Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 14:5
The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.
5. Seven varieties of game; LXX B gives only five: hart, gazelle, roebuck, wild-ox and giraffe (?); codd. AF, etc. add after gazelle, buffalo and tragelaphos. It may not be unnecessary to remark that neither to the nomads nor to the fellan is hunting sport; it is, especially to the former, a hard and hungry search for food. ‘The nomad is not a hunter’ (Doughty, i. 157). The hunters of Arabia are the Sleyb, wandering gypsies without cattle and camels: according to Burckhardt (p. 12) they live on dried gazelle-flesh. Besides the varieties of game given here as edible, the ancient Arabs relished also the flesh of the wild-ass (Georg Jacob, op. cit. 115).
hart and gazelle ] ’Ayyal, e bi: see on Deu 12:22; cp. Deu 12:15, Deu 15:22; hart probably fallow deer, cervus dama; gazelle, gazella dorcas.
roebuck ] Yamr also deut 1Ki 4:23 (Deu 5:3) A.V. fallow-deer. Yakhmr is the name still given to a deer found on Mt Carmel (Conder, Tent Work, i. 173) and identified as the roebuck, cervus capreolus; called in Gilead khamr (Post, PEFQ, 1890, 171 f.; Conder, id. 173); also seen on Lebanon (Tr. 4). Found throughout Europe it does not range farther S. than Palestine. As roebuck is the name of the male, roedeer is perhaps the better rendering.
wild goat ] ’Ao only here, LXX AF , Targ. ya‘al, ibex such as about Engedi, 1Sa 24:2. With ’ao as if for ’ano cp. Ar. ’ana (= long-necked) goat.
pygarg ] As LXX ‘white-rump.’ The Heb. dshon (as if from Heb. dash = tread, leap) is rather antelope: the large white addax (Tr. 5).
antelope ] t e ‘o only here and Isa 51:20, LXX , A.V. wild-ox. Tristram (p. 5) takes the name as generic and suggests that it covers both the antilope bubalis, which, he says, is called ‘wild-cow’ in Moab and Gilead, and a leucoryx ‘the Oryx or white antelope,’ to which the Arabs of Arabia give the name of ‘wild-ox’ (G. Jacob, op. cit. 117, citing from Ar. poets descriptions of it as shining like a white-washed house or as if with a white tunic); Post (Hastings’ D.B. ‘Ox’) proposes the oryx beatrix; Doughty (1. 328) takes the woh of central Arabia, ‘an antelope beatrix,’ to be the O.T. re’em or wild-ox. R.V. antelope and A.V. wild-ox are thus probably both correct, the former giving the genus of the animal the latter its popular name among the Hebrews and the Arabs. With regard to the Heb. name t e ’o or th e ’o I notice that Lane gives the Ar. Sha’ ( sh and the soft th correspond) as applied to the wild-bull or wild-cow.
chamois ] Certainly not this! This animal is European and is not found so far S. as Palestine. Heb. zemer, Targ. dia, wild-goat. In the Mts of Yemen the wild maned sheep, ovis tragelaphus, was anciently numerous (G. Jacob, p. 21). Probably mountain-goat or – sheep.
Thus the names in this verse are all general and popular; each may have covered more than one species found in Syria or Arabia: to identify it with any one species is foolish.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 5. The hart] aiyal, the deer, according to Dr. Shaw: See Clarke on De 12:15.
The roebuck] tsebi, generally supposed to be the antelope, belonging to the fifth order Pecora, genus MAMMALIA, and species 38. It has round twisted spiral horns, hairy tufts on the knees, browses on tender shoots, lives in hilly countries, is fond of climbing rocks, and is remarkable for its beautiful black eyes. The flesh is good and well flavoured.
The fallow deer] yachmur, from chamar, to be troubled, disturbed, disordered: this is supposed to mean, not the fallow deer, but the bubalus or buffalo, which is represented by Dr. Shaw, and other travellers and naturalists, as a sullen, malevolent, and spiteful animal, capricious, ferocious, and every way brutal. According to the Linnaean classification, the buffalo belongs to the fifth order Pecora, genus MAMMALIA, species bos. According to 1Kg 4:23, this was one of the animals which was daily served up at the table of Solomon. Though the flesh of the buffalo is not considered very delicious, yet in the countries where it abounds it is eaten as frequently by all classes of persons as the ox is in England. The yachmur is not mentioned in the parallel place, Le 11:1-47.
