The lion, and lioness, is one of the most frequently mentioned wild beasts in the Bible, appearing in more than 140 times, represented by no less than six different Hebrew nouns. They are known for their strength, ferocity, and implied courage. The lions mentioned in the Bible belonged to the Asian genus rather than the African ones that most of us are familiar with.
Reliefs of a lion hunt from the palace of Asshurbanipal in the British Museum.
Lions were common enough in Palestine in the 11th-10th Cent BC for Samson and David to have each killed one of them as a mattter of their daily lives, the first in a vineyard and the latter while tending the flock (Judg 14:5 & 1 Sam 17:36). So did Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, one of David's fighting men (2 Sam 23:8; 1 Chron 11:22). Those killed by lions were not fewer: the unnamed man of God who was sent to pronounced judgment on Jeroboam son of Nebat for his establishment of an idol in Bethel was killed by a lion on his way home (1 Ki 13:24). So was the man who refused to obey the similarly unnamed prophet in 1 Ki 20:36. Lions became a problem for the foreigners resettled in Samaria after the exile of the nothern tribes under the Assyrians (2 Ki 17:255-26). Daniel famously escaped the lion's mouth (Dan 6).
More frequently, however, the lion appears in figures of speech. Yahweh, in his wrath, is often likened to a lion in the prophets (e.g., Jer 49:19; 50:44; Hos 5:14; 13:7-8; Amos 3:4, 8). The tribes of Judah, Gad and Dan were, on different occasions, likened to the lion, though it is not always clear what specifically was intended in the association (see, e.g., Gen 49:9; Deut 33:20; 33:22). Saul and Jonathan were likened to lions in their strength (2 Sam 1:23). To have a lion's heart is to be brave (2 Sam 17:10). The Gadites who joined David in his conflict with Saul were "brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear; their faces were the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles in the mountains" (1 Chron 12:8). The roaring lion is the supreme figure of a dangerous threat (Job 10:16; Hos 4:14; Amos 3:8) and Peter reminds his readers to "be self-controlled and alert [for] your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Pet 5:8). Not surprisingly, therefore, a place of safety is one where "the lions do not prowl" (Job 28:8; Isa 35:9) and to be oppressed is to be "in the midst of lions" (Psm 57:4; Mic 5:8; see also 2 Tim 4:17). Famously, Isaiah envisions the peaceful kingdom of God as a place where the "the lion will eat straw like the ox" (Isa 11:7; 65:25).
The lion also appears as a favourite motif in the furnishings of Solomon's temple (1 Ki 77:29-36) as well as his palace (1 Ki 10:19-20).
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