Hunting is the practice of tracking and pursuing animals for food, animal products, or sport. People have hunted since the beginning of human life. In Bible times, hunting was common in many places.
Genesis 10:9 refers to a man named Nimrod who was “a mighty hunter before the LORD.” This was long before the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In earliest human history, people hunted to stay alive. They used animal meat for food. They used skins for clothing. They made tools from bones and horns. Later, people began to grow crops and raise animals. But they still hunted wild animals to add to their food.
Hunting in Neighboring Lands
People in the lands around Israel also hunted often. Paintings and stone carvings show this clearly.
In ancient Egypt, hunting became a sport. Egyptians hunted birds and wild animals. They often used dogs and cats to help them. Hunters would drive animals into traps or closed areas.
In Mesopotamia, people also hunted many animals. Stone carvings show deer and other animals caught in nets.
In Assyria, hunting wild animals (like lions) was common. Carvings from Nineveh show the skill of Assyrian hunters.
Hunting in Palestine
People hunted in Palestine from very early times. Bones from hunted animals have been found in old towns and villages. By the middle Bronze Age (around 1800–1500 BC), hunting was common. This was during the time of the patriarchs.
The Bible says Esau was a skillful hunter (Genesis 25:27). This fits with a time when people both farmed and hunted. An old Egyptian story called the “Tale of Sinuhe”, from the 20th century BC, also talks about hunting with dogs.
Animals That People Hunted
The Bible tells us what kinds of birds and animals people hunted. Deuteronomy 14:4–6 provides a list of animals that were “clean” and could be eaten. Many were farm animals, but people also hunted wild animals. These included:
goats,
hares,
gazelles,
roebucks (compare 1 Kings 4:23),
wild goats,
ibexes,
antelopes, and
mountain sheep.
Hunters had to pour out the blood of the animal after killing it.
People also hunted different kinds of birds. 1 Samuel 26:20 mentions the partridge (compare Deuteronomy 14:11–18). Proverbs 12:27 speaks about a lazy person. It says he does not even cook the animal he caught.
Some Old Testament passages show people killing animals to protect themselves (Judges 14:6; 1 Samuel 17:34–37; 2 Samuel 23:20). IShepherds often carried a club and a sling. They used these weapons to protect their sheep from wild animals (1 Samuel 17:40; Psalm 23:4).
Hunting Tools
The Bible also mentions tools and traps used for hunting. Hunters used:
bows and arrows (Genesis 27:3),
clubs (Job 41:29),
sling stones (1 Samuel 17:40),
nets (Job 19:6), and
bird snares (Psalm 91:3).
Some traps were pits covered with leaves or branches to hide them (Psalms 7:15; 35:7; Proverbs 22:14; 26:27; Isaiah 24:17–18). Others were spring traps that jumped up when touched (Amos 3:5; Psalm 69:22; Hosea 9:8). Some traps worked when a hunter pulled a cord (Psalm 140:5; Jeremiah 5:26). Sometimes hunters would drive animals toward a trap (Jeremiah 16:16; Ezekiel 19:8).