Lion

The lion (aryeh in Hebrew; leon in Greek) was once native to the lands of the Bible, common enough in biblical times that nearly every tribe of Palestine knew it as a real threat. The Bible uses the lion more frequently in metaphor than any other animal. David killed a lion while defending his flocks (1 Sam. 17:34–36), and Samson killed one with his bare hands (Judg. 14:5–6). Daniel was cast into a den of lions (Dan. 6).

As a metaphor the lion stands for power, courage, and ferocity — both divine and demonic. God and his agents appear in lion-like imagery: "The LORD will roar from Zion" (Amos 1:2; Hos. 11:10). The devil prowls "like a roaring lion" seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8). Christ is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev. 5:5) — an image rooted in Jacob's blessing of Judah as a "lion's cub" (Gen. 49:9). The lion appears in Ezekiel's and John's visions of the four living creatures surrounding the divine throne (Ezek. 1:10; Rev. 4:7).