Hyena
Hyena (Tzeboa), (). Excepting in Ecclesiasticus just noted, the word does not occur in the English Bible, although there are several passages in the Hebrew canonical books, where Tzeboa, 'streaked' or 'variegated,' is assumed to designate the hyena. The most noted of these is , where the words which the Septuagint render 'the cave of the hyena,' are rendered in our version 'a speckled bird.' But Bochart and the continuator of Calmet vindicate what we take to be the true reading, 'the striped rusher,' i.e. the hyena, turning round upon his lair, introduced after an allusion in the previous verse to the lion calling to the beasts of the field (other hyenas and jackals) to come and devour. This allusion, followed up as it is by a natural association of ideas, with a description of the pastor, feeder, or rather consumer or devourer of the vineyard, treading down and destroying the vines, renders the natural and poetical picture complete; for the hyena seeks burrows and caverns for a lair; like the dog it turns round to lie down; howls, and occasionally acts, in concert; is loathsome, savage, insatiable in appetite, offensive in smell; and will in the season, like canines, devour grapes, as the writer has himself ascertained by actual experiment.
Tzeboa, therefore, we consider proved to be generically, the hyena. The striped species is one of three or four—all, it seems, originally African; and, by following armies and caravans, gradually spread over Southern Asia to beyond the Ganges, though not as yet to the east of the Bramapootra. It is now not uncommon in Asia Minor, and has extended into Southern Tartary; but this progress is comparatively so recent, that no other than Semitic names are well known to belong to it. The head and jaws of all the species are broad and strong; the muzzle truncated; the tongue like a rasp; the teeth 34 instead of 42, as in the canidæ, but robust, large, and eminently formed for biting, lacerating, and reducing the very bone; the neck stiff; the body short and compact; the limbs tall, with only four toes on each foot; the fur coarse, forming a kind of semi-erectile mane along the back; the tail rather short, with an imperfect brush, and with a fetid pouch beneath it. In stature the species varies from that of a large wolf to much less. Hyenas are not bold in comparison with wolves, or in proportion to their powers. They do not in general act collectively; they prowl chiefly in the night; attack asses, dogs, and weaker animals; feed most willingly on corrupt animal offal, dead camels, etc.; and dig into human graves that are not well protected with stakes and brambles. The striped species is of a dirty ashy buff, with some oblique black streaks across the shoulders and body, and numerous cross-bars on the legs; the muzzle and throat are black, and the tip of the tail white.
There is reason to believe that the deeb,or Scriptural wolf, when represented as carrying off a lamb, is no other than the hyena, unless the real wolf has been extirpated; for zoologists have not found the wolf in Syria.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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