The Wolf as a Metaphor for the Devil in the Bible, by Benjamin Keach 1855
A wolf, which is a strong, cruel, and ravenous beast, denotes powerful, fierce, and covetous men, Gen. xlix. 27; the tribe of Benjamin is called a ravening wolf, because strong and fierce, and is so described, Judg. xx. 21, &c. See Jer. v. 9, Zeph. iii. 3, Ezek. xxii. 27.
In the New Testament, by wolves are understood seducers, and authors of wicked doctrines, Matt. vii. 15, John x. 12, Acts xx. 29. Franzius, in his history of beasts, says, that John x. xii., “by wolf, is meant the devil.” Because,
(1.) As a wolf is apt and willing to execute mischief against man and beast; so the devil is the common enemy of mankind.
(2.) As the wolf is greedy and unsatiable; so the cruelty and rapacity of the devil is not to be satisfied.
(3.) As the wolf is so sharp sighted, that he can see even in the darkest night, and when hungry, smell his prey at the distance of half a German mile, (that is, an English mile and half;) so the devil by long experience and use is become still more wicked and cruel, and well versed in the scent of his prey, that is, of such as are apt to be tempted to sin.
(4.) As wolves sometimes devour whole sheep, sometimes only the flesh; so the devil sometimes hurts the corporal faculties, sometimes destroys life, and sometimes (when God permits) health; and sometimes hurries the wicked, soul and body, to destruction.
(5.) As the wolf is most crafty; so the devil wholly consists of deceit. The wolf invades the flock in a dark or cloudy time, the better to make his approaches undiscovered: so the devil sets upon men commonly in times of calamity and affliction, that by the advantage of their troubles, he may the better exercise his tempting power. The wolf uses baits and stratagems to allure a herd to come within the danger of his fellows, enticing goats with green boughs, and playing with young pigs, casting them with his tail, making them run along, till he seduces them to the ambush; so the devil presents false pleasures, to bewitch the senses of men, till they fall headlong into his snare. The wolf uses much policy when he sets upon bulls and horned beasts, and assaults them behind, where they are unprovided for defence; so the devil has peculiar slights and devices to entrap the strongest and more experienced Christians, seeming to retreat when he cannot prevail, but quickly returning (when he thinks they are secure) with a new stratagem to undo them.
(6.) It is said of a wolf that if he first sees a man, the man loses his voice and cannot cry out; so the devil, when he has set upon an unwary man that feared no danger, and resisted not, makes an easy conquest and triumph.
(7.) But if a man sees a wolf first, the beast loses both voice and courage: so godly men, who fear devilish temptations, and prepare themselves for resistance, can easily by prayer and divine cries put that malignant enemy to flight.”
(8.) The wolf mightily dreads fire and swords; so the devil fears the light of God's word and prayer, &c., which are the church's weapons. Hence Chrysostom said, that “Swords are not so terrible to wolves as the prayers of the godly are to the devil.”
Seducers, and false teachers, are called wolves, Acts xx. 29, “I know that after my departure shall grievous (or ravenous wolves), enter in among you,” where we are to note the epithet, for it is not said wolves, but ravenous wolves, for there are some more rapacious than others. Oppianus and other learned men say that there are a certain kind of wolves, which are called (in Greek) harpages, snatchers or ravening wolves. These are the swiftest sort, and go out very early to prey, and invade with a terrible onset, they are very unsatiable and craving, and inhabit mountains, yet of such impudence that in the winter they come to the very cities, and behave themselves quietly till an opportunity of seizing upon a lamb, young goat, or other prey, offers, which they carry away, to which the patriarch seems to allude, Gen. xlix. 27.
1. As wolves are said to take away a man's voice; so false teachers take away the purity of the heavenly doctrine and worship of God.
2. The wolf is so cruel and devouring, that he kills not only what would serve his belly, but the whole flock, if let alone: so heretics aim not at the destruction of one or two, but the whole church.
3. As the wolf is most crafty, and silently approaches the sheepfold to know whether the dogs be asleep, or the shepherd wanting, or whether they are careless and negligent, and so watches a fit occasion to destroy the flock, and suck their blood; so heretics, before they propose their manifest and apparent errors, slily insinuate themselves into the good opinion of men, and with wretched hypocrisy and sophistry counterfeit much piety, humility, and angelical sanctimony, boasting of peculiar illuminations and communion with God: thus when they have purchased a good repute they instil their venom into the minds of the unwary proselytes, till they wholly corrupt them.
4. It is said that even after death there remains a natural antipathy between a wolf and a sheep, insomuch that if the skin of each be made into a drum, (as a learned naturalist observes) the very sound of the wolf's skin breaks the other, and that if their guts be made into viol (or lute) strings, it is impossible to tune them to unisons or one sound: so the perverse doctrine of heretics does mischief in the church, even when the heretics themselves are dead.
5. As the wolf at the approach of peril betakes himself to flight privately; so heretics skulk in time of persecution, and withdraw most cowardly.
6. By the Attic laws, (and so in Ireland at this day), wolf-killers were considerably rewarded; so they deserve praise and encouragement that detect the fraud, sophistry, and impiety of those wolves, that would destroy the flock of Christ. The wolf disappointed of his prey walks about with an open or gaping mouth; so heretics thirst for the blood of the orthodox. And as the cubs or whelps of wolves are killed, although they have yet committed no mischief; so the fry and disciples of wicked heretics ought to be bridled, and care taken to prevent, that they envenom not the church; so far Franzius.
