The Deer
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Deut. 12:15, Ps. 18:33, Is. 35:6)—one of the beautiful and gentle animals, as necessary to the inhabitants of the far North as the camel is to the hot countries of Africa. The deer’s native lands are the northern regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America [as printed]. The reindeer reaches an age of up to sixteen years. The female bears from one to two young in the summer, nurses them with her own milk, and leaves them only for lack of grass (Jer. 14:5). As an animal that chews the cud and has a cloven hoof, the deer is reckoned a clean animal (Deut. 12:15).
By the nature of its constitution and its hot temperament, in eastern countries it often suffers from intense thirst. It is with this thirst of the deer, and its need for refreshment, that King David,