Category Archives: Sources

Monkey

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Monkey. Monkeys are not native to Palestine. So King Solomon apparently had them imported from other nations, along with apes and other exotic goods such as ivory, silver, and gold. They may have come from India, Africa, or even parts of Lower Egypt. The NKJV has “monkeys” in (1 Kings 10:22) and (2 Chronicles 9:21). Other versions translate as “peacocks.” Also see Ape.

Source: [Anon-Animals]

The monkey and the ape are human like animals. While evolution puts them as our ancestors, Genesis says they came after we did in creation order.

Nighthawk

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Nighthawk.

This is another bird mentioned in the Bible only on the list of unclean birds (Lev. 11:16; Deut. 14:15). No specific characteristics are given which might help to identify the bird. Nighthawks, also called nightjars, are found in the Holy Land, but they are not predators. There is no obvious reason why nighthawks would be considered unclean by the Israelites. Other translations render the Hebrew word for nighthawk as owl (NASB) or screech owl (NIV). After sunset, nighthawks fly high into the air to hunt for insects. They build nests near the ground in thickets or hedges.

Source: [Anon-Animals]

The Night-Hawk.

I believe this is the only animal of any kind mentioned in the Bible, the name of which begins with N. It is named in the 11th chapter of Leviticus, among other birds, such as the owl, the cuckoo and the raven, which the children of Israel were not allowed to eat.

It is somewhat like the owl in its shape, and in its large, full, round eyes. It flies at evening, and hides itself during the day from the bright light of the sun. It likes to live in lonely, dark woods, and when it comes out at twilight to get the insects that it lives upon, you could hardly hear the sound of its wings, it flies so very gently. It has a very wide, gaping mouth, which helps it to seize upon moths and flies, and its mouth is bordered with a row of stiff bristles, so that the insects may not escape again after they have been caught.

The night-hawk belongs to the same family with the whip-poor-will; and, like that bird, it places its eggs on the ground in the shade of some thicket, with only a layer of withered leaves under them instead of making a nest.

[Cook, Scripture Alphabet of Animals]

Nighthawk

Maggot

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Maggot

Worms are kind of icky things. They live in the ground, and they are slimy. But a maggot is a worse kind of animal in that it usually lives within dead flesh, and lives off of the dying animal or person. There they are “worse” in some way.

These animals are identified as benefitting from death, and in the scheme of things in the Bible, it would seem they are also the servants (or very similar to Satan) who has pleasure in dying and death. This is a great problem as far as holiness is concerned. Something that touches or handles a corpse (animal or human) becomes unclean, so a maggot would basically be an animal that craves and has great pleasure in wallowing in death and uncleanness.

Hell and maggots

Our concept of hell being filled with maggots would come from their association with death and dying.

Isa 14:11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

I believe that has a reference to those people covering themselves with worms, as if there were some kind of cold or they sought protection from some kind of discomfort like a person in the cold, and they would cover themselves with worms. Although it does not talk of cold in hell, but a covering as if somehow that would alleviate some of their grief (which it doesn’t).

–DCox

A maggot is a type of worm, and it is connected with the eating of dead bodies, so it is unclean, and related to death in the Bible.

Maggot (see Lice; Worm).

Source: [Anon-Animals]

Mare

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Mare (see Horse).

A mare is a female horse is a beast of burden, carrying both men and goods on their backs. A Horse gives a man a great advantage is what is carried as well as distance traveled.

Source: [Anon-Animals]

Hoopoe

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Hoopoe.

The hoopoe is a beautiful bird with a disgusting habit: it probes foul places for insects with its sharp, slender beak. Its wing feathers bear a zebra stripe, and its head sports a lovely crown of feathers. When frightened, the hoopoe may flutter his crest or drop to the ground and play dead. The offensive odor picked up from its feeding grounds is enough to drive away most of its enemies.
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Mole

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Mole. Palestine has no true moles. The few Bible references to moles probably mean a burrowing rat that resembles a mole. “Mole rats” live underground and feed on roots and bulbs, to the distress of farmers. Their tiny ears and eyes are nearly hidden in their thick coats of fur. Because these mole rats live in darkness, the prophet Isaiah referred to them as symbols of the spiritually blind. The NEB translates “dung-beetles” (Is. 2:20). Also see Weasel.

Source: [Anon-Animals]

The Mole. I remember but two places in the Bible where this animal is mentioned. One is in Leviticus, where it is named among the unclean animals which the Israelites were forbidden to eat; and the other is this verse in the second chapter of Isaiah: “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats.” Have you read about the first missionaries who went to the Sandwich Islands? And do you remember that although the people had always been worshippers of idols, they had cast them all away just before the missionaries came? That was a very wonderful thing to happen; and it seems as though God was making these poor people ready to hear about the Savior, when the missionaries should come. Well, this verse in Isaiah declares that the same thing will happen by and by over the whole earth. You know that there are now millions and millions of poor heathen who worship nothing but images of gold, or brass, or stone; but the day is coming when not an idol shall be seen, and no being shall be worshipped but the true God. The mole lives under ground, and the bat in gloomy, dark caves where nobody thinks of going; so when it is said that the idols shall be “Cast to the moles and to the bats,” it means that they shall be thrown away in dark and neglected places, just as we throw away old shoes, or any thing that we care nothing about. Will you try to remember this verse about the idols? Perhaps you may live to see the near approach of that day.

The mole is a very curious animal in its appearance and in its manner of living. It is almost always under ground, and we should think that the little creature could not be very happy; but its skin is as smooth and handsome as that of any animal, and it seems very well contented with its dark home. God made it to live there, and he has given it just such a body at it needs. It is covered with fine, short, silky hair, almost like soft velvet, so that the earth does not stick to it; and its legs are very short, so as not to be in the way. If its legs were long it could not get through the ground very well, you know. Its eyes are very small, because it does not need to see much, and they are almost buried too under its soft fur, which keeps out all the dust and dirt. The opening of the ear is covered in the same way, so that nothing can hurt it.

Its fore-paws are made broad like a shovel, and are very strong; each one, too, has five short fingers with which the earth can be removed. The nose is sharp and bony, and this helps the mole to work its way through the earth. They throw up the earth when they make their houses under ground, and in this way mole-hills are made. They like to work at morning and evening, and also after a shower, when the earth is damp and soft, and easily moved.

The mole is larger than a mouse, but not as large as a rat. It eats insects and worms, and sometimes the roots of plants.

[Cook, Scripture Alphabet of Animals]

See also Mole Rat and Weasel