Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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,

29 38. 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.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 29. The weasel] 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] 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] 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.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

29. the weaselrather, themole.

the mouseFrom itsdiminutive size it is placed among the reptiles instead of thequadrupeds.

the tortoisea lizard,resembling very nearly in shape, and in the hard pointed scales ofthe tail, the shaketail.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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 Le 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 these, “the weasel”, a creature well known; there are two sorts of it, as Pliny f says, the field weasel, and the house weasel; the former are called by the Jewish writers the weasel of the bushes g, and the latter the weasel that dwells in the foundations of houses h; and of the former there was a doubt among some of them whether it was a species of the eight reptiles in Le 11:29 or whether it was a species of animals i; and which, Maimonides says, is a species of foxes like to weasels: Bochart k thinks the mole is intended; but the generality of interpreters understand it of the weasel; and so Jarchi and Kimchi, and Philip Aquinas l, interpret it by “mustela”, the weasel: however, all agree the second is rightly interpreted “the mouse”; which has its name in Hebrew from its being a waster and destroyer of fields; an instance of which we have in 1Sa 6:5

[See comments on 1Sa 6:5]; so that this sort may be chiefly intended, though it includes all others, who are distinguished by their colours, the black, the red, and the white, which are all mentioned by Jonathan in his paraphrase of the text: this animal, as a learned physician m expresses it, eats almost everything, gnaws whatever it meets with, and, among other things, is a great lover of swine’s flesh, which was an abomination to the Jews; nor does it abstain from dung, and therefore it is no wonder it should be reckoned among impure creatures; and yet we find they were eaten by some people, see Isa 66:17 especially the dormouse; for which the old Romans made conveniences to keep them in, and feed them, and breed them for the table n: so rats in the West Indies are brought to market and sold for food, as a learned author o of undoubted credit assures us, who was an eyewitness of it: the last in this text, “the tortoise”, means the land tortoise; it has its name from the shell with which it is covered, this word being sometimes used for a covered wagon, Nu 7:3 there are various kinds of them, as Pliny p and other writers observe, and who, as Strabo q and Mela r also, speak of a people they call Chelonophagi, or tortoise eaters: a tortoise of the land kind is esteemed a very delicate dish: Dr. Shaw s, speaking of the land and water tortoises in Barbary, says, the former, which hides itself during the winter months, is very palatable food, but the latter is very unwholesome: the Septuagint version renders it, the “land crocodile”, which, is approved of by Bochart t: and Leo Africanus says u, that many in Egypt eat the flesh of the crocodile, and affirm it to be of good savour; and so Benzon w says, its flesh is white and tender, and tastes like veal; though some among them, as Strabo x asserts, have a great antipathy and hatred to them; and others worship them as gods, and neither can be supposed to eat them; the land crocodiles are eaten by the Syrians, as Jerom y affirms, for those feeding on the sweetest flowers, as is said, their entrails are highly valued for their agreeable odour: Jarchi says, it is a creature like a frog; he means a toad; so Philip Aquinas and many render the word: Dr. Shaw takes the creature designed to be the sharp-scaled tailed lizard z.

d Misn. Meilah, c. 4. sect. 3. e Pirush. in ib. f Nat. Hist. l. 29. c. 4. g Misn. Celaim, c. 8. sect. 5. h T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 20. 2. i Maimon. in Misn. ib. k Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 95. col. 1022. l Sepher Shorash. & Aquinas in rad. . m Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 2. p. 307. n Varro de re Rustic. l. 3. c. 14. apud Sir Hans Sloane’s History of Jamaica, vol. 1. Introduct. p. 24. o Sir Hans Sloane, ib. p. 25. p Nat. Hist. l. 9. c. 10. & l. 32. c. 4. q Geograph. l. 16. p. 532. r De Situ Orbis, l. 3. c. 8. s Travels, p. 178. t Ut supra, (Hierozoic. par. 1.) l. 4. c. 1. u Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 762. w Nov. Orb. Hist. c. 3. x Geograph. l. 17. p. 558, 560, 561, 563. y Adv. Jovin. l. 2. z Ut supra. (Travels, p. 178.)

