Leopard
“Spotted one”
Summary
A large spotted cat inhabiting the mountains and forests of Palestine and Syria, noted for its swiftness, cunning, and ferocity, and used prophetically to symbolize powerful world empires.
☩Natural Description
The Hebrew word namer, meaning 'spotted,' refers to the leopard (Felis pardus), which anciently infested Syrian mountains and still occasionally appears in Lebanon and wooded areas of Palestine. The Arabs use the cognate word nimr for the same animal. The leopard is smaller than a lion but more agile, famed for its swiftness (Habakkuk 1:8) and the flexibility that allows it to climb trees, take surprising leaps, and crawl snake-like along the ground. Unlike the lion's bold, open attack, the leopard lies cunningly in wait near villages and watering places to ambush its prey (Jeremiah 5:6; Hosea 13:7). Place-names like Nimrah, Beth-Nimrah, and the 'waters of Nimrim' indicate the leopard's prevalence in ancient Palestine.
☩Figurative and Prophetic Use
Jeremiah used the leopard's unalterable spots to illustrate the impossibility of sinful people changing their nature apart from God's grace: 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?' (Jeremiah 13:23). In Daniel's vision, a leopard with four wings represented the Grecian empire under Alexander, whose conquests were marked by the swiftness this animal symbolizes (Daniel 7:6). The beast from the sea in Revelation resembled a leopard, combining features of various empires (Revelation 13:2). In the peaceful kingdom of the Messiah, 'the leopard shall lie down with the kid' (Isaiah 11:6)—a transformation of nature illustrating the gospel's power to change the most fierce into the gentle.
Related Verses8 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Leopard," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. V (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Leopard," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).