and the female ostrich, and the male ostrich, and the sea-gull, and the hawk after its kind;
Deuteronomy 14 gathers a list of birds that Israel was never to put on the table, and this verse names four of them. Why would God call some of the creatures He made an abomination to eat?
Much of this chapter repeats Leviticus 11. One commentator points to a difference: the audience has changed.
From verse 3 to 20, we have the law as to clean and unclean beasts, fishes and fowls… But there is a very important difference between the two books. Leviticus gives its instructions primarily to Moses and Aaron. Deuteronomy gives them directly to the people. Leviticus may be specially called the priest's guide book. In Deuteronomy the priests are almost entirely in the background, and the people are prominent.
Several Hebrew words in this list appear almost nowhere else. Translators have never fully agreed on them. One writer explains why that does not weaken the lesson.
Of course the rendering in many cases is only approximate, some of the names occurring nowhere else. Nor is there any aim at scientific terminology, but a practical direction for Jehovah's people, with a moral application now for faith.
The last bird named, "the hawk of any kind," covers a whole family at once.
The Hebrew word is nets. It is taken to cover the different species of hawk, and there are several of them, as the words "the hawk of any kind" imply. They were birds of prey, and were pronounced unclean.
One writer asks what it is in these birds that stands against God's own character.
Many birds of the heaven show qualities that God hates in those He takes into relationship with Himself. Others are simply unfit for people to eat. What can be more opposed to His character than fierce, grasping violence toward the living, and greed toward the dead that is never satisfied?… The Israelite was forbidden to eat such birds. In the same way, the Christian is to have no fellowship with ways morally like them, but is to avoid them and reprove them. Some of these birds hunt in the open daylight; others do what suits them in the dark of night… But all of them picture traits we should have nothing to do with. Christ is to be our food.
Another writer reads these birds as portraits of human character. The owl gets the longest treatment.
All the birds of this kind are unclean. It makes no difference whether a bird is marked by power and dignity like the eagle, cruelty like the hawk, impudence like the cuckoo, or the heavy, shallow gravity — the stupid wisdom — of the owl… None of them looks as impressive as the owl. But his all-knowing air only reaches as far as his own patch. His look of grave, impartial rebuke is only the fear of committing himself. He prefers the twilight not because he loves meditation, nor out of any unusual devoutness, but simply because daylight always confuses him.
Against those natures the same writer sets the dove.
But oh, for the wings of the dove, "covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold!"… "Not as a raven but a dove The Holy Spirit came from above" — that wisdom from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. It is innocent about evil, wise about what is good. Unlike the carrion-feeding natures, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
The list names only the banned birds. Another writer sets out what marks a clean one.
The first point to notice in clean birds is their power of rising above the earth… Second, clean birds are harmless, and separate from what is unclean… Third, what can be more dependent on God? They have neither storehouse nor barn. The unclean birds may turn again and again to a dead body as their store of food. The clean ones do not… Fourth, many clean birds are joyful; they sing and make melody.
One writer traces what changed for Christians, and what still carries over.
Avoiding the forbidden things would no doubt be good for their bodies, and would help to mark them off from other peoples. Many centuries later… these restrictions gave rise to the quarrels "over opinions" that Romans 14 speaks of. In that chapter the Spirit of God does not legislate. He leaves every man to be persuaded in his own mind what he should do. We may profitably transfer the thought to what we may mentally read and inwardly digest. Let us take care that we do not feed mentally on what is impure.
- Table. God gave these food rules to the whole people, not just the priests, to mark Israel off from other nations.
- Names. Several Hebrew words here occur nowhere else, so the renderings are only approximate. The lesson never depended on naming the species.
- Appetite. What disqualified these birds was how they fed: seizing the living, gorging on the dead, hunting in the dark.
- Portrait. Read as characters, they picture pride, cruelty, impudence and the solemn fault-finder who mistakes his own confusion for wisdom.
