Abstract 84 - The Untold Biblical and Early Christian History of Bear
Gerald Hodge, Appalachia Georgia Friends of the Bears, Inc. ProfessionalSalon 8/9
Gerald Hodge
History has not necessarily been kind to bears. The historiography of bears has only begun to
grow in the last 30 years. Few historians have ventured to objectively analyze the bear through
the Judeo-Christian prism.
The Holy Bible mentions bears 14 times. Twice in these accounts, bears were “Agents of
God,” and controversy. The first and most awkward is the story of Elisha, the 2 she-bears, and
the 42 “little boys.” Theologians have reexamined the original Hebrew and context; they have
found that these were not youths at all. In my research, no theologians nor wildlife biologists
have put together the fact that adult bears, minus the Sloth bear, have 42-teeth. This has
meaning.
Another fascinating missed bear controversy was the Fourth Egyptian Plague. When the
Christian Holy Bible was established in 382 CE they used the Septuagint, written in Koine Greek
by Jewish scholars. The Fourth Plague was recorded as flies. However, in the book of Wisdom,
written in the 1st Century BCE, bears and lions were used by God to punish the Egyptians.
Jewish scholars debated at the time what the Fourth Plague was or was not and it continues to
this day.
Rome had an insatiable appetite for violent entertainment, and they coupled this with their
judicial system. They used big cats, bulls, bears, and elephants in the amphitheaters to
entertain and punish. I have found 30 Christian Saints that bears were at least in part involved
in their martyrdom. Many of the bears refused to engage them. In addition, as Christianity
spread throughout the European continent in the 1st Millenium CE, 30 future Saints have
amazing bear stories as part of their narratives.
Bears are threatened worldwide because of habitat loss, the illegal wildlife trade, climate
change, and Human-Bear conflict. There are 85 Patron Saints for 33 specific animals. There is no
Patron Saint for bears, a creation that certainly could use divine intervention today.