The fox is a cunning hunter that eats anything from insects to worms and from rodents to birds and even will clean up human garbage. What the Bible says about the fox captures something of the fox, as foxes of the modern world aren't much different. But is the return of the fox in Israel a sign?
A youtube video of foxes playing at the Temple Mount has surfaced on Tisha B'Av the date of remembrance of the temple destruction.
Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation. Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. (Lamentations 5:18-21)
The Jerusalem Post has the headline
“Foxes seen walking near the Western Wall, fulfilling Biblical Promise”
According to the biblical prophecy, now that the barren Temple has become a walking ground for foxes, so it will be rebuilt.
Directly after it is written in Lamentations (quoted above) that the foxes are to walk on the Mountain of Zion, Jeremiah speaks of asking Yahweh Elohim to turn again. The Jerusalem Post continues;
As the Jewish world is counting the days to the ninth of Av (Tisha Be'Av), the date on which Jews mourn the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem following its destruction by the Romans, foxes have been spotted walking near the Western Wall, a press release reported on Thursday.
It is written in the Book of Lamentations (5:18), which is read on Tisha Be'Av, that Mount Zion – where the Temples stood – will be so desolate that “foxes will walk upon it.” The understanding, according to the Talmud in the tractate Makkot (24b), is that if the prophecies of destruction have been fulfilled, so will be the ones by the prophet Zechariah about the Temple being rebuilt.
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites, referred to photos of the foxes and commented, “One cannot refrain from crying at the site of the fulfillment of the prophecy of 'foxes will walk on it.'”
It was reported in The Yeshiva World that visitors to the area have observed the group of about a dozen foxes in the southwestern area of the Western Wall for the last three days in the early hours of the day. In the Talmud (Oral law).. which was written 2,000 years ago as a sign that Jerusalem will be rebuilt. This precise scenario was discussed in the Talmud (Makkot 24b). Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria, Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva went up to Jerusalem.
Akiva explained that the fact that the prophecy of Uriah related by the Prophet Micah had come to be was proof that the prophecy of Zechariah would also come to be.
The Prophet Micah described the total destruction of Jerusalem.
Assuredly, because of you Tzion shall be plowed as a field, And Yerushalayim shall become heaps of ruins, And the Har Habayit A shrine in the woods. Micah 3:12
The Prophet Zechariah described the return of Jerusalem to its days of glory.
Thus said the lord of Hosts: There shall yet be old men and women in the squares of Yerushalayim, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the squares of the city shall be crowded with boys and girls playing in the squares. Zechariah 4-5
www.breakingisraelnews.com/134846/foxes-temple-mount-prophetic-proof-jerusalem-returning-glory/
On 9 may 2017 It was reported “Israeli Army’s Latest Enemy: A Fox That Bites Overnight”
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-armys-latest-enemy-a-fox-that-bites-overnight-1.5470202
20 soldiers treated for rabies after foxes attack
www.timesofisrael.com/20-soldiers-treated-for-rabies-after-foxes-attack/
Why? There may be some humility to be learnt in that the great fighting force is being bitten by foxes..
They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes. (Psalm 63:10)
In fact the presence of foxes is remarkable. The land was so desolate even predators had given up. With the redeeming and greening of Israel and the planting of trees, which can be seen from a satellite map, came also an effort to re-introduce species. You can be sure that nature conservationista that have been fostering the re-introduction of predators, including foxes, had no idea that the foxes would go to the Temple Mount!
“At two special wildlife reserves - the Hai Bar biblical reserves in the Aravah and on Mount Carmel - an experimental project to reintroduce animal species which once roamed the hills and deserts of the Land of Israel into their former natural habitats, has been initiated. Species now being raised for future release into the wild include the white oryx, ostrich, Persian fallow deer, roe deer and Asiatic wild ass. Recently, a modern breeding center for predators such as foxes, wolves, hyenas and wild cats was added.” https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/AboutIsrael/Spotlight/Pages/Nature%20Conservation%20in%20Israel.aspx
The fox has been successful in Israel as it has multiplied with the growth of the human population.
The most common truly wild urban predator is the red fox, a rather drabber dusty coloured cousin of the European species. They hang around the outskirts of towns, in fields, even in many desert regions where they live alongside desert species such as Blandford's and sand foxes.
http://natureisrael.com/mammals.html
Yet it appears they havn't before been seen on the Temple Mount, and why they are there is a mystery, or as the JPost writer knows, a Miracle.
Foxes feature in the Bible a few places:
Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. (Judges 15:4)
Is this where the name 'firefox' came from?
At the time of
the first rebuilding of the temple there were also foxes!
Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. (Nehemiah 4:3)
We see the hunting and scavenging fox.
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
(Song 2:15)
The name fox in Hebrew is shu‛al and mean burrower, or one that digs it's burrow in the earth, sheol, the word for grave is from the same idea.
A certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. (Mat 8:19-20 & Luke 9:58)
Lastly there is a fox in Jerusalem when its desolation is spoken of: a human fox.
The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, and stons them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! (Luke 13:31-34)
Lastly let us consider: is not the Temple Mount the central area of those that seek for peace, when there is none? So there are foxes on the Temple Mount… what do foxes do? They are cunning hunters that dig holes into sheol. They opportunistically destroy and don't build.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; “Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken? Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD. And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter: (Ezekiel 13:3-10)
