ephod and breastpiece. (Ex. 39:2, 3, 5, 8, 27-29) In the case of these curtains and garments for use in the sanctuary, it seems that linen was the basic cloth used and that the colored materials of wool and gold were embroidered on for decorative effect. Thus the law prohibiting mixing of two kinds of materials was not violated. Additionally, these were special items designed according to Jehovah’s direct, specific instructions.—Ex. 35:35; 38:23.

FIGURATIVE USE

Babylon the Great is depicted as being arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, representing luxury. (Rev. 18:16) But in the case of the bride of Christ the fine linen of her apparel is clearly said to represent the “righteous acts of the holy ones.” Likewise the heavenly armies are shown clothed in white, clean, fine linen, indicative of their carrying on war in righteousness.—Rev. 19:8, 11, 14; see also Daniel 10:5; Revelation 15:6; FLAX.

LINUS

(Liʹnus).

A Christian in Rome named by the apostle Paul as sending greetings to Timothy. (2 Tim. 4:21) Irenaeus (born about 130 C.E.) and others after him have identified this Linus with an early overseer of Rome who bore the same name, but this identification rests merely on tradition.

LION

A large, tawny-colored mammal of the cat family having a long, tufted tail. The distinctive shaggy mane of the male begins to grow when the animal is about three years old. Although now extinct in Palestine, anciently lions were very plentiful there. They were found in the area of the Anti-Lebanon and Hermon ranges (Song of Sol. 4:8), the thickets along the Jordan (Jer. 49:19; 50:44; Zech. 11:3), and in “the land of distress and hard conditions,” that is, the wilderness to the S of Judah.—Isa. 30:6; compare Deuteronomy 8:15.

There were times when shepherds had to protect the flock from lions. David on one occasion courageously struck down a lion and rescued the sheep it had taken. (1 Sam. 17:34, 35) This, however, was exceptional. Frequently even “a full number of shepherds” could not frighten away a maned young lion. (Isa. 31:4) Sometimes the shepherd recovered merely a portion of the domestic animal from the lion’s mouth (Amos 3:12), thereby enabling him to present the needed evidence to free him from having to make compensation.—Ex. 22:13.

Although David, Samson and Benaiah single-handedly killed lions (Judg. 14:5, 6; 1 Sam. 17:36; 2 Sam. 23:20), others did not escape the lion’s paw. (2 Ki. 17:25, 26) Jehovah used lions to execute his judgment on a prophet who had disobeyed him (1 Ki. 13:24-28) and on a man who refused to cooperate with one of His prophets.—1 Ki. 20:36.

The Scriptures repeatedly allude to the characteristics and habits of the lion, including its thunderous roar and its growling. (Prov. 19:12; 20:2; Amos 3:4, 8) The animal does well in its pacing (Prov. 30:29, 30), dashing toward its prey at a speed of about forty miles (64 kilometers) an hour. Its strength is proverbial. (Judg. 14:18; Prov. 30:30) A single blow from the lion’s powerful paw is enough to break the neck of a small antelope. The lion can kill and carry animals larger than itself, and its short, strong jaws are equipped with teeth of sufficient strength to break large bones. (Ps. 58:6; Joel 1:6; Isa. 38:13) Little wonder that the lazy man is depicted as excusing his failure to act with the words: “There is a lion outside!” (Prov. 22:13; 26:13) However, being carnivorous, lions may perish for lack of prey. (Job 4:11; see also Psalm 34:10.) And a “live dog [although despised] is better off than a [once majestic but now] dead lion.”—Eccl. 9:4.

The lion generally spends part of the day sleeping in its lair and does its hunting at night. In procuring its food, the animal either resorts to ambush or stalks its prey until close enough to make a short rush. (Job 38:39, 40; Ps. 10:9; Lam. 3:10) After making a kill, the lion usually devours part of the meat immediately, hiding or guarding whatever may remain to be eaten later. During the time the female is nursing the cubs, the male supplies her with food, and later assists the female in bringing game to the den for the cubs. Not until the young lions are half grown or even older do they actually participate in the hunt, at which time they really learn how to tear apart prey.—Ezek. 19:2, 3; Nah. 2:11, 12; see also Psalm 7:2; 17:12.

Lions have long been hunted by man. Pits and nets were employed to capture them. (Ezek. 19:3, 4, 9) In ancient Assyria, hunting lions was a favorite sport of the monarch. Either on horseback or in his chariot, the king, armed with bow and arrows, pursued the lions.

Hungry lions were anciently used to inflict capital punishment. Protected by Jehovah’s angel, the prophet Daniel escaped this fate. (Dan. 6:16, 17, 22, 24; compare Hebrews 11:33.) In the first century C.E., the apostle Paul was delivered from the “lion’s mouth,” either literally or figuratively.—2 Tim. 4:17.