The wild goat] akko. It is not easy to tell what creature is intended by the akko. Dr. Shaw supposed it to be a kind of very timorous goat, known in the East by the name fishtall and serwee, and bearing a resemblance both to the goat and the stag, whence the propriety of the name given it by the Septuagint and Vulgate, tragelaphus, the goat-stag; probably the rupicapra or rock-goat. The word is found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
The pygarg] dishon. As this word is nowhere else used, we cannot tell what animal is meant by it. The word pygarg , literally signifies white buttocks, and is applied to a kind of eagle with a white tail; but here it evidently means a quadruped. It was probably some kind of goat, common and well known in Judea.
The wild ox] teo. This is supposed to be the oryx of the Greeks, which is a species of large stag. It may be the same with the bekker el wash, described by Dr. Shaw as “a species of the deer kind, whose horns are exactly in the fashion of our stag, but whose size is only between the red and fallow deer.” In Isa 51:20 a creature of the name of to is mentioned, which we translate wild bull; it may be the same creature intended above, with the interchange of the two last letters.
The chamois] zemer. This was probably a species of goat or deer, but of what kind we know not: that it cannot mean the chamois is evident from this circumstance, “that the chamois inhabits only the regions of snow and ice, and cannot bear the heat.” – Buffon. The Septuagint and Vulgate translate it the Camelopard, but this creature is only found in the torrid zone and probably was never seen in Judea; consequently could never be prescribed as a clean animal, to be used as ordinary food. I must once more be permitted to say, that to ascertain the natural history of the Bible is a hopeless case. Of a few of its animals and vegetables we are comparatively certain, but of the great majority we know almost nothing. Guessing and conjecture are endless, and they have on these subjects been already sufficiently employed. What learning, deep, solid, extensive learning, and judgment could do, has already been done by the incomparable Bochart in his Hierozoicon. The learned reader may consult this work, and, while he gains much general information, will have to regret that he can apply so little of it to the main and grand question. As I have consulted every authority within my reach, on the subject of the clean and unclean animals mentioned in the law, and have detailed all the information I could collect in my notes on Lev. xi., I must refer my readers to what I have there laid down.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
5. The hart(see on De12:15).
fallow deerThe Hebrewword (Jachmur) so rendered, does not represent the fallowdeer, which is unknown in Western Asia, but an antelope (Oryxleucoryx), called by the Arabs, jazmar. It is of a whitecolor, black at the extremities, and a bright red on the thighs. Itwas used at Solomon’s table.
wild goatThe word akkois different from that commonly used for a wild goat (1Sa 24:2;Psa 104:18; Pro 5:19),and it is supposed to be a goat-deer, having the body of a stag, butthe head, horns, and beard of a goat. An animal of this sort is foundin the East, and called Lerwee [SHAW,Travels].
pygarga species ofantelope (Oryx addax) with white buttocks, wreathed horns twofeet in length, and standing about three feet seven inches high atthe shoulders. It is common in the tracks which the Israelites hadfrequented [SHAW].
wild oxsupposed to bethe Nubian Oryx, which differs from the Oryx leucoryx(formerly mentioned) by its black color; and it is, moreover, oflarger stature and more slender frame, with longer and more curvedhorns. It is called Bekkar-El-Wash by the Arabs.
chamoisrendered by theSeptuagint Cameleopard; but, by others who rightly judge itmust have been an animal more familiar to the Hebrews, it is thoughtto be the Kebsch (Ovis tragelaphus), rather larger thana common sheep, covered not with wool, but with reddish hairaSyrian sheep-goat.
