ChristStory Bestiary

LION

Might

In many cultures the lion is the emblem of earthly power, strength, dignity, courage, and royalty. It is the king of the beasts and of the jungle. The writer of Proverbs remarks, "There are three things which are majestic in pace, yes, four which are stately in walk: A lion, which is mighty among beasts and does not turn away from any... (Prov 30:29-30). Admiration for the lion's masculine strength and courage caused it to be the insignia of the Roman legions. Supposedly, the king of beasts would be wise and just, possessing spiritual powers equal to his physical attributes. For this reason, the Pharaohs of Egypt were sometimes pictured as lions and English kings adopted the lion as their emblem. Many rulers including Alexander the Great were depicted wearing lion's heads on the coins minted during their reigns.

Its yellow fur made the lion a symbol of the sun. Old and young lions were often depicted sitting back to back representing the rising and setting sun, old age and youth, or the past and the future. The lion's fur made it the symbol of gold (called the "subterranean sun"). From Persia to Rome, the lion was the symbol of the sun-god Mithra, who was worshiped as "the Invincible Sun." Both the Persian Mithra and the Egyptian Sekhmet wore lion's heads. As the lion was the emblem of masculinity, the lioness was the emblem of femininity and of the mother who would fight valiantly to protect her cubs.

With the coming of Christianity, the lion like most sun symbols became an emblem of Christ, the "light of the world." One of Christ's biblical titles is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" (Rev 5:5). As such the lion may be pictured with a cross-shaped nimbus. The Christ-lion may also be seen carrying a book or scroll representing His role as humanity's judge and teacher. Those who believe Revelation's angel of the seven thunders is Christ see the book-carrying lion in this prophetic role (Rev 10:1-4) The words of Christ are considered as powerful as a lion's roar.

Early Christian symbolists managed to make the lion a symbol of God incarnate by using the lion's front half to represent Christ's divine nature and its back half to stand for His human nature. The lion was believed to swish its tail back and forth in order to hide his footsteps. Therefore the lion's tail was considered representative of the way Christ hid His divinity in human clay.

Another ancient belief was that the lion slept with its eyes open. St. Hilary and St. Augustine found this way of sleeping to be representative of Christ's divine watchfulness which did not slumber even as His human body lay dead in the tomb (Ps 121:4). The open-eyed lion was a symbol of watchfulness, guardianship, and vigilance in many societies. The prophet Isaiah considered himself as watchful as a lion over the Lord's people (Is 21:8).

Even as late as the Middle Ages, people believed lion cubs were born dead and brought to life by their fathers who breathed or licked life into them on the third day after their births. This belief gave rise to the use of the lion as a symbol of resurrection in pre-Christian times. Lions were placed on tombs as emblems of watchfulness and the hope of personal resurrection. Later the resurrected cubs came to represent Christ's Resurrection. The lion was often pictured with the palm tree (also a pre-Christian resurrection symbol). In Solomon's temple, bronze carts were designed with lions and palm trees upon them (1 Ki 7:27-37). A beautiful image of the resurrection of Israel was found in Ezekial's vision of the walls of the millennial temple which were covered from top to bottom with palm trees along with cherubs who had two faces: one of a lion and one of a man (Ezek 41:18-19).

The winged lion is an emblem of St. Mark the Evangelist because his gospel is the one which focuses on Christ's royalty and resurrection. It is also the symbol of Venice, the city under St. Mark's protection.

The lion is the symbol of those saints martyred in the amphitheater. Ever since God delivered Daniel from the lion's den, God's people have looked to Him to "stop the mouths of lions" in times of great danger (Dan 6:7-28; see also 2 Tim 4:17 & Heb 11:33). Because the lion often lives in solitude and in the desert, he has become an attribute of hermit saints such as St. Paul the Hermit. Legend says St Jerome befriended a lion by taking a thorn from its paw. The legend of St. Jerome is considered an analogy of the missionary taming the pagan.

During biblical times lions were considered instruments of God's punishment. When the king of Assyria planted foreigners in Samaria, God sent lions to attack the settlers because they did not fear the LORD. Therefore, the king was forced to send a Jewish priest to teach them how to worship their new God (2 Ki 17:24-29; see also 1 Ki 13:24-28; 20:35-36). Job, Hezekiah, and other suffering biblical characters complained that God hunted or tore them as if He were a fierce lion (Job 10:16; Is 38:13; Lam 3:11).

God Himself threatened to tear His people like a lion when they refused to acknowledge and obey Him (Hosea 5:14; 13:7-8). On one occasion the LORD promised to defend Jerusalem from the Assyrian army as fiercely as a strong, roaring lion would defend his prey from weak and frightened shepherds (Is 31:4). But when King Nebuchadnezzar of the Chaldeans came against Jerusalem, the LORD said He would leave His temple and sinful Judah like a lion leaving his lair (Jer 25:38).

The roar or word of the Lord is to be listened to because judgment surely follows it. God warns, "Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?" (Amos 3:4). He also reveals that true prophets are animated by the words of the Lord: "A lion has roared! who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?!" (Amos 3:8).

Fierce armies are said to roar, devour, and carry away nations like lions overtaking their prey. (Is 5:29; 15:9; Jer 2:15; 4:7; 5:6, 49:19; 50:44; Ezek 38:13; Joel 1:6). The kings of Assyria and of Babylon were "lions" who scattered Israel like sheep (Jer 50:17). In St. John's Revelation the fierceness of the locusts from the bottomless pit is displayed in their lion-like teeth (Rev 9:8).

