Dog

Guard dogs and sheepdogs were greatly valued in Ancient Israel. Street dogs and strays, however, were seen as dirty and a nuisance. The word “dog” therefore often has a negative connotation in the Bible.

The dog has been a useful animal to humans from time immemorial. Large dogs were used as guard dogs, for example to watch over the gates of a city (Isaiah 56:10). Travellers took a dog with them to chase away predators (Tobit 6:1-2). When guarding a flock of animals, dogs also did useful work (Judith 11:19). Small dogs and lapdogs were also kept at home (Matthew 15:26).

In cities, villages and small settlements, stray dogs were an everyday sight in the streets. They roamed around looking for food in the evenings (Psalm 59:15) and were not too picky about it: they ate household waste that people threw out into the street (there was no waste collection service yet at the time). However, they also ate unclean meat (Exodus 22:30), excrement (Proverbs 26:11), and the remains of dead people and animals (1 Kings 16:4).

Stray dogs licked the blood off the dead and wounded (1 Kings 22:38). They licked the sores of beggars (Luke 16:21) and they waited until someone died so that they could devour him (Psalm 22:16). When Queen Jezebel is executed, the street dogs devour her entirely. Only her skull, her hands and her feet remain (2 Kings 9:35).

Because of their filthy eating habits, street dogs have a bad reputation in the Bible. They are seen as lesser beings. For this reason, the word “dog” acquired a negative connotation. People who assume an attitude of servility call themselves a “dog” (2 Kings 8:13, ESV) or a “dead dog” (1 Samuel 24:14).

The word “dog” is also used as a swearword in the Bible. People who are looked down on are referred to as “dogs” or “dead dogs” (1 Samuel 17:43; 2 Samuel 16:9). Paul calls his opponents in the church at Philippi “dogs” (Philippians 3:2).

Prophets sometimes speak about kings with disdain by referring to the way stray dogs will urinate against everything, calling the male members of the royal family “those that pisseth against the wall” (1 Kings 14:10, KJV).