I Do Enjoy Those Grilled Birds They Serve at . . .

The O.T. and N.T. give us two Different, but not Contradictory, Views of Birds 

Leviticus 11:13-19

¹³ ‘These, moreover, you shall detest among the birds; they are abhorrent, not to be eaten: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard, ¹⁴ and the kite and the falcon in its kind, ¹⁵ every raven in its kind, ¹⁶ and the ostrich and the owl and the seagull and the hawk in its kind, ¹⁷ and the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl, ¹⁸ and the white owl and the pelican and the carrion vulture, ¹⁹ and the stork, the heron in its kinds, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

Thoughts on the Passage

In the New Testament, in Matthew 6:26, Jesus says, “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” But here in Leviticus the same heavenly Father says there are certain birds we are to hate because they are, among many other things (just check out the list of synonyms for ‘abhorrent’), distasteful and nauseating.

It is interesting to me that today we protect some kinds of these species – some owls, herons, eagles, etc.  We also have to a certain extent made storks celebrities. As Wikipedia says:

The legend is very ancient but was popularised by a 19th-century Hans Christian Andersen story called The Storks. German folklore held that storks found babies in caves or marshes and brought them to households in a basket on their backs or held in their beaks. These caves contained adebarsteine or "storkstones".

A more detailed account of the mythical relationship between storks and the delivery of babies, going back to Greek mythology, can be found here for those interested:

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/05/why-storks-are-associated-with-delivering-babies/

David Guzik notes that the common thread among the birds listed in Leviticus is that they are either predators or scavengers. And although, as Chuck Smith points out there is no test here to test birds for being ‘clean’ or ‘unclean’, we at least can consider that being a scavenger may make a bird ‘unclean’.  On the other hand, not sure why a predator would get a pass and not be eaten by us, human predators.

Matthew Henry adds the following ideas:

some are birds of prey (eagle, vulture, etc.) indicating that “God would have His people to abhor everything that is barbarous and cruel, and not to live by blood and rapine (the violent seizure of other’s property or being)”

some are solitary birds, that abide in dark and desolate places (owl, pelican, cormorant, raven for “God’s Israel should not be a melancholy people, nor affect sadness and constant solitude.”

some feed upon that which is impure (storks feed on serpents; others on worms) indicating that “we must not only abstain from all impurity ourselves but from communion with those that allow themselves in it.”

finally, others were used by the Egyptians and other Gentiles in their divinations. “Some birds were reckoned fortunate, others ominous; and their soothsayers had great regard to the flights of these birds, all which therefore must be an abomination to God’s people, who must not learn the way of the heathen.”

So, there you have it.  You decide. I must admit that when I visit my favorite Greek restaurant on Toronto’s Danforth, the Pantheon, I do enjoy some lovely grilled quails.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.