SHAMMAH (rillt.;4, astonishment ; /outdo), one of the three chief of the thirty champions of David. The exploit by which he obtained this high distinction, as described in 2 Sam. xxiii. r, 12, is manifestly the same as that which, in Chron. xi. 1244, is ascribed to David himself, assisted by Eleazar the son of Dodo. The inference, there fore, is, that Shammah's exploit lay in the assis't ance which he thus rendered to David and Eleazar. It consisted in the stand which the others enabled David to make, in a field of lentiles, against the The hyrax is of clumsier structure than the rabbit, without tail, having long bristly hairs scat tered through the general fur ; the feet are naked below, and all the nails are flat and rounded, save those on each inner toe of the hind feet, which are long and awl-shaped ; therefore the species cannot dig, and is by nature intended to reside, not, like rabbits, in burrows, but in the clefts of rocks.
This character is correctly applied to the Shaphan by David.
Their timid gregarious habits, and the tender ness of their paws, make them truly 'the wise and feeble folk' of Solomon ; for the genus lives in colonies in the crevices of stony places in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Eastern Egypt, Abyssinia, and even at the Cape of Good Hope, where one or two additional species exist. In every locality they are quiet gentle creatures, loving to bask in the sun, never stirring far from their retreats, moving with caution, and shrinking from the sha dow of a passing bird ; for they are often tin, prey of eagles and hawks. Their habits are strictly diurnal, and they feed on vegetables and seeds.— C. H. S. ,