Beasts of the Field: The Revealing Natural History of Animals in the Bible

Did the whale swallow Jonah, or could the culprit have been a great white shark? What kind of animals were Leviathan and Behemoth? What sort of lions confronted Daniel in the Den, and from where did they originate? Did the great plagues of Egypt really happen? Why are animals classified as “clean” and “unclean?” And why are mythical beasts—like unicorns, satyrs, and cocatrices—mentioned in the Bible? Beasts of the Field answers all these questions, and many more, about the birds, bees, and beasts that inhabit the extraordinarily varied landscape of the Levant. An award-winning wildlife filmmaker and biologist, Michael Bright is a senior producer with the BBC’s world-renowned Natural History Unit.