De14:11-20. OF BIRDS.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The hart, the roebuck, and the fallow deer,…. All of the deer kind, and very agreeable food; harts were very common in the land of Canaan and parts adjacent; Aelianus says u harts are bred in the great mountains in Syria, Amanus, Lebanon, and Carmel: the roebuck, or “dorcas”, from whence a good woman had her name, Ac 9:36 is spoken of by Martial w as very delicious food, and so are fallow deer; the word “jachmur”, here used, having the signification of redness in it, may be used for that sort which are called red deer: it is observed that in the Arabic language it is used for an animal with two horns, living in the woods, not unlike an hart, but swifter than that; and it is asked, is it not the “aloe” or “elch” x?
and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois; the wild goat is reckoned by Pliny y among the half wild creatures in Africa; according to the philosopher z there are none but in Syria, on which Canaan bordered, and were very remarkable ones, having ears a span and nine inches long, and some reached to the ground. The Hebrew name for this creature is “akko”; and there is a fourfooted wild beast, by the Tartarians called “akkyk”, and by the Turks “akoim”, and which with the Scythians and Sarmatians are to be met with in flocks; it is between a hart and a ram, its body whitish, and the flesh exceeding sweet a; it seems to be the same with the “tragelaphus”, of which there were in Arabia, as Diodorus Siculus b says; the next is the “pygarg”, which we so render from the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, or white buttocks, so called from the hinder part of it being white; a species of the eagle with a white tail is called a “pygarg”, but here a four footed animal is meant; and which is mentioned as such, along with hinds, does, and goats, by Herodotus c, Aelian d, and Pliny e: it has its name “dishon”, in Hebrew, from its ash colour, and the “tragelaphus”, or goat deer, has part of its back ash coloured, and has ash coloured spots or streaks on its sides f: some take it to be the “strepsiceros”, a kind of buck or goat with writhed horns, which the Africans, as Pliny says g, call “addaca”, which is thought by some to be a corruption of “al-dashen”, so Junius; the Targum of Jonathan takes it for the “unicorn” or “rhinoceros”; and the Talmudists say h that the unicorn, though it has but one horn, is free, i.e. lawful to be eaten: the “wild ox” was common in Arabia; Strabo i speaks of multitudes of wild oxen in some parts of Arabia, on the flesh of which and other animals the Arabians live; in the Septuagint version it is called the “oryx”, which is a creature that has but one horn, and divides the hoof k, and so might be eaten; [See comments on Isa 51:20], the last, the “chamois”, has a French name, and is a creature of the goat kind, from whose skin the chamois leather is made; in the figure of its body it seems to approach very much to the stag kind l; perhaps it is the same with the “cemas” of Aelian m, mentioned by him along with roebucks. Some take it to be the “tarandus”, of which Pliny says n it is of the size of an ox, has a head bigger than a hart, and not unlike it; its horns are branched, hoofs cloven, and is hairy like a bear. In the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan this is the “pygarg”; these several sorts of beasts were allowed to be eaten; the three first there is no difficulty about them, but the other seven it is hard to determine what they are, at least some of them. Dr. Shaw o thinks that the deer, the antelope, the wild bear, the goat deer, the white buttocks, the buffalo, and jeraffa, may lay in the best claim to the “ailee”, “tzebi”, “yachmur”, “akkub”, “dishon”, “thau”, and “zomer”, here.
u Hist. Animal. l. 5. c. 56. w “Delicium parvo”, &c. Epigram. l. 13. 93. x Castel. Lex. Polyglott. Col. 1. 294. y Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 53. z Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 28. a Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 415. b Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 134. Vid. Plin. l. 8. c. 33. c Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 192. d Hist. Animal l. 7. c. 19. e Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 53. f Calmet’s Dictionary on the word “Pygarg”. g Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 39. h T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 59. 2. i Geograph. l. 16. p. 530. k Aristot. Hist. Animal, l. 2. c. 1. l Supplement to Chambers’s Dictionary on the word “Rupricapra”. m Hist. Animal. l. 14. c. 14. n Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 34. 34. o Travels, p. 418.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(5) The wild goat.In German the Steinbock is given as the equivalent for this creature. The pygarg (dshon) is sometimes taken to be the buffalo. If all these creatures were then to be found in Palestine, there must have been far more uncleared land than there has been for many centuries past.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. The hart The ordinary deer. The roebuck should be translated the gazelle.
The pygarg A species of antelope. A kind of deer called yahmar is found on Carmel. Lieutenant Conder says it resembles the English roebuck. Tent Work in Palestine, vol. i, p. 173.