A wolf, which is a strong, cruel, and ravenous beast, denotes powerful, fierce, and covetous men, Gen. xlix. 27; the tribe of Benjamin is called a ravening wolf, because strong and fierce, and is so described, Judg. xx. 21, &c. See Jer. v. 9, Zeph. iii. 3, Ezek. xxii. 27.
In the New Testament, by wolves are understood seducers, and authors of wicked doctrines, Matt. vii. 15, John x. 12, Acts xx. 29. Franzius, in his history of beasts, says, that John x. xii., “by wolf, is meant the devil.” Because,
(1.) As a wolf is apt and willing to execute mischief against man and beast; so the devil is the common enemy of mankind.
(2.) As the wolf is greedy and unsatiable; so the cruelty and rapacity of the devil is not to be satisfied.
(3.) As the wolf is so sharp sighted, that he can see even in the darkest night, and when hungry, smell his prey at the distance of half a German mile, (that is, an English mile and half;) so the devil by long experience and use is become still more wicked and cruel, and well versed in the scent of his prey, that is, of such as are apt to be tempted to sin.
(4.) As wolves sometimes devour whole sheep, sometimes only the flesh; so the devil sometimes hurts the corporal faculties, sometimes destroys life, and sometimes (when God permits) health; and sometimes hurries the wicked, soul and body, to destruction.
(5.) As the wolf is most crafty; so the devil wholly consists of deceit. The wolf invades the flock in a dark or cloudy time, the better to make his approaches undiscovered: so the devil sets upon men commonly in times of calamity and affliction, that by the advantage of their troubles, he may the better exercise his tempting power. The wolf uses baits and stratagems to allure a herd to come within the danger of his fellows, enticing goats with green boughs, and playing with young pigs, casting them with his tail, making them run along, till he seduces them to the ambush; so the devil presents false pleasures, to bewitch the senses of men, till they fall headlong into his snare. The wolf uses much policy when he sets upon bulls and horned beasts, and assaults them behind, where they are unprovided for defence; so the devil has peculiar slights and devices to entrap the strongest and more experienced Christians, seeming to retreat when he cannot prevail, but quickly returning (when he thinks they are secure) with a new stratagem to undo them.
(6.) It is said of a wolf that if he first sees a man, the man loses his voice and cannot cry out; so the devil, when he has set upon an unwary man that feared no danger, and resisted not, makes an easy conquest and triumph.
(7.) But if a man sees a wolf first, the beast loses both voice and courage: so godly men, who fear devilish temptations, and prepare themselves for resistance, can easily by prayer and divine cries put that malignant enemy to flight.”
(8.) The wolf mightily dreads fire and swords; so the devil fears the light of God's word and prayer, &c., which are the church's weapons. Hence Chrysostom said, that “Swords are not so terrible to wolves as the prayers of the godly are to the devil.”
Seducers, and false teachers, are called wolves, Acts xx. 29, “I know that after my departure shall grievous (or ravenous wolves), enter in among you,” where we are to note the epithet, for it is not said wolves, but ravenous wolves, for there are some more rapacious than others. Oppianus and other learned men say that there are a certain kind of wolves, which are called (in Greek) harpages, snatchers or ravening wolves. These are the swiftest sort, and go out very early to prey, and invade with a terrible onset, they are very unsatiable and craving, and inhabit mountains, yet of such impudence that in the winter they come to the very cities, and behave themselves quietly till an opportunity of seizing upon a lamb, young goat, or other prey, offers, which they carry away, to which the patriarch seems to allude, Gen. xlix. 27.
1. As wolves are said to take away a man's voice; so false teachers take away the purity of the heavenly doctrine and worship of God.
2. The wolf is so cruel and devouring, that he kills not only what would serve his belly, but the whole flock, if let alone: so heretics aim not at the destruction of one or two, but the whole church.
3. As the wolf is most crafty, and silently approaches the sheepfold to know whether the dogs be asleep, or the shepherd wanting, or whether they are careless and negligent, and so watches a fit occasion to destroy the flock, and suck their blood; so heretics, before they propose their manifest and apparent errors, slily insinuate themselves into the good opinion of men, and with wretched hypocrisy and sophistry counterfeit much piety, humility, and angelical sanctimony, boasting of peculiar illuminations and communion with God: thus when they have purchased a good repute they instil their venom into the minds of the unwary proselytes, till they wholly corrupt them.
4. It is said that even after death there remains a natural antipathy between a wolf and a sheep, insomuch that if the skin of each be made into a drum, (as a learned naturalist observes) the very sound of the wolf's skin breaks the other, and that if their guts be made into viol (or lute) strings, it is impossible to tune them to unisons or one sound: so the perverse doctrine of heretics does mischief in the church, even when the heretics themselves are dead.
5. As the wolf at the approach of peril betakes himself to flight privately; so heretics skulk in time of persecution, and withdraw most cowardly.
6. By the Attic laws, (and so in Ireland at this day), wolf-killers were considerably rewarded; so they deserve praise and encouragement that detect the fraud, sophistry, and impiety of those wolves, that would destroy the flock of Christ. The wolf disappointed of his prey walks about with an open or gaping mouth; so heretics thirst for the blood of the orthodox. And as the cubs or whelps of wolves are killed, although they have yet committed no mischief; so the fry and disciples of wicked heretics ought to be bridled, and care taken to prevent, that they envenom not the church; so far Franzius.
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