed a reddish breed, another with a very long tail, and above all a broad-tailed sheep, which at present is commonly denominated the Syrian. Flocks of the ancient bread, derived from the Bedouins, are now extant in Syria. with little or no change in external characters, chiefly the broad tailed and the common horned white, often with black and white about the face and feet, the tail somewhat thicker and longer than the European. The others are chiefly valued for the fat of their broad tails, which tastes not unlike marrow ; for the flesh of neither race is remarkably delicate, nor are the fleeces of superior quality. Sheep in the various conditions of existence wherein they would occur among a pastoral and agricultural people, are noticed in numerous places of the Bible, and furnish many beautiful allegorical images, where purity, innocence, mildness, and submission are portrayed—the Savior himself being denomi nated 'the Lamb of God,' in twofold allusion to his patient meekness and to his being the true paschal lamb, 'slain from the foundation of the world' (Rev. xiii :8). The meaning of the
Hebrew word kesitah (droves), occurring only in Gen. xxxii :x9, and Job xxi :It, should be trans lated sheep or lambs. On the other hand, the Rabbinical expounders have rendered it money. The Jewish shakal, 'to weigh,' indicates this early character of money; and its use is plainly shown in Gen. xxiii :16. where Abraham. buying a field and cave, weighs out four hundred shekels of silver, a kind of current money, the medium of exchange between merchants, but not therefore coin, which implies a characteristic impression on the metal. In Gen. xxxii no, kesitah may be a Canaanitish, or more properly a Scytho-Chaldaic designation of sheep in the time of Jacob, already represented by silver, most probably cast in the form of that animal, and of a standard weight, for the Hebrews were not as yet a people, and the Egyptians cast their weights in metal shaped like cattle. etc.; and that Phoenicia, at a later period, had sheep actually impressed on a silver coin. C. H. S.
FiguratiVe. The nature of the sheep and their relation to man have given rise to many beautiful figures. (1) Jehovah was the Shepherd of Israel, and they were his flock (Ps. xxiii :1; lxxiv :1 ; lxxviii :52 ; lxxix :13 ; lxxx :1 ; Is. x):11 Jer. xxiii:t, 2, etc.). (2) All the sheep offered in the ancient sacrifices represented Christ. (3) He and his people are likened to sheep and lambs, to rep resent their innocence, patience, harmlessness, use fulness, and exposure to troubles and enemies ( I S. 1111 ; John x:1-26, and xxi:15-17). (4) Christ is God's Lamb, whom he provided, and the sacrifice of whom fully satisfied his offended jus tice (John i :29). (5) Men in general are com pared to sheep and lambs, to denote their stupid ity, their weakness, exposure to danger, and need of government (t Kings xxii:t7; Hos. iv :16; Is. liii :6). (6) Or for their innocency and harm lessness as to a particular sin (2 Sam. xxiv :i7). (7) Sinners are likened to sheep, to mark their unthoughtfulness, their proneness to wander, their exposure to ruin, their inability to defend or re cover themselves; and their need to be saved, led, and nourished by Jesus the great Shepherd ( Ps. xlix :t4 ; Is. 'Hi :6; I Pet. ii :25; Luke xv :4-6). (8) Apostasy of sinners from God is likened to the straying of a lost sheep (Ps. exix:t76; Is. Eli :6; Jer. 1:6).