STAG

An adult male deer. The red deer, the fallow deer and the roe deer, still encountered in the northern part of the Middle East, are the varieties of deer thought to have formerly inhabited Palestine. Although none of these animals are now known to exist there, as late as 1890 the roe deer was not uncommon in southern Lebanon and Carmel. Being a chewer of the cud and a splitter of the hoof, the stag, according to the Law, was acceptable for food if, as in the case of other creatures, its blood was poured out upon the ground. (Deut. 12:15, 16, 22, 23; 14:4-6; 15:22, 23) The flesh of the stag was included among the meats provided for King Solomon’s table.—1 Ki. 4:22, 23.

Other Scriptural references to the stag are illustrative. The Shulammite compared her shepherd lover to a young stag and made allusion to the swiftness of this animal. (Song of Sol. 2:9, 17; 8:14) The stag’s ability to climb steep places with ease is used to illustrate the complete cure of spiritually lame persons. (Isa. 35:6; compare Hebrews 12:12, 13.) When faced with the Babylonian siege, Zion’s princes were like stags too weak from lack of food to run.—Lam. 1:6.