According to the New International Bible: He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
23:28; Josh. 24:12) to attack the original idolaters in Canaan, so he used two female bears to attack these new idolaters in his land. Elisha pronounced a curse upon them, and that curse took the form of tooth and claw.
Only the bravest and strongest men were able to kill a lion (Judges 14:5-6; 2 Samuel 23:20). However, David had killed both a lion and a bear. He had killed animals that were stronger than him. David did not believe that the strongest man would win the fight.
In this context, the baldness of Elisha suggests that the prophet's body—and thus the prophet—does not meet the norms of embodiment. Elisha's bald head may even function like Moses' heavy tongue—a deformity or disability that pushes the prophet to the margins of normative embodiment (Graybill: 41–45).
The bear is used as a metaphor for the activity of both the wicked and of God. In the former use it denotes the wicked as essentially bestial—cruel, insensitive, self-seeking, and without a spiritual consciousness (Prov 28:15; cf. other passages where the wicked are described as bestial: Ps 22:12ff.; Dan 7:1–8).
The Native Bear Symbol represents strength, family, vitality courage and health. The bear is thoughtful and independent, with little need for fellowship. The bear is also self-contained and strong-willed in nature.
Celts venerated the bear goddess, Artio. Like a mother bear they believed she offered protection. Her name has even been incorporated into some Welsh place names. The bear god Artaois is linked to the warrior-king, Arthur.
Delilah, however, persists and Samson finally capitulates and tells Delilah that God supplies his power because of his consecration to God as a Nazirite, symbolized by the fact that a razor has never touched his head, and that if his hair is cut off he will lose his strength.
Esau, a "man of the field", became a hunter who had "rough" qualities that distinguished him from his twin brother. Among these qualities were his redness and noticeable hairiness.
Samson confessed that he would lose his strength “if my head were shaved” (Judges 16:15- 17). While he slept, the faithless Delilah brought in a Philistine who cut Samson's hair, draining his strength.
On Sunday or Monday, October 6 or 7, 2003, an adult male brown bear killed and ate Mr. Timothy Treadwell, 46, and Ms. Amy Huguenard, 37, at their campsite near a lake at the head ofKaflia Bay on the Pacific coast of Katmai National Park.
Huguenard's partial remains were found next to the torn and collapsed tents, partially buried in a mound of twigs and soil. A large male bear (tagged Bear 141) protecting the campsite was killed by park rangers during their attempt to retrieve the bodies.
Samson kills the lion with his bare hands.
A northern California man who says he was attacked by a mountain lion while out on a hike has a helpful hand - or claw - to thank for his life. Robert Biggs, 69, of Paradise, Calif., says he was saved by a helpful bear.
The latter third of the book of Genesis relates the complex and vola- tile relationship of the patriarch Jacob, his four wives, and their thirteen children (twelve sons, one daughter).
The Bear too was frightened when he got the smell of a Lion. He fled swiftly into the deep forest.
However, images of Jewish men on Judaea Capta coins, issued by Rome after the capture of Jerusalem in 70AD, indicate captive men who are bearded. So Jesus, as a philosopher with the "natural" look, might well have had a short beard, like the men depicted on Judaea Capta coinage, but his hair was probably not very long.
And it hurt. The point is, when God grabbed Ezekiel's hair, he also grabbed his attention. And in grabbing his attention, God grabbed his imagination. “Wake up, Ezekiel.
Best passage of the day: Leviticus interrupts these dire leprous warnings to reassure men that, yes, it's OK to be bald. “If a man loses the hair of his head and becomes bald, he is pure.” And it gets better! God also approves of male-pattern baldness.
But in the ancient Middle East, the writers of the Hebrew Bible forbade tattooing. Per Leviticus 19:28, “You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves.” Historically, scholars have often understood this as a warning against pagan practices of mourning.
In 1 Corinthians 11:3-15, Paul writes that if a woman is to be so immodest as to wear her hair uncovered while praying or prophesying in a Christian assembly she might as well shave her head. Paul instructs the Corinthians that it is “one and the same” for a woman to have her head shaved and for her to unveil her hair.
Paul's expectation was that women would have uncut hair that grows however long nature has determined, and that men would have cut hair that did not 'cover' their heads and thus is distinctly masculine.”
In Revelation 4:6–8, four living beings (Greek: ζῷον, zōion) are seen in John's vision. These appear as a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle, much as in Ezekiel but in a different order.
The Lion and the Lamb
The scriptures refer to Jesus Christ as both the Lamb and the Lion (Isa. 31:4; Hosea 5:14; Rev. 5:5). That is to say, Jesus Christ has qualities that remind us of these two animals.
According to Greek mythology, Callisto was a nymph and a follower of Artemis . Zeus developed an attraction to Callisto and turned himself into Artemis to lure Callisto. After Callisto became pregnant, she was expelled from Artemis' hunting group. Once Hera found out, she turned Callisto into a bear.