“jackals.” Jackals were common in Israel, but even so, it would have taken Samson a while to catch all of them and it would have been no small feat to tie them tail to tail and transport them to the grain fields of the Philistines. Although many English translations read “foxes,” that is almost certainly not the correct animal. The Hebrew word is the same for both animals, but foxes are shy, solitary animals, and catching 300 of them would have been very difficult, whereas jackals are pack animals and Samson would have taken much less time to capture packs of jackals.