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.
