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The Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) was once common in Israel but has been extinct since the end of the 19th century, due largely to unchecked hunting under Ottoman rule.
A male lion can reach 3 meters (10 feet) long and weigh 180-225 kilos (400-500 pounds).
Syrian Lion at Jerusalem Biblical Zoo (Photo by David Cloud)
They usually live and hunt in groups called prides.
A male lion’s roar can be heard by humans up to 8km (5 miles) away, and one Hebrew word for lion is “shachal,” meaning the “roarer” (Pr. 26:13). The roar has been measured at 114 decibels. Satan is likened to a roaring lion that “walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pe. 5:8).
They are very strong and can carry off a complete buffalo carcass.
The lion’s blow is one of the most powerful forces in nature. “The leg, or forearm, as it is called, measures 19 inches around, and is made up of the hardest of hard bone, with muscle and tendons as strong as the strongest wire. The foot measures 8 inches across. When this foot strikes an animal the lion shoots out its terrible claws, which are hidden, when it walks, inside the joints of the toes. These claws are like great hooks made of yellow horn. They tear the flesh off an animal as we would strip the peel from an orange. The force with which these claws are driven in is almost more than we can believe. ... The forearm of the lion is worked by great muscles at the shoulder, and the blow which it makes is really like the blow from a steam hammer. No wonder that it can kill a man or a big animal with ease” (“The Three Strongest Things in the Animal World,” The Human Interest Library).
Interestingly, another Hebrew word for lion is “layish,” referring to a crushing blow (Pr. 30:30).
In Joel 1:6, the Assyrian army is likened to the teeth and jaws of a lion. Its sharp teeth and strong jaws can rip huge chunks of meat from a carcass.
Lions are very intelligent hunters that can capture animals that are faster and more agile. Their night vision is six times better than humans.
In 1898 two lions in the Tsavo region of Africa (Kenya-Uganda) killed an estimated 135 men who were working on a British railway project as accounted in John Henry Patterson’s The Man-Eaters of Tsavo. One of the lions was shot nine times before it died.
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