CHAMOIS
Not the well-known mountain goat of southern Europe, but probably a variety of wild sheep, resembling a goat, and still found in Arabia Petraea, Deu 14:5 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Chamois
Chamois. The KJV has “chamois” for the goat or antelope of (Deu 14:5). The chamois (“goat antelope”) of Europe never lived in Palestine. Since the Hebrews were allowed to eat this animal, it must have been very familiar in their country. It may have been a wild goat (ibex?) or a type of wild mountain sheep. Also see Sheep.
Fuente: Plants Animals Of Bible
Chamois
the rendering in the Auth. Vers. at Deu 19:5, of the Hebrews , ze’mer (so called from leaping; Sept. and Vulg. understand the giraffe, , camelopardalus; Luther “elend” or elk). The enumeration there requires us to understand zemer to be a clean ruminant; but it is plain that the Mosaic list of clean animals would not include such as were totally out of the reach of the Hebrew people, and at best only known to them from specimens seen in Egypt, consisting of presents sent from Nubia, or in pictures on the walls of temples. The camelopard is exclusively an inhabitant of Southern Africa (comp. Strabo. 16:771; 17:827; Pliny, 8:27), and therefore could not come in the way of the people of Israel (see Michaelis, Suppl. 3:628). The same objection applies to the elk, because that species of deer never appears further south than Northern Germany and Poland (Cuvier, Anim. Kingd. 1:376 sq.). As to the chamois (Gesenius, Thes. 1:420), though it did exist in the mountains of Greece, and is still found in Central Asia, there is no vestige of its having at any time frequented Libanus or any other part of Syria. Zammer is still used in Persia and India for any large species of ruminants, particularly those of the stag kind. In the sacred text, however, the word zemer is not generical, but strictly specific. Ail, or “stag,” is mentioned, as well as several Antilopidae, in the same verse; we must, therefore, look for an animal not hitherto noticed, and withal sufficiently important to merit being named in such an ordinance. SEE DEER; SEE GOAT; SEE GAZELLE, etc.
The only species that seems to answer the conditions required is a wild sheep, still not uncommon in the Mokattam rocks near Cairo, found in Sinai, and eastward in the broken ridges of Stony Arabia, where it is known under the name of kebsh, a slight mutation of the old Hebrew , keseb, or rather, , kebes, which is applied, indeed, to a domestic sheep, one that grazed. This animal is frequently represented and hieroglyphically named on Egyptian monuments (Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. 3:19). It is a fearless climber, and secure on its feet, among the sharpest and most elevated ridges. In stature the animal exceeds a large domestic sheep, though it is not more bulky of body. Instead of wool, it is covered with close, fine, rufous hair: from the throat to the breast, and on the upper arms above the knees, there is abundance of long, loose, reddish hair, forming a compact protection to the knees and brisket, and indicating that the habits of the species require extraordinary defense while sporting among the most rugged cliffs (see Bochart, Hieroz. 2:273 sq.; Rosenmller, Alterth. IV, 2:186 sq.). The head and face are perfectly ovine, the eyes are bluish, and the horns, of a yellowish color, are set on as in sheep; they rise obliquely, and are directed backward and outward, with the points bending downward. The tail, about nine inches long, is heavy and round. SEE ANTELOPE.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Chamois
only in Deut. 14:5 (Heb. zemer), an animal of the deer or gazelle species. It bears this Hebrew name from its leaping or springing. The animal intended is probably the wild sheep (Ovis tragelephus), which is still found in Sinai and in the broken ridges of Stony Arabia. The LXX. and Vulgate render the word by camelopardus, i.e., the giraffe; but this is an animal of Central Africa, and is not at all known in Syria.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Chamois
Zemer, from zaamar to leap. Allowed as clean food (Deu 14:5). The giraffe according to Gosse, (from the Arabic version and the Septuagint). The objection is, the giraffe is not a native of Palestine; but it is of Nubia, and may have been of the Arabian peninsula at the Exodus. Clearly it is not the chamois found only on high peaks of the Alps, auras, and Caucasus. It may be some other species of antelope. Colossians Smith suggests the aoudad mountain sheep. The Syriac has “the mountain goat.”
