Bear, The

• Inhabits woods.
  
  2 Kings 2:24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
• DESCRIBED AS

• Voracious.
  
  Daniel 7:5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
• Cunning.
  
  Lamentations 3:10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
• Cruel.
  
  Amos 5:19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
• Often attacks men.
  
  2 Kings 2:24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
  
  
  
  Amos 5:19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
• Attacks the flock in the presence of the shepherd.
  
  1 Samuel 17:34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
• Particularly fierce when deprived of its young.
  
  2 Samuel 17:8 For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.
  
  
  
  Proverbs 17:12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
• Growls when annoyed.
  
  Isaiah 59:11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
• Miraculously killed by David.
  
  1 Samuel 17:36-37 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.
• ILLUSTRATIVE OF

• God in His judgments.
  
  Lamentations 3:10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
  
  
  
  Hosea 13:8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.
• The natural man.
  
  Isaiah 11:7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
• Wicked rulers.
  
  Proverbs 28:15 As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.
• The kingdom of the Medes.
  
  Daniel 7:5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
• The kingdom of Antichrist.
  
  Revelation 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.