4 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Babylon, the prophet says, it has become “a possession for
the bittern and the wild ass of the desert ;” and Job, speak-
ing of the wicked man, compares his house to that of the
moth, and his meat to the gal? of asps. The lion affords
abundance of metaphors; and no one can read without ad-
miration the magnificent description of the war-horse in the
book of Job, or that of the Jeviathan, the latter of which,
is an example of the difficulty that exists in identifying
many of the animals alluded to. All the writings of the
Old Testament abound in allusions to animal life, showing
a knowledge of the habits and peculiarities of the crea-
tures named, such as is only acquired by accurate and
close observation. Solomon is said to have spoken “of
beasts, of creeping things, and of fishes.” . His Proverbs
are replete with proofs of the wise king’s knowledge of, and
delight in, the inferior animals, and he constantly presents
them as examples of good, or as types of bad qualities; for
warning and for reproof. “Look not upon the wine when
it is red:” “it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an
adder.” ‘Riches make to themselves wings; they fly away
as an eagle towards heaven.” “Let a bear robbed of her
whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.” ‘Go
to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways and be wise.”