Coney

שפן , Lev 11:5; Deu 14:7; Psa 104:8; and Pro 30:26. Bochart and others have supposed the saphan of the Scriptures to be the jerboa; but Mr. Bruce proves that the ashkoko is intended. This curious animal is found in Ethiopia, and in great numbers on Mount Lebanon, &c. Instead of holes, they seem to delight in more airy places, in the mouths of caves, or clefts in the rock. They are gregarious, and frequently several dozens of them sit upon the great stones at the mouths of caves, and warm themselves in the sun, or come out and enjoy the freshness of the summer evening. They do not stand upright upon their feet, but seem to steal along as in fear, their belly being nearly close to the ground; advancing a few steps at a time, and then pausing. They have something very mild, feeble-like, and timid, in their deportment; are gentle and easily tamed, though, when roughly handled at the first, they bite very severely. Many are the reasons to believe this to be the animal called saphan in Hebrew, and erroneously by our translators, “the coney,” or rabbit. The latter are gregarious indeed, and so far resemble the other, as also in size; but they seek not the same place of retreat; for the rabbit burrows most generally in the sand. Nor is there any thing in the character of rabbits that denotes excellent wisdom, or that they supply the want of strength by any remarkable sagacity. The saphan, then, is not the rabbit; which last, unless it was brought to him by his ships from Europe, Solomon never saw.

Let us now apply the characters of the ashkoko to the saphan. “He is above all other animals so much attached to the rocks, that I never once,” says Mr. Bruce, “saw him on the ground, or from among large stones in the mouth of caves, where is his constant residence. He lives in families or flocks. He is in Judea, Palestine, and Arabia, and consequently must have been familiar to Solomon. David describes him very pertinently, and joins him to other animals perfectly known: ‘The hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the saphan:’ and Solomon says that ‘they are exceeding wise,’ that they are ‘but a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks.’ Now this, I think, very obviously fixes the ashkoko to be the saphan; for his weakness seems to allude to his feet, and how inadequate these are to dig holes in the rock, where yet, however, he lodges. From their tenderness these are very liable to be excoriated or hurt; notwithstanding which, they build houses in the rocks more inaccessible than those of the rabbit, and in which they abide in greater safety, not by exertion of strength, for they have it not, but are truly, as Solomon says, ‘a feeble folk,’ but by their own sagacity and judgment; and are therefore justly described as wise. Lastly, what leaves the thing without doubt is, that some of the Arabs, particularly Damir, say that the saphan has no tail, that it is less than a cat, that it lives in houses or nests, which it builds of straw, in contradistinction to the rabbit and the rat, and those animals that burrow in the ground.”

An old English name for the rabbit; used in Scripture to translate the Hebrew SHAPHAN, which agrees with the Ashkoko or Syrain Hyrax, Lev 11:5 Deu 14:7 Psa 104:18 Pro 30:26 . This animal is externally of the size and form of the rabbit, and of a brownish color. It is, however, much clumsier in its structure, without tail, and having long bristly hairs scattered through the fur. The feet are naked below, and the nails flat and rounded, except those in the inner toe of the hind feet, which are long and awl-shaped. They cannot dig, but reside in the clefts of rocks. They are called by Solomon, "wise," and "a feeble folk;" they are timid and gregarious in their habits, and so gentle and quiet, that they shrink from the shadow of a passing bird. The name of Spain is said to have been given to it by Phoenician voyagers, who seeing its western coast overrun with animals resembling the shaphan, called it Hispania, or Coley-land. Some eminent interpreters think the SHAPHAN means the Jerboa.\par

Coney. (Hebrew, shaphan). A gregarious animal of the class Pachydermata, which is found in Palestine, living in the caves and clefts of the rocks, and has been erroneously identified with the rabbit or coney. Its scientific name as Hyrax syriacus.

The hyrax satisfies exactly the expressions in Psa 104:18; Pro 30:26. Its color is gray or brown on the back, white on the belly; it is like the alpine marmot, scarcely of the size of the domestic cat, having long hair, a very short tail and round ears. It is found on Lebanon and in the Jordan and Dead Sea valleys.

shaphan, from the root "to hide"; the S. Arab, thofun; the Syrian Arab, weber. A pachydermatous animal, gregarious, greybacked, white on the belly, with long hair, short tail, and round ears; common on the ridges of Lebanon; living in caves and clefts; the Hyrax Syriacus, not the rabbit or coney. Pro 30:26; "the coneys are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks:" exactly true of the hyrax; with weak teeth, short incisors, and nails instead, it seems defenseless, but its security is in rocky hiding places, such as Ain Feshkah on the Dead Sea shore.

"No animal" (says Tristram). "gave us so much trouble to secure." It is described as "chewing the cud" (Lev 11:5; Deu 14:7), in phenomenal language, because the motion of its jaws is like that of ruminating animals; so also the hare. Though in some respects like the rodentia, it is really akin to the rhinoceros; its molar teeth differ only in the size; its body is as large as the rabbit. The "exceeding wisdom" of the coneys is illustrated in their setting an old male sentry near their holes to warn his companions when danger approaches, by a whistling sound.

(שָׁפָן, shaphan’; Sept. χοιρογρύλλιος), an animal joined in Lev 11:5, and Deu 14:7, with the hare, and described as chewing the cud; in Psa 104:18, it is spoken of as an inhabitant of the mountains and rocks, and in Pro 30:26, it is represented as a feeble, but gregarious and cunning animal. These descriptions some think agree best with the different species of the jerboa, the Mus jaculus of Linnaeus. It is on the authority of Rabbinical writers that the word has by our translators been rendered “coney,” or rabbit, which cannot be sustained, as the rabbit is not an Asiatic animal, and does not seek a rocky habitation, which is the leading characteristic by which the shaphan is distinguished. “The animal is, in truth, as Bruce justly indicated, the same as the Ashkoko of Abyssinia, or Daman of Syria, the Wabber of the Arabs, and in scientific zoology is one of the small genus Hyrax, distinguished by the specific name of Syrian (Syriacus). This animal has been described by travelers as a ruminant, but this is an error.

The number, shape, and structure of the teeth are totally different (as is true also of the hare); nor is the jawbone articulated so as to admit freely of a similar action; finally, the internal structure, as well as the whole osteology, represents that of a rhinoceros in miniature, and has no appearance of the complicated fourfold stomachs of ruminants; therefore the hyrax is neither a rodent like hares and rabbits, nor a ruminant, but is anomalous, and most nearly allied to the great pachyderms of systematic zoology. It may be that the peculiar structure of their anterior teeth is convenient for stripping off the seeds of grasses and tritica, and that these, in part retained in the mouth, cause a practice of working the jaws, which, to common observers, may appear to be chewing the cud. In hares and rats a similar appearance is produced by a particular friction of the incisors or nippers, which, growing with great rapidity, would soon extend beyond a serviceable length if they were not kept to their proper size by constant gnawing, and by working the cutting edges against each other. This action, observed in the motion of the lips of most rodents when in a state of rest, caused the belief of rumination in the hare, though, like the hyrax, all rodentia are equally unprovided with the several stomachs, and want the muscular apparatus necessary to force the food back into the mouth for remastication at pleasure, which constitute the leading peculiarities of the anatomical structure of the ruminantia. But they may possess, in common with pachydermata, like the horse and hog, the peculiar articulation and form of jaws which give them the power of grinding their food, and laminated teeth fitted for the purpose.

Externally the hyrax is somewhat of the size, form, and brownish color of a rabbit, and it has short, round cars, sufficiently like for inexact observers to mistake the one for the other. The hyrax is of clumsier structure than the rabbit, without tail, having long bristly hairs scattered through the general fur; the feet are naked below, and all the nails are flat and rounded, save those on each inner toe of the hind feet, which are long and awl-shaped; therefore the species cannot dig, and is by nature intended to reside, not, like rabbits, in burrows, but in the clefts of rocks. This character is correctly applied to the shaphan by David.” The total length of the animal as it sits is about one foot. It presents at first sight the idea of a rat rather than any other creature. The color is gray, mixed with reddish-brown, and the belly white. They do not appear to have any cry, nor do they stand upright in walking, but seem to steal along as if in fear, advancing a few steps at a time, and then pausing. “Their timid, gregarious habits, and the tenderness of their paws, make them truly ‘the wise and feeble folk’ of Solomon, for the genus lives in colonies in the crevices of stony places in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Eastern Egypt, Abyssinia, and even at the Cape of Good Hope, where one or two additional species exist. In every locality they are quiet, gentle creatures, loving to bask in the sun, never stirring far from; their retreats, moving with caution, and shrinking from the shadow of a passing bird, for they are often the prey of eagles and hawks; their habits are strictly diurnal, and they feed on vegetables and seeds.” The flesh of the shaphan was forbidden the Hebrews, and it appears that the Mohammedans and Christians of the East at the present day abstain from the flesh of the daman. (See further particulars in the Penny Cyclopedia, s.v. Hyrax; also Bochart, Hieroz. 2:421 sq.; Rosenmüller, Alterth. IV, 2:213 sq.; Shaw, Trav. p. 301; Sonnini. 1:98; Bruce, 7:241; Hasselquist, p. 277 sq. Wilson, Bible Lands, 2:28; Laborde, Voyages, p. 47; Robinson, Researches, new edit. 3, 387; Thomson, Land and Book, 1:460; Oedmann, Sarml. 4:48; Lucas, Allerneuste R. p. 300; Oken, NaturGesch. VII, 2:889; Ehrenberg, Symbol. phys. i, fig. 2; Ludolf, Lex. Anmhar. p. 58; Hist. Ethiop. lib. i, c. 10, § 75; Peyron, Lex. p. 314; Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 1467; Vloten. Spec. p. 46; Schubert, Reis. 3, 110; Gesen. ad Burckhardt, p. 1076; Forskal, Descript. anim. p. v; Fresnel, in the Asiatic Journal, June, 1838, p. 514; Isenberg, Lex. Amhar. p. 122; Kitto, Phys. History of Palest. p. 376; Laborde, Syria, p. 114.) SEE ZOOLOGY.

Coney is the Syrian hyrax, a small animal, resembling in size and form the rabbit, and of a brownish color. It is, however, much heavier than the hare or rabbit, almost without a tall, and has long bristly hairs scattered through the fur. The feet are naked below, and the nails flat and rounded, except those on the inner toe of the hind feet, which are long and awl-shaped. The coney cannot dig, but resides in the clefts of rocks. It is called by Solomon "wise," and "a feeble folk;" is quiet and gregarious in habit, and so timid that it starts at the shadow of a passing bird. It is described as chewing its cud, Lev 11:5.; Deu 14:7; for it has a peculiar movement of the jaw as if chewing. It is a very nimble, active animal.

One of the animals the Israelites were not to eat: it is described as chewing the cud, but not dividing the hoof. The rabbit, which is only another name for Coney, is not known in Palestine. The Hebrew word shaphan is supposed to signify the Syrian Hyrax, an animal about the size of the rabbit, but which does not really chew the cud. It has the habit of continually rubbing its teeth together when at rest, and thus has the appearance of chewing. It is an animal that forms a wholesome meal, and therefore one that would have needed to be specified under the Jewish ritual. Lev 11:5; Deu 14:7. It exactly answers to the other notices respecting the shaphan, such as living among the rocks, which it constantly does, and it is exceedingly quick in leaping from rock to rock, Psa 104:18; it is also extremely difficult to catch; one of their number being on the watch while the others feed: at the approach of an enemy a signal is given, and all disappear. This agrees with its being called ’exceeding wise.’ Pro 30:24; Pro 30:26. The Hyrax is classed among the pachydermatous animals.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Henry Hyvernat

A small herbivorous animal (Hyrax Syriacus or Hyrax Daman) mentioned in the Bible. "Coney" is the traditional rendering of the Hebrew "shafan" (), which occurs four times in the O. T. (Lev. xi. 5; Deut. xiv. 7; Ps. civ. 18; Prov. xxx. 26). In the first two places the "shafan" is classified among the unclean animals, along with the hare, "because he cheweth the cud but parteth not the hoof" (Lev. xi., R. V. 5). In the Book of Proverbs the shefannim are described as one of the "four things which are little upon the earth," but "are exceedingly wise." They "are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks" (Prov. xxx. 24, 26). The rendering "coney" is principally supported by the Jewish interpreters and lexicographers of the Middle Ages. None of the ancient versions, however, lend it support in more than one out of the four passages—for instance, the Septuagint in Psalms, and the Vulgate in Proverbs (see Bochart, "Hierozoicon," pp. 1002-1003). Besides, this interpretation is inadmissible for one if for no other reason: the "coney" is a European animal, unknown to the Israelites; and it does not live in the rocks.

Bochart, who refuted the Jewish opinion, tried to demonstrate that the shafan, which, he says, the Septuagint generally and rightly translates χοιρογύλ-, λιος, and which St. Jerome rightly identifies with the ἄρκτομυς, can not be anything else than the jerboa. His arguments are: (1) the authority of the Copto-Arabic lexicon, the "Scala Magna" of Kircher ("Lingua Ægyptiaca Restituta," p. 165); (2) the analogy between the habits of the two animals (ib. p. 1016). Since then, however, travelers who have made on the spot a thorough study of the habits of the jerboa have pronounced that identification impossible (see Bruce, "Voyage," v. 145, Paris, 1791). Shaw ("Travels," p. 386) was the first to propose to identify the shafan with an animal called "ghanam Isra'il" (Israel's lamb). This identification found a warm supporter in Bruce (l.c. p. 165), who further identifies it with the "ashoko" of the Abyssinians. The Arabs call this animal "wabr" also, which, it may be added by way of confirmation, is the word used by the Arabic versions to render "shafan" in the first two passages, Lev. xi. 5 and Deut. xiv. 7. Finally, Fresnel ("Journal Asiatique," 3d series, v. 514) says that in the Ehkili dialect (Sabean) the wabr is called "thufun," from the root "thafan," Hebr. "shafan."

The shafan, it is said, does not chew the cud. But here, as in many other cases, Scripture speaks according to appearances. Bruce, who studied carefully the habits of this animal, says that it certainly chews the cud (l.c. v. 168). "The shafan," says Shaw, "is a harmless creature of the same size and quality with the rabbit, having the like incurvating posture and disposition of the fore teeth. But it is of a browner color, with smaller eyes and a head more pointed. . . . The usual refuge of it is in the holes and clefts of the rocks" (l.c. p. 376). Like the ants they live in large numbers, and display considerable wisdom in guarding themselves against surprises from their enemies.

Their habitat extends from Abyssinia into Arabia, Palestine, and Syria. In Abyssinia both Christians and Mohammedans abstain from their flesh; but the Arabs of Arabia Petrea, and also the inhabitants of Mount Lebanon, consider it a great relish. For the place of the coney in the totemistic theories, see Totemism.

CONEY (EV [Note: English Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of shâphân, RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] rock badger).—The Hyrax syriacus, called by the Arabs wabr, also the ghanam beni Israel (the sheep of the children of Israel). The coney is a small rabbit-like animal, with short ears and a mere stump of a tail. It has stiff greyish-brown hair, with softer, lighter-coloured hair on the belly; it is nocturnal in its habits, and lives in holes in the rocks. Conies are very plentiful along the rocky shores of the Dead Sea, and also in the Lebanon, especially above Sidon; they can, however, be seen as a rule only between sunset and sunrise. They are gregarious in their habits, and disappear into their rocky fastnesses (Psa 104:18, Pro 30:24; Pro 30:26) with the greatest rapidity on the slightest approach of danger. The Bedouin, when hunting them, lie hidden for many hours during the night close to their holes. They feed on grass and sweet-smelling herbs, and their flesh is esteemed for eating by the Bedouin; they do not actually ‘chew the cud’ (Lev 11:5, Deu 14:7), though they work their jaws in a way that resembles a ruminant. Structurally the coney is so peculiar as to have an order, the Hyracoidea, to itself.

E. W. G. Masterman.

kō´ni (שׁפן, shāphān (Lev 11:5; Deu 14:7; Psa 104:18; Pro 30:26)): The word “coney” (formerly pronounced cooney) means “rabbit” (from Latin cuniculus). Shāphān is rendered in all four passages in the Septuagint χοιρογρύλλιος, choirogrúllios, or “hedge-hog,” but is now universally considered to refer to the Syrian hyrax, Procavia (or Hyrax) Syriaca, which in southern Palestine and Sinai is called in Arabic wabar, in northern Palestine and Syria ṭabsūn, and in southern Arabia shufun, which is etymologically closely akin to shāphāň. The word “hyrax” (ὕραξ, húrax) itself means “mouse” or “shrew-mouse” (compare Latin sorex), so that it seems to have been hard to find a name peculiar to this animal. In Lev 11:5 the Revised Version, margin, we find “rock badger,” which is a translation of klip das, the rather inappropriate name given by the Boers to the Cape hyrax. The Syrian hyrax lives in Syria, Palestine and Arabia. A number of other species, including several that are arboreal, live in Africa. They are not found in other parts of the world. In size, teeth and habits the Syrian hyrax somewhat resembles the rabbit, though it is different in color, being reddish brown, and lacks the long hind legs of the rabbit. The similarity in dentition is confined to the large size of the front teeth and the presence of a large space between them and the back teeth. But whereas hares have a pair of front teeth on each jaw, the hyrax has one pair above and two below. These teeth differ also in structure from those of the hare and rabbit, not having the persistent pulp which enables the rabbit’s front teeth to grow continually as they are worn away. They do not hide among herbage like hares, nor burrow like rabbits, but live in holes or clefts of the rock, frequently in the faces of steep cliffs. Neither the hyrax nor the hare is a ruminant, as seems to be implied in Lev 11:5 and Deu 14:7, but their manner of chewing their food may readily have led them to be thought to chew the cud. The hyrax has four toes in front and three behind (the same number as in the tapir and in some fossil members of the horse family), all furnished with nails that are almost like hoofs, except the inner hind toes, which have claws. The hyraxes constitute a family of ungulates and, in spite of their small size, have points of resemblance to elephants or rhinoceroses, but are not closely allied to these or to any other known animals.

The camel, the coney and the hare are in the list of unclean animals because they “chew the cud but divide not the hoof,” but all three of these are eaten by the Arabs.

See Rock Badger