leopard Summary and Overview

(Heb. namer, so called because spotted, Cant. 4:8), was that great spotted feline which anciently infested the mountains of Syria, more appropriately called a panther (Felis pardus). Its fierceness (Isa. 11:6), its watching for its prey (Jer. 5:6), its swiftness (Hab. 1:8), and the spots of its skin (Jer. 13:23), are noticed. This word is used symbolically (Dan. 7:6; Rev. 13:2).

(Heb. namer) is invariably given by the Authorized Version as the translation of the Hebrew word, which occurs in the seven following passages: #So 4:8; Isa 11:6; Jer 5:6; 13:23; Da 7:6; Ho 13:7|; Habb 1:8 Leopard occurs also in Ecclus. 28:23 and in #Re 13:2| From #So 4:8| we learn that the hilly ranges of Lebanon were in ancient times frequented by these animals. They are now not uncommonly seen in and about Lebanon and the southern maritime mountains of Syria. Under the name namer, which means "spotted," it is not improbable that another animal, namely the cheetah (Gueparda jubata), may be included; which is tamed by the Mohammedans of Syria, who employ it in hunting the gazelle.

LEOP'ARD (Heb. spotted). In the Bible there Is frequent reference to this fierce animal, which still lurks among the forests of Gilead, the jungles of the Jordan, and more rarely among the thickets of Tabor and Carmel. Jer 13:23. The local names Nimrim, "leopard," and Beth-Nimrah, "house of the leopard" (perhaps) are to be remembered. Near the latter place Tristram saw the fresh footprints of these creatures, "clear and unmistakable, on the moist ooze." It is the habit of the leopard to wait patiently hour after hour that it may pounce upon cattle. Jer 5:6; Hos 13:7. Isa 11:6 alludes to its cruelty, and Dan 7:6 to its power. But it is thought there is reference under the same name in Hab 1:8 to the cheetah, a similar but smaller animal still found in Palestine, the rush of which upon its prey exceeds in swiftness the motion of any other carnivorous animal.

Famed for swiftness and agility (Habakkuk 1:8); "you would fancy it was flying" (Oppian Cyneg., iii. 76); it climbs trees, and can crawl along the ground. Hence the symbol for Greece and Alexander's rapid victories (Daniel 7:6; Revelation 13:2). The prevalence of leopards anciently in Israel is marked by the many places named from them (namer, Hebrew): Nimrah, Nimrim, Beth Nimrah. "The mountains of the leopard" (Song of Solomon 4:8), namely, Lebanon and Hermon, where still they are found; "the mountains of prey" (Psalm 76:4), symbolizing the rapacious world kingdoms. They spring with successive rapid bounds. They cunningly lie in wait in thickets and often near villages for their prey, as distinguished from the lion's bold, open attack (Jeremiah 5:6; Hosea 13:7): "as a leopard by the way, I will observe (lie in wait for) them." Its unalterable spots represent man's inability to change himself (Jeremiah 13:23); yet the leopard in the millennium shall "lie down with the kid" (Isaiah 11:6).