David rehearses his exploits with a bear while guarding his father’s flock of sheep to prove that he could stand up to Goliath.
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:
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.
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.
Elisha, who was bald, was being mocked “Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” His response to them:
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.
A fool in his folly can cause more harm than a bear:
Proverbs 17:12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
As is a wicked ruler:
Proverbs 28:15 As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.
Isaiah writes about the kingdom time (1000 years) promised to the nation Israel when their Messiah (the Lord Jesus) will rule over them (and the whole world). During this time peace will reign that all the animals will dwell together without fear. An example is in:
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.
Later he writes, our iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
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.
Read Lamentations 3 as the writer describes his condition without God.
Lamentations 3:10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
Prophecy of a coming kingdom.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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