and the female ostrich and the male ostrich, and the sea-gull, and the hawk, after its kind;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and the owl, and the gannet, and the ibis,
Leviticus 11:17 names three birds Israel could not eat: two owls and a diving fish-eater. Why would God list birds at all, and what can they teach anyone today?
Of the three birds, commentators name the cormorant with the most confidence.
In Leviticus 11:17 and Deuteronomy 14:17 the Hebrew word is shalak. Translators rightly render it Cormorant, a large bird that lives on fish. It dives down on its prey, and can follow it into the water or dive deeper after it. Scripture mentions it only as an unclean bird.
The two owls are less certain. Translations differ over which species they mean. That uncertainty does not damage the passage, because precise zoology was never its aim.
Of course the rendering in many cases is only approximate, and some of the names occur 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.
These birds live off other creatures — hunting the living, or feeding on the dead.
Many birds of the sky have qualities that God hates in those He takes into relationship with Himself... What could be more opposed to His character than fierce, greedy attacks on the living, and endless appetite for the dead?... God forbade the Israelite to eat such birds. In the same way, the Christian is to have no fellowship with ways morally like them, but to avoid and reprove them. Some of these birds hunt their prey openly by day. Others do their natural work in the dark of night... But all symbolise traits with which we should avoid all fellowship. Christ is to be our food.
Two of the three birds here hunt at night.
The night birds bring out the ungodliness and deceit of the flesh. They are eager to devour others. In the stillness of the night, when no one suspects them, they quietly seize what their greedy appetite wants. The owls and other birds hide themselves for most of the day. Their night vision is remarkable. Their victims have no idea of their danger, and these birds seize them suddenly, almost without a sound, in a deadly grip. What a striking picture of practical ungodliness and deceit!
The owl also has a reputation it has not earned.
No bird among them looks as impressive as the owl — at least to those who do not know him. His all-knowing look covers only his own small patch. His air of grave, fair-minded rebuke is only the fear of committing himself. He prefers twilight, not because he loves quiet thought — he is only dozing when he looks so thoughtful — but because daylight always confuses him. His calm disapproval does not mean at all that he is holier than everyone else. It only means that he thinks he is.
The rule went past food. Israel could not even touch the dead bird.
Not only are we not to eat, but not even to touch their dead bodies... We must hate the unnoticed, silent works of the flesh as much as the ones that are openly filthy and corrupt. We must treat the secret, refined ways of selfishness as an abomination, just as much as the ways that are open and profane.
The chapter does not end in exclusion. God later taught Peter, one of Jesus' closest followers, what these creatures really stood for.
Up to that time he seems to have taken only a literal meaning from this eleventh chapter of Leviticus... But now God teaches him directly. He finds that these beasts, birds, and creeping things stand for people who are completely unclean in themselves. Yet by divine grace the precious blood of Jesus can cleanse them.
- Named — shalak is the cormorant; the two owls are harder to identify, and these renderings are only approximate.
- Nature — the forbidden birds attack the living and gorge on the dead. The list teaches morals, not biology.
- Night — the owls picture ungodliness that works in silence, and a grave look that only thinks itself holy.
- No touch — Israel could not eat these birds or handle their dead bodies. Hidden, refined selfishness is as hateful as open filth.
- New — God showed Peter that these creatures stand for people, whom the blood of Jesus can cleanse. Christ is now our food.