Leviticus 11:13

UNCLEANNESS OF WINGED CREATURES; AS BIRDS; INSECTS

"And these ye shall have in abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the gier-eagle, and the osprey, and the kite, and the falcon after its kind, every raven after its kind, and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kind, and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the vulture, and the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. All winged creeping things that go upon all fours are an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of all winged creeping things that go upon all fours, which have legs above their feet, wherewith to leap upon the earth; even these of them ye may eat: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. But all winged creeping things, which have four feet, are an abomination unto you."

"The owl ... ostrich ... sea-mew ..." (Leviticus 11:16), according to Meyrick, are actually, "ostrich, owl, and gull."[14] "Horned owl ..." (Leviticus 11:18) is also rendered "swan."[15] However, Meyrick thought that the terms here including heron in Leviticus 11:19 should be "ibis and great plover."[16]

Of particular interest is the inclusion of a mammal (the bat) along with the birds. Our modern way of classifying this little creature is based upon the fact that the bat GIVES BIRTH to its young. The ancients did not classify creatures by this criterion, but included the bat with birds because of its being a FLYING creature, also one of the most efficient flyers known. If God, through Moses, had used language here, other than that which the ancients understood, all communication would have been lost. What kind of conceited arrogance is it that supposes that God should have used technical classifications which were NOT INVENTED by the human race until millenniums after the times of Moses, and then dares, on such ground, to fault the Divine instructions given here?

"All winged creeping things ..." (Leviticus 11:20). The insects generally are in view here. The expression "go upon all fours" is ambiguous (all insects have six legs). Cate stated that the expression "is a figure of speech portraying the fact that they walked with their body horizontal to the earth."[17] We agree with Cate that this passage forbids "all insects," with the sole exception of the various kinds of locusts and grasshoppers. Here, we believe there is unmistakable evidence of a merciful discrimination upon the part of God. There can be little doubt that "all insects" would have been forbidden, except for the fact that during a locust plague, those voracious creatures destroyed everything edible on the face of the earth. The unfortunate populations who had the tragedy of passing through such a devastation had only one option - they could either eat the locusts, or die of starvation. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with eating locusts. John the Baptist ate them (although some think "carob beans" are meant there), and there are all kinds of examples of their being eaten today.

Included in the things here forbidden were many other kinds of bugs, and crawlers, that cannot be classified as insects. Such things as centipedes, lizards, and chameleons were also forbidden. These, and other creatures, were listed in the classification that we may call "vermin."