Dr Paul Allen

No matter what you're looking for, you can probably find it in the Bible. A story about a guy making a couple of bears kill 42 children because they called him bald? That's in the Bible. Need a reason to kick people with weird feet out of church? Look no further than the Bible. It's a remarkably long book written and rewritten by dozens of different people over several centuries. It's almost impossible to keep track of everything contained inside the Good Book. With all the offbeat surprises hidden in the Big Book, it should come as no surprise that the Bible bestiary gets wonky at times. Sure, there are the animals that everybody remembers: Noah's floating menagerie of just everything, Jonah's whale, the lions in the den. But then there are the other guys. Strange, sometimes confusing creatures that would have even the best-read Sunday School teacher wondering whether they picked up a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them by mistake. Here are some of ...

Those interested in the cultural context of the Bible are familiar with the association between animals and idolatry . The idolatrous worship of the golden calf (egel; Exod 32:1–24) makes the connection explicit. Even after the Israelites entered into a covenant relationship with Yahweh at Sinai, Moses and Aaron had to act to prevent the people from sacrificing to “goat demons” (se’irim) in the wilderness (Lev 17:7). GOAT DEMONS Centuries later, the apostasy of King Jeroboam returned this idolatry to the northern kingdom of Israel (“He appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols [se’irim] and for the calves [agalim] that he had made”; 1 Chr 11:15). The reference to “goat demons” (se’irim) in the wilderness and their idols is of special interest because the link between the demonic and the desert has strong Old Testament precedent. The connection would have been apparent to Israelites because a range of wild animals and birds were specifically associa...