ORNAMENTAL AND FIGURATIVE USE

Engraved lions ornamented the sidewalls of the copper carriages designated for temple use. (1 Ki. 7:27-36) And the figures of twelve lions lined the steps leading up to Solomon’s throne, in addition to the two lions that were standing beside the armrests. (1 Ki. 10:19, 20) Also, the temple seen in vision by Ezekiel was adorned with cherubs having two faces, one of a man and the other of a maned young lion.—Ezek. 41:18, 19.

Most of the Scriptural references to the lion are figurative or illustrative. The entire nation of Israel (Num. 23:24; 24:9), and individually the tribes of Judah (Gen. 49:9) and Gad (Deut. 33:20), were prophetically compared to lions, representative of invincibility and courage in righteous warfare. (Compare 2 Samuel 17:10; 1 Chronicles 12:8; Proverbs 28:1.) Jehovah likens himself to a lion in executing judgment on his unfaithful people. (Hos. 5:14; 11:10; 13:7-9) And God’s foremost judicial officer, Jesus Christ, is “the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah.” (Rev. 5:5) Appropriately, therefore, the lion, as a symbol of courageous justice, is associated with Jehovah’s presence and throne.—Ezek. 1:10; 10:14; Rev. 4:7.

Because of the lion’s fierce, rapacious and predatory characteristics, the animal was also used to represent wicked ones (Ps. 10:9), persons who oppose Jehovah and his people (Ps. 22:13; 35:17; 57:4; Jer. 12:8), false prophets (Ezek. 22:25), wicked rulers and princes (Prov. 28:15; Zeph. 3:3), the Babylonian World Power (Dan. 7:4) and Satan the Devil. (1 Pet. 5:8) And the seven-headed, ten-horned wild beast out of the sea, which derives its authority from Satan, was depicted as having a lion’s mouth. (Rev. 13:2) At Psalm 91:13 the lion and the cobra seem to denote the power of the enemy, the lion being representative of open attack and the cobra of underhanded scheming, cunning.—Compare Luke 10:19; 2 Corinthians 11:3.

At the time the Israelites returned to their homeland in 537 B.C.E., Jehovah evidently protected them from lions and other rapacious beasts along the way. (Isa. 35:8-10) In the land itself lions and other predators doubtless had increased during the seventy years of its desolation. (Compare Exodus 23:29.) But, evidently due to Jehovah’s watch care over his people, the Israelites and their domestic animals apparently did not fall prey to lions as had the foreign peoples whom the king of Assyria settled in the cities of Samaria. (2 Ki. 17:25, 26) Therefore, from the standpoint of the Israelites, the lion was, in effect, eating straw like a bull, that is, doing no harm to them or their domestic animals. (Isa. 65:18, 19, 25) Under Messiah’s rulership, however, there is to be a greater fulfillment of the restoration prophecies. Thus, both in a literal and a figurative sense peace will exist between lions and domestic animals. Persons who may at one time have been of a beastly, animalistic, vicious disposition will be at peace with more docile fellow humans and will not seek to do them harm or injury.—Isa. 11:1-6; see BEASTS, SYMBOLIC.

LION’S PIT

The place of execution into which the prophet Daniel was thrown but from which he was later removed unharmed, having enjoyed angelic protection. (Dan. 6:7, 12, 13, 16-24) This pit had an opening that could be covered with a stone. (Dan. 6:17) It was evidently a sunken or underground place, for Daniel was “lifted up out of the pit.”—Dan. 6.23.

LIP

Being a part of the mouth and having much to do with formation of words, “lip” is used figuratively for speech or language (Prov. 14:3; 1 Cor. 14:21) and is occasionally used in parallelism with “tongue” (Ps. 34:13; Prov. 12:19) and with “mouth.” (Ps. 66:14; Prov. 18:7) Before the confusion of language at Babel, “all the earth continued to be of one language [literally, ‘lip’] and of one set of words.” (Gen. 11:1, 6-9; the same usage is employed at Psalm 81:5; Isaiah 19:18.) God promised through the prophet Zephaniah to give to peoples “the change to a pure language [lip],” evidently referring to the truth as revealed to his people through Jesus Christ.—Zeph. 3:9; compare Proverbs 12:19.

The lips are no sure index of what is in the heart, since they can be used by the individual to utter hypocritical speech. (Matt. 15:8) However, the lips cannot hide the true condition of the heart from God (Heb. 4:13), and they will eventually bring forth what is in the heart.—Prov. 26:23-26; Matt. 12:34.

