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LION
(1) ’ãri, ’aryeh , full-grown lion (Gen_49:9, Jdg_14:8; Jdg_14:2 etc.).
(2) kĕîr, a young strong lion (Jdg_14:6, Job_4:10, Eze_19:2 etc.).
(3) lâbî (cf. Arab [Note: Arabic.] , labwah), specially lioness (Gen_49:9, Num_23:24, Job_4:11 etc.); and lĕîyyah (Eze_19:2).
(4) layîsh, particularly in poetry (Job_4:11, Pro_30:30, Isa_30:6 etc.).
(5) shachal, poetically, lit. ‘the roarer’ (Job_4:10; Job_10:18; Job_28:8, Hos_5:14, Psa_91:13).
(6) benç-shachats is tr. [Note: translate or translation.] in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] of Job_28:8 ‘lion s whelps,’ but ought to be, as in RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] , ‘sons of pride.’
Lions have been extinct in Palestine since the time of the Crusades, but evidently were once plentiful, especially in the thickets along the Jordan (Jer_49:19; Jer_50:44, Zec_11:3). They were a source of danger to men (1Ki_13:24 f., 1Ki_20:35, 2Ki_17:25), and especially to shepherds’ flocks (1Sa_17:34, Isa_31:4, Amo_3:12, Mic_5:8). The terrifying roar of the lion is referred to in Pro_19:12; Pro_20:2 etc., and it is compared to the voice of God (Jer_25:30, Joe_3:16, Amo_3:8). Metaphorically, Judah is described as a lion in Gen_49:9, Dan in Deu_33:22, and Israel in Num_23:24; Num_24:9; but in the NT the lion is usually typical of Satan (1Pe_5:8; ct. [Note: t. contrast.] ‘Lion of the tribe of Judah,’ Rev_5:5).
E. W. G. Masterman.