Foxes

This morning I looked out my bedroom window and saw this fox waiting for a chance to snatch away one of my free range chickens. Everyone says that I should shoot it. So I did...with my camera. I thought it would be interesting to see what the bible had to say about foxes.


In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for fox is (pronounced) shoo-awl ; it means burrower , from the fox trait of living in dug-out burrows. In the New Testament, the Greek word for fox is (pronounced) al-oh-pakes and means cunning. The so-called Syrian fox is the only fox native to the land of Israel.

Found in deserts.
Ezekiel 13:4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
Abounded in Palestine.
Judges 15:4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
Lamentations 5:18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

DESCRIBED AS

Active.
Nehemiah 4:3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.
Crafty.
Luke 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
Carnivorous.
Psalms 63:10 They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
Destructive to vines.
Song of Solomon 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Dwells in holes.
Matthew 8:20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Luke 9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

ILLUSTRATIVE OF

False prophets.
Ezekiel 13:4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
Cunning and deceitful persons.
Luke 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
Enemies of the church.
Song of Solomon 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.