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•FOX (Hebrews shu’al, a name derived from its digging or burrowing under ground), the Vulpes thaleb, or Syrian fox, the only species of this animal indigenous to Palestine. It burrows, is silent and solitary in its habits, is destructive to vineyards, being a plunderer of ripe grapes (Cant. 2:15). The Vulpes Niloticus, or Egyptian dog-fox, and the Vulpes vulgaris, or common fox, are also found in Palestine.
The proverbial cunning of the fox is alluded to in Ezekiel 13:4, and in Luke 13:32, where our Lord calls Herod “that fox.” In Judges 15:4, 5, the reference is in all probability to the jackal. The Hebrew word shu’al through the Persian schagal becomes our jackal (Canis aureus), so that the word may bear that signification here. The reasons for preferring the rendering “jackal” are (1) that it is more easily caught than the fox; (2) that the fox is shy and suspicious, and flies mankind, while the jackal does not; and (3) that foxes are difficult, jackals comparatively easy, to treat in the way here described. Jackals hunt in large numbers, and are still very numerous in Southern Palestine.
•FRANKINCENSE (Hebrews lebonah; Gr. libanos, i.e., “white”), an odorous resin imported from Arabia (Isaiah 60:6; Jeremiah 6:20), yet also growing in Palestine (Cant. 4:14). It was one of the ingredients in the perfume of the sanctuary (Exodus 30:34), and was used as an accompaniment of the meat-offering (Leviticus 2:1, 16; 6:15; 24:7). When burnt it emitted a fragrant odour, and hence the incense became a symbol of the Divine name (Malachi 1:11; Cant. 1:3) and an emblem of prayer (Psalm 141:2; Luke 1:10; Revelation 5:8; 8:3).
This frankincense, or olibanum, used by the Jews in the temple services is not to be confounded with the frankincense of modern commerce, which is an exudation of the Norway spruce fir, the Pinus abies. It was probably a resin from the Indian tree known to botanists by the name of Boswellia serrata or thurifera, which grows to the height of forty feet.