The wild ox Probably a kind of antelope or gazelle.
Chamois Very likely another species of antelope is referred to.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 5. The fallow-deer It is not certain what animal is meant by the word iachmor, which we render fallow-deer. Parkhurst says, it is the antelope, an animal of the deer kind, very fierce and quarrelsome (whence its name). It is found in Syria, about the Euphrates; and the Arabs still retain its Hebrew name, calling it jachmur or jamur. See Bochart, vol. 2: p. 910. & seq. The pygarg dishon, is also an animal of the deer kind, so called from its ashen colour; the tragelaphus or pygarg, LXX Vulg. pygargum. See Johnston’s Nat. Hist. of Quad. p. 63. teou, which we render the wild ox, is a species also of the deer kind, among which it is mentioned. It occurs also Isa 51:20. Bochart thinks it another name for the reem or oryx; and observes, that the LXX accordingly render it here by , and Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, in Isaiah by , and so the Vulgate in both places, orygem and oryx. He is of opinion, that the name teou, or tou, is formed from the noise or cry which the animal makes, [as the Greek name , and Latin thoes, for jackalls,] and which is the more remarkable, as it fails not to utter it at the rising of the sun and moon. See Bochart, vol. 2: p. 973, &c. The chamois, zemer, (which word signifies to prune,) is of the goat kind: the reason of the name will appear from the following account of the animal, which we partly transcribe from a late ingenious writer: “The horns are not large, but they are very strong; they are straight all the way to the top, but there they turn into a kind of hook. The creature feeds on the young shoots and shrubs; and these horns, which, like those of the camelopardal, are not fit for weapons either of offence or defence, serve admirably for the purpose of getting at its food. As the crooked horns of that animal are very well situated for pulling down a bough which is a little out of the reach of the mouth, and bending it till it is pliable; those of the chamois, which have absolutely hooks at the end, are as useful for laying hold of a single branch or shoot out of an entangled thicket, and dragging it out singly, that the creature may browse its verdure without wounding its face, or endangering its eyes in the thicket.” Watson’s Animal World Displayed, p. 114. It must not be overlooked, that both the LXX and Vulgate interpret zemer, the camelopardal; and indeed this animal feeds in such a remarkable manner, as well enough to suit the Hebrew name. (Watson, p. 110.) But Bochart is of opinion, that this creature was not even known in Judea; Bochart, vol. 2: p. 908. For all these names, see Parkhurst’s Lexicon. The reader will find in vol. 2 Chronicles 2 sect. 6 of Dr. Shaw’s Travels, some curious observations respecting the quadrupeds and birds mentioned in this chapter, which are too accurate to be abridged, and too long to be inserted here.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Deu 14:5 The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.
Ver. 5. The hart and the roebuck. ] These were dainties fit for a king. 1Ki 4:23 Rice and mutton is the cheer wherewith the great Turk entertaineth foreign ambassadors, and that so plainly and sparingly dressed, as if they would give check to our gormandise and excess.
And the wild ox.
a Plin., lib. viii. cap. 53.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
roebuck = gazelle (Revised Version)
fallow deer = roebuck.
pygarg = mountain goat.
wild ox = antelope (Revised Version)
chamois = mountain sheep (Revised Version)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the wild goat: The word akko, according to the LXX and Vulgate, signifies the tragelephus, or goat-deer; so called from its resemblance to both species. Dr. Shaw states that an animal of this kind is found in the East, where it is called fishtull, and lerwee.
pygarg: or, bison. Heb. dishon. The pygarg, , or white-buttocks, according to the LXX; and Dr. Shaw states that the liamee, as the Africans call it, is exactly such an animal; being of the same shape and colour as the antelope, and of the size of a roebuck.
the wild ox: Theo, probably the oryx of the Greeks, a species of large stag; and the Bekkar el wash of Dr. Shaw. Deu 14:5
Reciprocal: Deu 12:15 – the unclean
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 14:5. The pygargs A kind of goat. And the chamois Hebrew, , zemer, which Bochart takes for that kind of goat which is called in Latin Rupi-capra, or mountain-goat, from the Arabic zamara, to bound like a roe.