- Dove. The clean bird rises above the earth, harms nothing, and depends on God. Feed on Christ, and not on what is impure.
the owl, and the ibis and the swan,
This verse sits inside a list of birds Israel must never eat, most of them night hunters whose names we can no longer pin down. So the real question is why God gave the list at all, and what His people were meant to learn from it.
The same food laws appear in Leviticus 11. But one writer notes a change in who is being spoken to.
The law about clean and unclean animals, fish and birds runs from verse 3 to verse 20. We have already seen the main principles in Leviticus 11. But there is a very important difference between the two passages. Leviticus gives its instructions first to Moses and Aaron; Deuteronomy gives them straight to the people. This fits each book exactly. Leviticus can be called the priest's guide book. In Deuteronomy the priests stay almost entirely in the background, and the people come to the front.
Three Hebrew words stand behind the owls of this list and the one just before it. Older Bibles render them "the owl, the little owl and the great owl."
The Hebrew for the first is bath yaanah. The second is kos: it appears in those two passages and in Psalm 102:6, and no doubt means the owl. The third is yanshuph, which also appears in Isaiah 34:11. The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate make this one the "ibis," and some have taken it to be the Ibis religiosa, a sacred bird of Egypt… Several species of owl are well known, but no one can say for certain which of them these words mean.
Translators have read the third bird of the verse in very different ways.
The Hebrew word is tanshemeth, and it stands among the unclean birds. People have seen swans in Palestine, but they are rare, and swans feed on plants, so the word probably means some other bird. The old Greek and Latin versions have the purple waterhen and the ibis, and the Revised Version has "horned owl." It is likely some water bird, and the purple waterhen… would have to count as unclean, because it feeds on reptiles as well as birds.
One commentator says plainly what the list was for.
Many of these names are only roughly translated, and some of them appear nowhere else. There is no attempt at scientific terms here. This is practical direction for Jehovah's people, with a moral lesson now for faith.
One writer weighs these hunting birds against God's own character.
Many birds of the sky are marked by qualities God hates in those He takes into relationship with Himself. What could be more opposed to His character than fierce violence toward the living, and endless greed toward the dead?… The Israelite was forbidden to eat such birds. In the same way the Christian is to have no fellowship with ways that match them morally, but to avoid them and speak against them. Some of these birds hunt their prey openly by day; others do their work in the dark of night… But all of them stand for traits we should have nothing to do with. Christ is to be our food.
One writer looks at how the night birds hunt.
The night birds show us the ungodliness and deceit of the flesh most clearly. Eager to devour others, they quietly take what their greedy appetite wants in the stillness of the night, when no one suspects them. The owls and other birds hide through the day. Then, with remarkable night sight, they seize their victims suddenly and almost without a sound, while the victims have no idea of the danger. What a striking picture of practical ungodliness and deceit!
The reason behind the whole diet lies in who Israel belonged to.
The great fact of Israel's relationship to Jehovah marked them off from every nation under the sun. It was not that they were, in themselves, the least bit better or holier than others. But Jehovah was holy, and they were His people. "Be holy, for I am holy."
One writer follows these rules forward into the questions they later raised for Christians.
Avoiding the forbidden things would no doubt be good for their bodies, and would help to mark them off from other peoples… Later these restrictions gave rise to the arguments over disputed matters that Romans 14 deals with. In that chapter the Spirit of God does not lay down law. He leaves each person to be convinced in his own mind about what he should do. We can usefully carry the thought over to what we read and take into our minds. Let us take care that we do not feed our minds on what is impure.
- Diet — the verse sits in a list of forbidden birds. Leviticus 11 gave the same rules to the priests; here God speaks straight to the people.
- Doubt — the Hebrew names are uncertain. No one can say which owls are meant, and the third bird has been read as a swan, a horned owl, or a water bird.
- Design — the list is not science. It gives practical direction, with a moral lesson for faith.
- Darkness — these birds live by seizing others. Some hunt in the open by day, some in silence by night, picturing greed and deceit.
- Difference — the whole diet marked Israel out as the people of a holy God. The lasting lesson is care over what we take in.