The lion of Palestine was properly of the Asiatic variety, distinguished
from the African variety, which is larger. Yet it not only attacked flocks in
the presence of the shepherd, but also laid waste towns and villages (2
Kings 17:25, 26) and devoured men (1 Kings 13:24, 25). Shepherds
sometimes, single-handed, encountered lions and slew them (1 Samuel
17:34, 35; Amos 3:12). Samson seized a young lion with his hands and
“rent him as he would have rent a kid” (Judges 14:5, 6). The strength
(Judges 14:18), courage (2 Samuel 17:10), and ferocity (Genesis 49:9) of
the lion were proverbial.
- LIP besides its literal sense (Isaiah 37:29, etc.), is used in the original
(saphah) metaphorically for an edge or border, as of a cup (1 Kings 7:26), a
garment (Exodus 28:32), a curtain (26:4), the sea (Genesis 22:17), the
Jordan (2 Kings 2:13). To “open the lips” is to begin to speak (Job 11:5);
to “refrain the lips” is to keep silence (Psalm 40:9; 1 Peter 3:10). The
“fruit of the lips” (Hebrews 13:15) is praise, and the “calves of the lips”
thank-offerings (Hos. 14:2). To “shoot out the lip” is to manifest scorn
and defiance (Psalm 22:7). Many similar forms of expression are found in
Scripture. - LITTER (Hebrews tsab, as being lightly and gently borne), a sedan or
palanquin for the conveyance of persons of rank (Isaiah 66:20). In
Numbers 7:3, the words “covered wagons” are more literally “carts of the
litter kind.” There they denote large and commodious vehicles drawn by
oxen, and fitted for transporting the furniture of the temple. - LIVER (Hebrews kabhed, “heavy;” hence the liver, as being the heaviest
of the viscera, Exodus 29:13, 22; Leviticus 3:4, 1, 10, 15) was burnt upon
the altar, and not used as sacrificial food. In Ezekiel 21:21 there is allusion,
in the statement that the king of Babylon “looked upon the liver,” to one
of the most ancient of all modes of divination. The first recorded instance
of divination (q.v.) is that of the teraphim of Laban. By the teraphim the
LXX. and Josephus understood “the liver of goats.” By the “caul above
the liver,” in Leviticus 4:9; 7:4, etc., some understand the great lobe of the
liver itself. - LIVING CREATURES as represented by Ezekiel (1-10) and John
(Revelation 4, etc.), are the cherubim. They are distinguished from angels
(Revelation 15:7); they join the elders in the “new song” (5:8, 9); they
warn of danger from divine justice (Isaiah 6:3-5), and deliver the