Leviticus 11:29

_THESE ALSO SHALL BE UNCLEAN UNTO YOU AMONG THE CREEPING THINGS THAT CREEP UPON THE EARTH; THE WEASEL, AND THE MOUSE, AND THE TORTOISE AFTER HIS KIND,_ These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth. The list comprises small quadrupeds as well as reptiles proper. THE WEASEL, х_ HACHOLED_ (H2467)]. This term includes the species of Genetta, Herpestes, and other small carnivora, specimens of which have been recently brought from Palestine by Mr. Tristram, and have been deposited in the British Museum. [Septuagint, hee galee, or galeee, which signifies a weasel or a cat.] Several species of Mustelidoe, known to reside in and near Palestine, are supposed to be collectively designated by this term. They appear, both anciently and among ourselves, collected into a kind of group, under an impression that they belong to the feline family. Hence, we, li...

Verse 29. _THE WEASEL_] חלד _choled_, from _chalad_, Syr., to _creep in_. Bochart conjectures, with great propriety, that the _mole_, not the _weasel_, is intended by the Hebrew word: its property of _digging into_ the earth, and _creeping_ or _burrowing_ _under the surface_, is well known. _THE MOUSE_] עחבר _achbar_. Probably the large field _rat_, or what is called by the Germans the _hamster_, though every species of the _mus_ genus may be here prohibited. _THE TORTOISE_] צב _tsab_. Most critics allow that the tortoise is not intended here, but rather the _crocodile_, the _frog_, or the _toad_. The _frog_ is most probably the animal meant, and all other creatures of its kind....

The identification of “the creeping things” here named is not always certain. They are most likely those which were occasionally eaten. For the “Tortoise” read “the great lizard,” for the “ferret” the “gecko” (one of the lizard tribe), for the “chameleon” read the “frog” or the Nile lizard: by the word rendered “snail” is probably meant another kind of lizard, and by the “mole” the “chameleon.”...

PART III UNCLEANNESS, CEREMONIAL AND MORAL: ITS REMOVAL OR ITS PUNISHMENT SECTION I EXPOSITION THE two preceding parts having made manifest the way of approach to God by means of sacrifice and the appointed priesthood of mediation, there follows a part having for its subject that which keeps man apart from God, namely, uncleanness, whether ceremonial uncleanness, which may be removed by ceremonial observances, or moral uncleanness, that is, unrighteousness, which, so far as it is a ceremonial offense, may be also dealt with ceremonially, but in respect to its moral character demands punishment. This part consists of four sections. The _first _section, comprising chapters 11-15, treats of ceremonial uncleanness, caused...

THESE ALSO [SHALL BE] UNCLEAN UNTO YOU AMONG THE CREEPING THINGS THAT CREEP UPON THE EARTH,.... As distinguished from those creeping things that fly, these having no wings as they; and which were equally unclean, neither to be eaten nor touched, neither their blood, their skin, nor their flesh, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it: and the Misnic doctors say d that the blood of a creeping thing and its flesh are joined together: and Maimonides e observes, that this is a fundamental thing with them, that the blood of a creeping thing is like its flesh; which in Siphre (an ancient book of theirs) is gathered from what is said in Leviticus 11:29 "these shall be unclean", c. hence the wise men say, the blood of a creeping thing pollutes as its flesh: the creeping things intended are as follow: THE WEASEL, AND THE MOUSE, AND THE TORTOISE AFTER HIS KIND the first of th

III. HOLINESS DEMANDED 1. The Clean and the Unclean CHAPTER 11 _ 1. Concerning the beasts on the earth (Leviticus 11:1)_ 2. Concerning things in the water (Leviticus 11:9) 3. Concerning flying and creeping things (Leviticus 11:13) 4. Concerning defilement with dead bodies (Leviticus 11:24) The Chapter s which form the third section of Leviticus are by some taken to give evidence that not Moses, but another person arranged the material of the book. Even men who do not deny the inspiration of the book claim that the hand of a redactor is here discovered. In their opi

11- 15. RITUAL CLEANLINESS AND UNCLEANLINESS. Leviticus 11, Animals; Leviticus 12, Childbirth; Leviticus 13, Skin diseases (including tainted garments); Leviticus 14:1, Purgation for skin diseases; Leviticus 14:33, Leprosy in houses, and general conclusion to the Law; Leviticus 15, Issues. Probably to most modern readers, this section is the least intelligible in the book. We must consider it (_a)_ in its ethnological and (_b)_ its specifically Hebrew aspect, (_a)_ These laws are properly taboos. The term is Polynesian, signifying what is in itself, or artificially, forbidden, either for the whole community, or else for common people, or priests, or kings (p. 629). Taboos may relate to places, or to the sexes, or to certain ages. Certain kinds of food m

WEASEL. Hebrew. _choled_. the glider or slipper, Occurs only here. MOUSE. Hebrew. _'akbar =_ the corn destroyer. 1 Samuel 6:4; 1 Samuel 6:5; 1 Samuel 6:11; 1 Samuel 6:18; Isaiah 66:17. TORTOISE. Hebrew. _zab =_ the inflated, Numbers 5:27. probably. toad....

Uncleanness caused by Creeping Things 29. _the weasel_†] According to early Versions, and the Mishna the Heb. word should be thus translated; but some prefer the rendering -mole." _the great lizard_†] _tortoise_A.V. The cognate words in Arab. and Syr. support the rendering of R.V....

THESE ALSO SHALL BE UNCLEAN UNTO YOU AMONG THE CREEPING THINGS, &C.— Dr. Shaw well observes, that this expression, _creeping things that creep,_ or _which bring forth abundantly upon the earth,_ (see Genesis 1.) being descriptive of reptiles, with what propriety can we place among them the _weasel,_ the _mouse,_ the _ferret,_ or the _mole,_ which are no greater breeders than a variety of others of the less viviparous quadrupeds? for the _tortoise,_ the _camelion,_ the _lizard,_ and the _snail,_ (the _slug_ rather, or the _lymax,_) are animals of a quite different nature, habit, and complexion, having all of them smooth skins, and are likewise oviparous; whereas the others partake altogether of such actions and characteristics as are peculiar to the hairy,—viviparous,—unclean quadrupeds, which have paws for fingers, and would of course be i