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

To these there are attached analogous instructions concerning defilement through contact with the smaller creeping animals ( Sherez ), which formed the fourth class of the animal kingdom; though the prohibition against eating these animals is not introduced till Lev 11:41, Lev 11:42, as none of these were usually eaten. Sherez , the swarm, refers to animals which swarm together in great numbers (see at Gen 1:21), and is synonymous with remes (cf. Gen 7:14 and Gen 7:21), “the creeping;” it denotes the smaller land animals which move without feet, or with feet that are hardly perceptible (see at Gen 1:24). Eight of the creeping animals are named, as defiling not only the men with whom they might come in contact, but any domestic utensils and food upon which they might fall; they were generally found in houses, therefore, or in the abodes of men. is not the mole (according to Saad. Ar. Abys., etc.), although the Arabs still call this chuld, but the weasel (lxx, Onk., etc.), which is common in Syria and Palestine, and is frequently mentioned by the Talmudists in the feminine form , as an animal which caught birds ( Mishn. Cholin iii. 4), which would run over the wave-loaves with a sherez in its mouth ( Mishn. Tohor. iv. 2), and which could drink water out of a vessel ( Mishn. Para ix. 3). is the mouse (according to the ancient versions and the Talmud), and in 1Sa 6:5 the field-mouse, the scourge of the fields, not the jerboa, as Knobel supposes; for this animal lives in holes in the ground, is very shy, and does not frequent houses as is assumed to be the case with the animals mentioned here. is a kind of lizard, but whether the thav or dsabb , a harmless yellow lizard of 18 inches in length, which is described by Seetzen, iii. pp. 436ff., also by Hasselquist under the name of lacerta Aegyptia , or the waral, as Knobel supposes, a large land lizard reaching as much as four feet in length, which is also met with in Palestine (Robinson, ii. 160) and is called el worran by Seetzen, cannot be determined.

Lev 11:30

The early translators tell us nothing certain as to the three following names, and it is still undecided how they should be rendered. is translated by the lxx, i.e., shrew-mouse; but the oriental versions render it by various names for a lizard. Bochart supposes it to be a species of lizard with a sharp groaning voice, because signifies to breathe deeply, or groan. Rosenmller refers it to the lacerta Gecko , which is common in Egypt, and utters a peculiar cry resembling the croaking of frogs, especially in the night. Leyrer imagines it to denote the whole family of monitores; and Knobel, the large and powerful river lizard, the water-waral of the Arabs, called lacerta Nilotica in Hasselquist, pp. 361ff., though he has failed to observe, that Moses could hardly have supposed it possible that an animal four feet long, resembling a crocodile, could drop down dead into either pots or dishes. is not the chameleon (lxx), for this is called tinshemeth , but the chardaun ( Arab.), a lizard which is found in old walls in Natolia, Syria, and Palestine, lacerta stellio , or lacerta coslordilos ( Hasselquist, pp. 351-2). Knobel supposes it to be the frog, because coach seems to point to the crying or croaking of frogs, to which the Arabs apply the term kuk , the Greeks , the Romans coaxare . But this is very improbable, and the frog would be quite out of place in the midst of simple lizards. , according to the ancient versions, is also a lizard. Leyrer supposes it to be the nocturnal, salamander-like family of beckons; Knobel, on the contrary, imagines it to be the tortoise, which creeps upon the earth ( terrae adhaeret ), because the Arabic verb signifies terrae adhaesit. This is very improbable, however. (lxx), , Vulg. lacerta , probably the true lizard, or, as Leyrer conjectures, the anguis ( Luth. Blindschleiche, blind-worm), or zygnis, which forms the link between lizards and snakes. The rendering “snail” ( Sam. Rashi, etc.) is not so probable, as this is called in Psa 58:9; although the purple snail and all the marine species are eaten in Egypt and Palestine. Lastly, , the self-inflating animal (see at Lev 11:18), is no doubt the chameleon, which frequently inflates its belly, for example, when enraged, and remains in this state for several hours, when it gradually empties itself and becomes quite thin again. Its flesh was either cooked, or dried and reduced to powder, and used as a specific for corpulence, or a cure for fevers, or as a general medicine for sick children ( Plin. h. n. 28, 29). The flesh of many of the lizards is also eaten by the Arabs ( Leyrer, pp. 603, 604).