As an emblem of pride and ferocity, the lion also represents Satan who was brought down by pride. St. Peter writes, "Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet 5:8). Both the Antichrist and the devil are represented as lions chasing does and gazelles (symbols of the innocent). Some commentators believe the lion killed by David the shepherd boy is a symbol of the devil or the pride which could so easily have engulfed him (1 Sam 17:34). The promise to the righteous is that they shall "tread upon the lion" meaning the devil (Psa 91:13).

The following description from the Psalms has been interpreted as comparing the actions of both wicked men and the devil to a lion which "sits in the lurking places of the villages; in the secret places he murders the innocent; his eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless. He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den; he lies in wait to catch the poor; he catches the poor when he draws him into his net. So he crouches, he lies low, that the helpless may fall by his strength. He has said in his heart, 'God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see'" (Psa 10:8-11).

The lion is a symbol of the proud ruler who becomes the deranged tyrant who is unable to use his powers for good (Prov 28:15). Pot-bellied lions represent unrestrained greed. David several times cries out to God to save him from the lions. In most cases, David's lions are Saul's men who try to kill him without cause (Psa 7:1-2; 17:12; 35:17] Another time, David bewails malicious talk, saying, "My soul is among lions; I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword" (Psa 57:4). The mocking crowds at the foot of Christ's cross are compared to roaring lions (Psa 22:12-13).

God is presumed to "break the teeth of the lions" so they can no longer feast on the righteous (Job 4:8-11; Psa 34:10; 58:6). Armies sent by God to destroy the enemies of Israel are described as His "nets" with which He captures the offending lion-nations in a manner similar to the lion-hunters of biblical times (Ezek 32:3).

The tribes of Judah, Gad, and Dan are favorably described as lions because of their strength, courage, and fierceness in battle especially when taking the Promised Land from the Canaanites (Gen 49:9; Deu 33:20; 33:22). When Balak hires Balaam to curse the Israelites in the wilderness, Balaam instead blesses Israel and prophesies its conquest of the Promised Land, saying, "Look, a people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion; it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain" (Num 23:24; see also Num 23:27). During the period of the Maccabees, the remnant of Jacob is described as a conquering lion among the nations (Micah 5:8-9).

At other times, the savagery, pride, and rage of the lion is used to describe rebellious Israel which roars against its God (Jer 12:8). And Judah's princes (esp. Jehoahaz & Jehoiachin) are described as savage lions roaring for prey amongst their own people (Ezek 19:1-9; Zep 3:3; Zec 11:3). The conspiracy of false prophets to promote error and suppress the true warnings from God is compared to lions devouring their prey because judgments which might have been avoided by repentance now fall upon the unwarned flock (Jer 2:30; Ezek 22:25).

Daniel had a vision of a winged lion rising from the Great Sea which has been taken to represent King Nebuchadnezzar and his rapid lion-like conquests over many nations (Dan 7:4). The prophet Ezekiel saw visions of creatures who had four faces corresponding to the four living creatures of Revelation; one of which was like a lion (Ezek 1:10; 10:14; Rev 4:7-8). These creatures which continuously sing, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!" have been variously interpreted. Since they represent (in Revelation order) the kings of wild beasts, domestic creatures, intellectual beings, and birds, Clarke believes that together they symbolize the entire creation engaged in praising God. Matthew Henry thinks they stand for the four Gospel writers. (We have previously seen that the lion is the emblem of St. Mark and his Gospel.) Chilton says the four living creatures represent "the middle signs in the four quarters of the Zodiac," (Leo, Taurus, Aquarius, and Scorpio - Scorpio was once pictured as an Eagle) and so the heavens declaring the glory of the Lord (Ps 19:1).

Lions were also an emblem of justice. Therefore, Solomon's throne had six steps with twelve lions; one stood on each side of the six steps to represent his justice and the power of the twelve tribes of Israel (1 Ki 10:18-20). Even during the Middle Ages, stone lions represented justice in the ecclesiastical courts.

The courage, might, and valor of Israel's strong men including David and his mighty men, Samson, Saul, and Jonathan, were extolled as being lion-like or stronger than lions (Judg 14:5-9; 1 Sam 17:34-37; 2 Sam 1:23; 17:10; 23:20; 1 Chr 11:22; 12:8).

There will be no lion or any evil beast to molest the ransomed on the Highway of Holiness heading towards New Zion (Is 35:9-10). In the millennial kingdom, the calf and the lion shall dwell peacefully together and the lion will "eat straw like the ox" (Is 11:7; 65:25).

The lazy man excuses himself from work by saying, "There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!" (Prov 22:13; 26:13). The wicked flee before non-existent enemies. But the "righteous are bold as a lion" (Prov 28:1).

Young lions roar after the hunt and yet in spite of all their noise and strength, they depend upon God for their nourishment (Job 38:39; Psa 104:21). In the end all the fierce emotions that tear the violent come to nothing and it is better to be a living dog than a dead lion (Eccl 9:4-6).

In summary, the lion symbolizes courage, royalty, strength, vigilance, justice, valor, fertility, pride, protection, and conquest. In the Orient he is believed to protect people from demons. In alchemy red lions represent sulfur and green lions stand for matter.

Unless otherwise indicated all scripture quotes are from the NKJV Bible.