Dogs in the Bible

[tonychanyt]

Dogs were unclean animals according to Leviticus 11:27. It had negative connotations.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges:

In the East in ancient times as at the present day, dogs, although used for guarding flocks and houses (Job 30:1; Isaiah 56:10), were chiefly seen prowling about towns in a half-wild condition, owning no master, living on offal and garbage. Cp. Psalm 59:14-15; 1 Kings 21:19; 1 Kings 21:23-24; 1 Kings 22:38. Hence the aversion with which they were regarded, and “dog” became (1), as here, a term of reproach and contempt; cp. 1 Samuel 17:43; 1 Samuel 24:14; 2 Samuel 9:8; 2 Samuel 16:9; 2 Kings 8:13 : (2) an expression for fierce and cruel men (Psalm 22:16): (3) a name for impure persons (Matthew 7:6; Php 3:2; Revelation 22:15).

Proverbs 26:

11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.

2 Samuel 9:

8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”

On the other hand,

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Vol 32.4 (2008): 487-500

In 1960, D. Winton Thomas published an influential article entitled, ‘Kelebh “Dog”: Its Origin and Some Uses of It in the Old Testament’. In the article, Thomas argued that the Israelites held a negative attitude toward dogs. They viewed the dog as ‘a vile and contemptible animal’, ‘the most ignoble and contemptible of animals’, ‘that lowly animal … despised and generally wretched’.
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A look at the book of Tobit, as well as archaeological and textual evidence from Israel’s neighboring cultures, will demonstrate that the claims of Winton are exaggerations. The Israelites often used the word 3=6<6! derisively, but their attitude towards dogs was not entirely negative.
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Tobit 6.2 reads, ‘When the boy left home, accompanied by the angel, the dog followed Tobiah out of the house and went with them’. In ch. 11, Tobiah and the angel return from their trip, and ‘the dog ran along behind them’ (Tob. 11.4). Although these texts are brief, they demonstrate that the dog is a travel companion who protects Tobiah and the angel from predators and bandits. Notice, too, that the dog follows Tobiah ‘out of the house’. He obviously shares the same living quarters with his owners and is not ‘excluded from dwelling-houses’ as Gray asserts. This dog may even be a pet.
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the Israelites of the exilic and pre-exilic periods also interacted with Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians, all of whom valued dogs as well.

Tobiah's dog showed obedience to his master. The paper's author convinced me that the Israelites saw dogs in both positive and negative ways.

By the time of the New Testament, we see in Matthew 15:

25 The woman came and knelt before him [Jesus]. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

How can anyone not like a man's best friend?

See also

• It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the DOGS