100 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



Lord ! To what end is it for you ? The day of the Lord is dark- 

 ness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear 

 met him,' Amos v. 18, 19. And Solomon, who had closely studied 

 the character of the several individuals of the animal kingdom, 

 compares an unprincipled and wicked ruler to these creatures: 

 ' As a roaring lion and a ranging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the 

 poor people,' Proverbs xxviii. 15. 



The she-bear is said to be even more fierce and terrible than 

 the male, especially after she has cubbed. So strong is her attach- 

 ment to her young, and so extreme the jealousy with which she 

 protects them, that no stranger, whether man or beast, is suffered 

 to intrude on her solitude with impunity. This circumstance 

 finely illustrates the beautiful imagery of the prophet, employed to 

 delineate the amazing change which the gospel of Christ will be 

 the instrument of effecting in the human heart, and the delightful 

 harmony which will follow in its train : * And the cow and the 

 bear shall feed, Their young ones shall lie down together,' 

 Isaiah xi. 7. 



To the fury of the femnle bear when she happens to be robbed 

 of her young, there are several striking allusions in scripture. 

 Those persons who have witnessed her under such circumstances, 

 describe her rage to be most violent and frantic, and as only to be 

 diverted from the object of her vengeance with the loss of her life. 

 How terrible, then, was the threatening of the incensed JEHOVAH, 

 in consequence of the numerous and aggravated iniquities of the 

 kingdom of Israel, as uttered by the prophet Hosea ' I will meet 

 them as a bear bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of 

 their heart ! ' Chap. xiii. 8. 



The execution of this terrible denunciation, in the invasion of 

 the land by the Assyrian armies, and the utter subversion of the 

 kingdom, is well known to eveiy reader of scripture. 



In the vision of Daniel, where the four great monarchies of 

 antiquity are symbolised by different beasts of prey, whose quali- 

 ties resembled the character of these several states, the Medo- 

 Persian empire is represented by a bear, which raised itself up on 

 one side, and had between its teeth three ribs ; and they said thus 

 unto it : ' Arise, devour much flesh,' Daniel vii. 5. All the four 

 monarchies agreed in their fierceness and rapacity; but there were 

 several striking differences in the subordinate features of their char- 

 acter, and their mode of operation, which is clearly intimated by the 

 different characters of their symbolical representatives. The Per- 

 sian monarchy is represented by a bear, to denote its cruelty and 

 greediness after blood ; and in this imputation the prophet Jeremi- 

 ah unites, by designating the Persians 'the spoilers,' chap. li. 48, 

 56. The learned Bochart has enumerated several points of resem- 

 blance between that character of the Medo-Persians and the dispo* 

 aitions of this animal. 