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Chamois
CHAMOIS (zemer, Deu 14:5).The tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of zemer as chamois in EV [Note: English Version.] and as camelopard, i.e. giraffe, in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , are both certainly incorrect, as neither of these animals occurs in Palestine. Tristram suggests the wild sheep, Ovis tragelaphus, an animal about 3 feet high with long curved horns. It is well known to the Bedouln.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Chamois
shami, sha-mwa, sha-moi (, zemer; , kamelopardalis): Occurs only once in the Bible, i.e. in the list of clean animals in Deu 14:5. Gesenius refers to the verb zamar, to sing, and suggests the association of dancing or leaping, indicating thereby an active animal. M’Lean in Encyclopedia Biblica cites the rendering of the Targums dsa’, or wild goat. Now there are two wild goats in Palestine. The better known is the ibex of the South, which may well be the yael (English Versions, wild goat; Job 39:1; Psa 104:18; 1Sa 24:2), as well as the ‘akko (English Version, wild goat, Deu 14:5). The other is the pasang or Persian wild goat which ranges from the Northeast of Palestine and the Syrian desert to Persia, and which may be the zemer (English Versions chamois). The accompanying illustration, which is taken from the Royal Natural History, shows the male and female and young. The male is distinguished by its larger horns and goatee. The horns are in size and curvature very similar to those of the ibex (see GOAT, section 2) , but the front edge is like a nicked blade instead of being thick and knotty as in the ibex. Like the ibex it is at home among the rocks, and climbs apparently impossible cliffs with marvelous ease.
Tristram (NHB) who is followed by Post (HDB) suggests that zemer may be the Barbary sheep (Ovis tragelaphus), though the latter is only known to inhabit the Atlas Mountains, from the Atlantic to Tunis. Tristram supports his view by reference to a kebsh (ram) which the Arabs say lives in the mountains of Sinai, though they have apparently neither horns nor skins to show as trophies, and it is admitted that no European has seen it. The true chamois (Rupicapra tragus) inhabits the high mountains from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus, and there is no reason to suppose that it was ever found in Syria or Palestine.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Chamois
Chamois (Deu 14:5). Some suppose that the animal meant is the Camelopard, others the Elk. But it is plain that the Mosaic enumeration of clean animals would not include such as were totally out of the reach of the Hebrew people, and at best only known to them from specimens seen in Egypt, consisting of presents sent from Nubia, or in pictures on the walls of temples. The Camelopard or Giraffe is exclusively an inhabitant of Southern Africa, and therefore could not come in the way of the people of Israel. The same objection applies to the Elk, because that species of deer never appears further to the south than Northern Germany and Poland; and with regard to the Chamois, which has been adopted in our version, though it did exist in the mountains of Greece, and is still found in Central Asia, there is no vestige of its having at any time frequented Libanus or any other part of Syria. We may, therefore, with more propriety refer to the ruminants indigenous in the regions which were in the contemplation of the sacred legislator, and the only species that seems to answer to the conditions required is a wild sheep, still not uncommon in the Mokattam rocks near Cairo, found in Sinai, and eastward in the broken ridges of Stony Arabia, where it is known under the name of Kebsch.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Chamois
The Hebrew word is zemer, Deu 14:5, which is held to signify ‘leaper,’ and would thus suit the chamois; but this animal is unknown in Palestine and is supposed never to have existed there. It has been suggested that the animal specified is the aoudad, the mountain sheep; others judge the wild goat to be referred to.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Chamois
A species of antelope.
Deu 14:5
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Chamois
Chamois (sham’my). Deu 14:5. A species of wild sheep.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Chamois
Chamois. (Often pronounced ‘shame’). The translation of the Hebrew, zemer, in Deu 14:5. But the translation is incorrect; for there is no evidence that the chamois have ever been seen in Palestine or the Lebanon. It is probable that some mountain sheep is intended.