Moses wanted to excuse himself from speaking before Pharaoh because he was “uncircumcised in lips,” that is, as though his lips had a foreskin over them and hence were too long and thick to utter speech with ease. He may have had some sort of speech impediment. (Ex. 6:12, 30) Isaiah, when called by Jehovah, wished to serve, but lamented that he was “undone” because he, a man unclean in lips, had seen Jehovah in vision, and he was unfit to carry God’s clean message. Jehovah then caused Isaiah’s lips to be cleansed.—Isa. 6:5-7; compare John 15:3; Isaiah 52:11; 2 Corinthians 6:17.

Hosea’s prophecy encouraged Israel to offer to Jehovah the “young bulls” of their lips, representing sacrifices of sincere praise. (Hos. 14:2) The Christian writer of the book of Hebrews alludes to this prophecy when he exhorts fellow believers to offer to God “a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which make public declaration to his name.”—Heb. 13:15.

Figuratively, “a smooth lip” denotes deceptive speech. (Ps. 12:2, 3 Such lips, as well as harsh or lying ones, can be damaging, wounding deeply like a sword or poisoning like a viper. (Ps. 59:7; 140:3; Rom. 3:13) A person “opening wide his lips” is one who speaks thoughtlessly or unwisely. (Prov. 13:3) It can bring him to ruin, for God holds everyone accountable for his words.—Deut. 23:23; Num. 30:6-8; Prov. 12:13; compare Job 2:10; Matthew 12:36, 37.

LIQUOR, INTOXICATING

See WINE AND STRONG DRINK.

LITTER

A portable couch or bed usually covered with a canopy and curtained in on the sides, designed so that a person of importance, either seated or reclined, can be carried about by men or beasts of burden; a palanquin as used in the Orient. The royal litter of King Solomon was made of Lebanese cedarwood, with silver pillars and supports of gold, and with the seat or cushion upholstered in costly and beautiful wool dyed reddish purple. The interior was richly ornamented, possibly with ebony wood.—Song of Sol. 3:7-10.

A portable funeral couch for transporting the remains of the dead was known as a so·rosʹ or bier.—Luke 7:14.

LIVER

The Hebrew Scriptures use the word most frequently with reference to the livers of animals prepared by the Israelites for sacrifice. (Ex. 29:13, 22; Lev. 3:4, 10, 15; 4:9) It was “the appendage upon the liver” that was made to smoke on the altar. The work Commentaries on the Old Testament, by Keil and Delitzsch, “Pentateuch,” Volume II, page 300, describes this portion of the liver as “the liver-net, or stomach-net, . . . which commences at the division between the right and left lobes of the liver, and stretches on the one side across the stomach, and on the other side to the region of the kidneys. . . . This smaller net is delicate, but not so fat as the larger net; though it still forms part of the fat portions.” It is defined in Pentateuch with Rashi’s Commentary, “Leviticus,” page 9, as “the protecting wall (membrane) over the liver.”

King Solomon’s account of the inexperienced youth who succumbs to the enticement of the immoral woman concludes: “All of a sudden he is going after her, . . . until an arrow cleaves open his liver, . . . and he has not known that it involves his very soul.” (Prov. 7:21-23) This is a very appropriate description, for medical doctors have found that the tiny corkscrewlike organisms associated with the crippling, death-dealing venereal disease called syphilis are frequently detected in great numbers in the liver cells (although also found in other tissues). This is true especially in the more advanced stages of the disease. Similarly, the organism (gonococcus) responsible for gonorrhea, another venereal disease, gets into the lining membrane of the liver. The liver’s vital role to life is recognized in figurative use in depicting profound sorrow.—Lam. 2:11.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, when looking for guidance as to his military maneuvers, “looked into the liver” as a form of divination.—Ezek. 21:21; see DIVINATION.

LIZARD

[Heb., tsav].

The Hebrew name for this creature, included among the unclean “swarming creatures” at Leviticus 11:29, appears to be derived from a root meaning “to cleave to the ground.” The Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Brown, Driver and Briggs (p. 839) suggests “lizard” as the translation. Lizards are four-legged reptiles, generally small, with long tails and scaly skin. The lizard’s legs are attached far enough out at the sides to enable it to rest its belly on the ground without folding its feet under it. More than forty kinds are found in Palestine. They are to be found in trees, in warm crevices of rocks and on walls and ceilings in homes.—See CHAMELEON; GECKO; SAND LIZARD.

Lexicons generally suggest that the Hebrew word koʹahh also refers to a kind of lizard. Since the root meaning of the name is “power” or “strength,” it may refer to the monitor lizard, a powerful, large lizard. It inhabits dry, sandy desert areas. In Palestine this lizard reaches a length of about four feet (1.2 meters). It is an eater of carrion, and is on the list of “unclean” foods.—Lev. 11:29, 30.

Another creature listed as unclean for Israelite use as food is referred to by the Hebrew word