Leviticus 11:30

And the ferret,.... Whatever creature is here meant, it has its name in Hebrew from the cry it makes; and so the ferret has but one note in its voice, which is a shrill, but small, whining cry: it is

And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole. The ferret , [ haa'anaaqaah (H604)].

Leviticus 11:30 And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.Ver. 30. The chameleon.] A very fearful creature, and therefore easily turning himself into sundry colours. Carnal fear puts men upon unwarrantable shifts. See Zephaniah 3:13.

(30) And the ferret.—The ancient legal authorities explain this name (anβkβh), which only occurs here in the Hebrew Scriptures, by kipor or kipod, “an animal whose body is entirely covered with sharp prickles, and when touched the creature draws in its legs and rolls itself up in a ball.” Its skin in ancient days was tied round the udder of cows to prevent other reptiles sucking out their milk. There can, therefore, be no doubt that the administrators of the law took it to be the hedgehog. Some ancient versions, however, render it by shrew mouse, whilst some modern expositors make it the gecko. And the chameleon.—The ancient versions agree that by this animal (khτach), which denotes “strength,” and which occurs nowhere else in the Bible as the name of a reptile, is meant the chameleon. Its power of enduring for a long time without food, which led the ancients to believe that it entirely subsisted upon air, may be the cause both of its Hebrew name (as specified above), and the name chameleon, i.e., “a lion on the ground,” a reptile with the strength of a lion, The belief that it lives upon the air had also given rise to its Aramaic name in the time of Christ (zekitha), which denotes the animal that fills itself with air. The perplexity which the administrators of the law experienced about its food, and the time of feeding this creature, may be gathered from the story in the Talmud attributed to one of the sons of Noah, of what happened in the Ark. Sem, the son of Noah, said, “We had much trouble with the chameleon, for whilst we fed the day animals by day and the night animals by night, we did not know what the chameleon fed on. One day, however, I broke open a pomegranate, and a worm fell out of it, which the creature immediately devoured. Afterwards I pounded together fruit, and when it bred maggots the chameleon ate them.” The common chameleon is found in Syria and Palestine, and some eastern tribes believe that its flesh when eaten boiled is a remedy for leanness, and if eaten dry cures fever. In Spain chameleons are kept in rooms to destroy troublesome flies. And the lizard.—Though the ancient authorities agree that the creature here named (l’tββh) is lizard, yet the description which the administrators of the law give of it, does not enable us to define the species to which it belongs. The characteristics which they give of the lizard are as follows: It has a thick though soft and smooth skin, and lays eggs in which the yolk and the white are not separated. Its tail when cut off will move for some time afterwards, and the creature itself when apparently dead will sometimes revive by pouring cold water over it. And the snail.—This meaning of the Hebrew name (chτmet) is attested by the highest Jewish authorities of ancient times. It denotes the testaceous kinds, whilst the word (shabbel) in Psalms 58:8 describes the naked species.

Verse 30. The ferret] אנקה anakah, from אנק anak, to groan, to cry out: a species of lizard, which derives its name from its piercing, doleful cry. See Bochart, vol. ii., col. 1066. The chameleon] כח coach. Bochart contends that this is the [Arabic] waril or guaril, another species of lizard, which derives its name from its remarkable strength and vigour in destroying serpents, the Hebrew כח cach signifying to be strong, firm, vigorous: it is probably the same with the mongoose, a creature still well known in India, where it is often domesticated in order to keep the houses free from snakes, rats, mice, &c. The lizard] לטאה letaah. Bochart contends that this also is a species of lizard, called by the Arabs [Arabic] wahara, which creeps close to the ground, and is poisonous. The snail] חמט chomet, another species of lizard, according to Bochart, called [Arabic] huluka by the Arabians, which lives chiefly in the sand. - Vol. ii., col. 1075. The mole.] תנשמת tinshameth, from נשם nasham, to breathe. Bochart seems to have proved that this is the chameleon, which has its Hebrew name from its wide gaping mouth, very large lungs, and its deriving its nourishment from small animals which float in the air, so that it has been conjectured by some to feed on the air itself. - Vol. iii., col. 1073. A bird of the same name is mentioned Leviticus 11:13, which Bochart supposes to be the night-owl. - Vol. iii., col. 286.

30. For the four words which follow see R.V. mg. They occur only in this verse. chameleon] mole A.V. following the versions. The same Heb. word is translated horned owl in Leviticus 11:18. It seems strange that so many kinds of lizards are mentioned; also that the same Heb. word should have two such different meanings in the same chapter.

30. The ferret — Hebrew anakah. It is agreed on all sides that “the ferret” is not intended. The Septuagint translates it μυγαλη, “shrew-mouse,” common in Galilee.