Lev 11:31

The words, “ these are unclean to you among all swarming creatures, ” are neither to be understood as meaning, that the eight species mentioned were the only swarming animals that were unclean and not allowed to be eaten, nor that they possessed and communicated a larger amount of uncleanness; but when taken in connection with the instructions which follow, they can only mean, that such animals would even defile domestic utensils, clothes, etc., if they fell down dead upon them. Not that they were more unclean than others, since all the unclean animals would defile not only persons, but even the clothes of those who carried their dead bodies (Lev 11:25, Lev 11:28); but there was more fear in their case than in that of others, of their falling dead upon objects in common use, and therefore domestic utensils, clothes, and so forth, could be much more easily defiled by them than by the larger quadrupeds, by water animals, or by birds. “ When they be dead, ” lit., “ in their dying; ” i.e., not only if they were already dead, but if they died at the time when they fell upon any object.

Lev 11:32

In either case, anything upon which one of these animals fell became unclean, “ whether a vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin.” Every vessel ( in the widest sense, as in Exo 22:6), “ wherein any work is done, ” i.e., that was an article of common use, was to be unclean till the evening, and then placed in water, that it might become clean again.

Lev 11:33

Every earthen vessel, into which (lit., into the midst of which) one of them fell, became unclean, together with the whole of its contents, and was to be broken, i.e., destroyed, because the uncleanness as absorbed by the vessel, and could not be entirely removed by washing (see at Lev 6:21). Of course the contents of such a vessel, supposing there were any, were not to be used.

Lev 11:34

“ Every edible food ( before partitive, as in Lev 4:2) upon which water comes, ” – that is to say, which was prepared with water, – and “ every drink that is drunk…becomes unclean in every vessel, ” sc., if such an animal should fall dead upon the food, or into the drink. The traditional rendering of Lev 11:34, “ every food upon which water out of such a vessel comes, ” is untenable; because without an article cannot mean such water, or this water.

Lev 11:35

Every vessel also became unclean, upon which the body of such an animal fell: such as , the earthen baking-pot (see Lev 2:4), and , the covered pan or pot. , a boiling or roasting vessel (1Sa 2:14), can only signify, when used in the dual, a vessel consisting of two parts, i.e., a pan or pot with a lid.

Lev 11:36

Springs and wells were not defiled, because the uncleanness would be removed at once by the fresh supply of water. But whoever touched the body of the animal, to remove it, became unclean.

Lev 11:37-38

All seed-corn that was intended to be sown remained clean, namely, because the uncleanness attaching to it externally would be absorbed by the earth. But if water had been put upon the seed, i.e., if the grain had been softened by water, it was to be unclean, because in that case the uncleanness would penetrate the softened grains and defile the substance of the seed, which would therefore produce uncleanness in the fruit.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Verses 29-40:

This list of unclean creatures includes those who go on their belly but have no wings:

Weasel, choled, also translated “mole.”

Mouse, akbar, equated with swine’s flesh, Isa 66:17.

Tortoise, tsab, a species of lizard.

Ferret, anaqah, the hedgehog.

Chameleon, koach, a large lizard, Varanus niloticus. Lizard, letach, the most common varity, Agama stellio.

Snail, chomet, another variety of lizard.

Mole, tinshemeth, likely the “blind rat” or “mole rat.”

This variety of small, unclean creatures is likely to be found dead in utensils and on clothing. Hence, the warning against defilement by contact with them, and the rules for cleansing.

“Ranges for pots” is literally “covered pots.”

“Seed to be sown,” seed-grain, was not defiled by contact with the unclean creatures, unless it had been wetted by water made unclean by them.

The strict rules regarding defilement by contact with unclean creatures typify the importance of holy living today, and the need to keep oneself “unspotted from the world,” see Jas 1:27; 1Ti 5:22; Jude 1:23.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary