Hind

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

אילה ,  Genesis 49:21;  2 Samuel 22:34;  Job 39:1;  Psalms 18:33;  Psalms 29:9;  Proverbs 5:19;  Song of Solomon 2:7;  Song of Solomon 3:5;  Jeremiah 14:5;  Habakkuk 3:19; the male or female of the stag. It is a lovely creature, and of an elegant shape. It is noted for its swiftness and the sureness of its step as it jumps among the rocks. David and Habakkuk both allude to this character of the hind. "The Lord maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and causeth me to stand on the high places,"  Psalms 18:33;  Habakkuk 3:19 . The circumstance of their standing on the high places or mountains is applied to these animals by Xenophon. Our translators make Jacob, prophesying of the tribe of Naphtali, say, "Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words."  Genesis 49:21 . There is a difficulty and incoherence here which the learned Bochart removes by altering a little the punctuation of the original; and it then reads, "Naphtali is a spreading tree, shooting forth beautiful branches." This, indeed, renders the simile uniform; but another critic has remarked that "the allusion to a tree seems to be purposely reserved by the venerable patriarch for his son Joseph, who is compared to the boughs of a tree; and the repetition of the idea in reference to Naphtali is every way unlikely. Beside," he adds, "the word rendered ‘let loose,' imports an active motion, not like that of the branches of a tree, which, however freely they wave, are yet attached to the parent stock; but an emission, a dismission, or sending forth to a distance: in the present case, a roaming, roaming at liberty. The verb ‘he giveth' may denote shooting forth. It is used of production, as of the earth, which shoots forth, yields, its increase,  Leviticus 26:4 . The word rendered ‘goodly' signifies noble, grand, majestic; and the noun translated ‘words' radically signifies divergences, what is spread forth." For these reasons he proposes to read the passage, "Naphtali is a deer roaming at liberty; he shooteth forth spreading branches," or "majestic antlers." Here the distinction of imagery is preserved, and the fecundity of the tribe and the fertility of their lot intimated. In our version of   Psalms 29:9 , we read, "The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests." Mr. Merrick, in an ingenious note on the place, attempts to justify the rendering; but Bishop Lowth, in his "Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews," observes that this agrees very little with the rest of the imagery, either in nature or dignity; and that he does not feel himself persuaded, even by the reasonings of the learned Bochart on this subject: whereas the oak, struck with lightning, admirably agrees with the context. The Syriac seems, for אילות , hinds, to have read אלות , oaks, or rather, perhaps, terebinths. The passage may be thus versified:—

"Hark! his voice in thunder breaks, And the lofty mountain quakes; Mighty trees the tempests tear,

And lay the spreading forests bare!"

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

We meet this name, with peculiar emphasis of expression, in the title of the twenty-second Psalm; and whoever reads that psalm, as it is evidently written, prophetically of Christ, will not hesitate to conclude, that he is the hind of the morning, to which the whole psalm refers. Hunted as a hind, or a roe upon the mountains, from the morning of his incarnation to the close of his life on the cross. "Dogs (as he said) compassed him about, the assembly of the wicked enclosed him; they pierced my hands and my feet," said the meek Redeemer.

And if we consider the quality and character of the hind, we discover strong features of resemblance whereby Jesus might be pictured. The hind is up with the first of the morning, at break of day. So was our Jesus first in the morning councils of eternity, when, at the call of God, he stood forth the Surety for all his people. Moreover, the sweetness of the hind is almost proverbial. "Be thou" (saith the church to Jesus), "be thou as a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains of Bether." ( Song of Song of Solomon 2:17) And who shall speak of the earnestness of the Lord Jesus to come over the mountains of sin, and hills of corruption, in our nature, when he came to seek and save that which was lost? Who shall describe those numberless anticipations which we find in the Old Testament of Jesus, in appearing sometimes as an angel, and sometimes in an human from? as if to say, how much he longed for the time to come, when he should openly appear, in the substance of our flesh, as "the hind of the morning!"

And there is another beautiful resemblance in the hind, or roe, to Christ, in the loveliness as well as swiftness of this beautiful creature. Nothing can be more lovely than the young roe, or hart. And what equally so to Christ, who is altogether lovely, and the "fairest among ten thousand?" He is lovely in his form and usefulness; hated indeed, by serpents, but to all the creation of God excellent. His flesh the most delicious food—"whose flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed." "Be thou," (said the church,) "like to the roe, or to the young hart, upon the mountains of spices." ( Song of Song of Solomon 8:14)

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Hind. The female of the common stag or Cervus elaphus . It is frequently noticed in the poetical parts of Scripture as emblematic of...

activity,  Genesis 49:21;  Psalms 18:33,

gentleness,  Proverbs 5:19,

feminine modesty,  Song of Solomon 2:7;  Song of Solomon 3:5,

earnest longing,  Psalms 42:1, and

maternal affection.  Jeremiah 14:5.

Its shyness and remoteness from the haunts of men are also alluded to,  Job 39:1, and

its timidity, causing it to cast its young at the sound of thunder.  Psalms 29:9.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Genesis 49:21 (a) This is a picture of the freedom, liberty and enjoyment which this tribe would have in life. Those whom the Lord sets free are free indeed.

 2 Samuel 22:34 (a) The hind is the female of the red deer. It is noted for its fleetness and its sure-footedness. The Psalmist is using this as a type of the ability which GOD gave him of avoiding King Saul, and other dangerous enemies. It is a picture also of the ability GOD gives His children to travel easily over the rough paths of life, and to feel at home among the difficulties of life. The hind enjoys the rough mountain terrain. She is sure-footed, she does not seek easy paths. (See also  Habakkuk 3:19;  Psalm 18:33). (The "hart" is the male member of the red deer family).

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A peasant; a rustic; a farm servant.

(2): ( n.) A spotted food fish of the genus Epinephelus, as E. apua of Bermuda, and E. Drummond-hayi of Florida; - called also coney, John Paw, spotted hind.

(3): ( n.) The female of the red deer, of which the male is the stag.

(4): ( n.) A domestic; a servant.

(5): ( a.) In the rear; - opposed to front; of or pertaining to the part or end which follows or is behind, in opposition to the part which leads or is before; as, the hind legs or hind feet of a quadruped; the hind man in a procession.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The female of the hart or stag, a species of deer, distinguished for the lightness and elegance of its form. The hind is destitute of horns, like all the females of this class, except the reindeer. In  Genesis 49:21 , Naphtali is compared to a hind roaming at liberty, or quickly growing up into elegance; while the "goodly words" of Naphtali refer to the future orators, prophets, and poets of the tribe. A faithful and affectionate wife is compared to the hind,  Proverbs 5:19 , as also are swift and sure-footed heroes,  2 Samuel 22:34   Habakkuk 3:19 .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

The word ayyalah is supposed to allude to any kind of deer found in Palestine: no particular species can be identified. It is used as a symbol of activity.  Genesis 49:21;  2 Samuel 22:34 ,  Psalm 18:33;  Psalm 29:9;  Song of Solomon 2:7;  Song of Solomon 3:5;  Habakkuk 3:19 . See HART.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 2 Samuel 22:34 Psalm 18:33 Psalm 22 Genesis 49:21 Proverbs 5:19 Song of Solomon 2:7 3:5 Psalm 42:1 Psalm 29:9 Psalm 22

King James Dictionary

HIND, n. The female of the red deer or stag.

HIND, n. A domestic a servant.

1. A peasant a rustic or a husbandman's servant.

HIND, a. Backward pertaining to the part which follows in opposition to the fore part as the hind legs of a quadruped the hind toes the hind shoes of a horse the hind part of an animal.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Proverbs 5:19 2 Samuel 22:34 Psalm 18:33 Habakkuk 3:19

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

HIND . See Hart.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(See Hart .)

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( אִוָּלָה , Ayalah',  Genesis 49:21;  2 Samuel 22:34;  Job 34:1;  Psalms 18:33;  Psalms 29:9;  Song of Solomon 2:7;  Song of Solomon 3:5;  Habakkuk 3:19; or

אִוֶּלֶת , Aye'Leth,  Proverbs 5:19;  Jeremiah 14:5; "Aijaleth," Psalms 22 :title), the female of the hart or stag, "doe" being the female of the fallow-deer, and "roe" being sometimes used for that of the roebuck. All the females of the Cervidae, with the exception of the reindeer, are hornless. (See Deer). The hind is frequently noticed in the poetical parts of Scripture as emblematic of activity ( Genesis 49:21;  2 Samuel 22:34;  Psalms 18:33;  Habakkuk 3:19), gentleness ( Proverbs 5:19), feminine modesty ( Song of Solomon 2:7;  Song of Solomon 3:5), earnest longing ( Psalms 42:1), and maternal affection ( Jeremiah 14:5). Its shyness and remoteness from the haunts of men are also noticed ( Job 39:1), and its timidity, causing it to cast its young at the sound of thunder ( Psalms 29:9). The conclusion which some have drawn from the passage last quoted, that the hind produces her young with great difficulty, is not, in reality, deducible from the words, and is expressly contradicted by  Job 39:3. It may be remarked on  Psalms 18:33, and  Habakkuk 3:19, where the Lord is said to cause the feet to stand firm like those of a hind on high places, that this representation is in perfect harmony with the habits of mountain stags; but the version of  Proverbs 5:19, "Let the wife of thy bosom be as the beloved hind and favorite roe," seems to indicate that here the words are generalized so as to include under roe monogamous species of antelopes, whose affections and consortship are permanent and strong; for stags are polygamous. The Sept. reads אֵילָה in  Genesis 49:21, rendering it Στέλεχος Ἀνειμένον , "a luxuriant terebinth," an emendation adopted by Bochart. Lowth has proposed a similar change in Psalms 29, but in neither case can the emendation be accepted. Naphtali verified the comparison of himself to a "graceful or tall hind" by the events recorded in  Judges 4:6-9;  Judges 5:18. The inscription of Psalms 22 :" the hind of the morning," probably refers to a tune of that name. (See Aijeleth).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Hind (;;; , etc.), the female of the hart or stag, doe being the female of the fallow-deer, and roe being sometimes used for that of the roebuck. All the females of the Cervidæ, with the exception of the reindeer, are hornless. It may be remarked that the emendation of Bochart on the version of , where for 'Naphthali is a hind let loose, he giveth goodly words,' he, by a small change in the punctuation of the original, proposes to read 'Naphthali is a spreading tree, shooting forth beautiful branches,' restores the text to a consistent meaning, agreeing with the Sept., the Chaldee paraphrase, and the Arabic version. [HART].