Hunting

Hunting in the biblical world encompassed the pursuit and capture of wild game for food, sport, or pest control, using bows, snares, nets, and pits. The first biblical hunter of note is Nimrod, described in Genesis 10:9 as a mighty hunter before the LORD—a phrase that became proverbial in Israel. Esau was a skilled hunter, contrasted with his brother Jacob who was a man of the tents; his father Isaac's fondness for his venison played a role in the deception over the birthright blessing.

In the Mosaic law, hunting was permitted but circumscribed: any game animal killed in the field must have its blood covered with earth (Leviticus 17:13), acknowledging that life belongs to God even in the taking of wild animals. The Psalms and wisdom literature use the hunter's craft as a metaphor: the wicked set snares for the righteous (Psalm 140:5; 141:9–10), and the foreign woman of Proverbs hunts for the young man's life (Proverbs 6:26). The imagery of hunting as an expression of oppressive power appears in Jeremiah 16:16, where God threatens to send hunters against the exiles, and Ezekiel 13:18–20, where false prophetesses are condemned for hunting souls like birds.