Wild Animals

Hide-outs for wild animals. Israel and Syria have their hide-outs for wild animals and fowl. Wild beasts have lived in the wild parts of the Lebanon Mountains to the north of the Holy Land through the years, but this was more the source of these animals for Syria rather than for the main part of Israel itself. The marshes immediately north of Lake Merom have through the centuries been the haunt of many waterfowl, and the reeds thereby have provided lairs for various animals, especially the wild buffalo. When Herod the Great was a young man he used to come here to hunt game.22 Today, the Jews are busy draining much of this swampland that it may be used for agricultural purposes. The principal hide-out for wild animals that bother the citizens of Israel, and especially Judea and Samaria, is the Zor of the Jordan Valley. The Jordan Valley between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is called by the Arabs, The Ghor, i.e., the Rift. Within the Ghor is a narrow and deep valley called The Zor, in the center of which the river flows. For much of this distance the Zor is a jungle of tropical plants, shrubs, and trees. It is thus a hideout for all kinds of wild animals. During the part of the year when the river overflows, the wild beasts are driven from their haunts, but return there when the river recedes.23 Most of the wild animals that have raided the habitable parts of Israel through its history have come from these haunts in Jordan Valley. Thus Jeremiah says: "Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong" (Jeremiah 49:19). The scene of the temptation of JESUS was doubtless the Wilderness of Judea. Mark says of Jesus: "And he . . . was with the wild beasts" (Mark 1:13). Quite probably most of these animals had come up from the Zor which was near at hand. [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]

Read More about Wild Animals