the Seventh Week after Easter
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Lizard
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or LIZARD
(1) lÄ›t â’âh , a generic name for ‘lizard.’
(2) tsâb (cf. Arab [Note: Arabic.] , dabb ), tr. [Note: translate or translation.] AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘tortoise,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘great lizard.’
(3) ’ăn âqâh , tr. [Note: translate or translation.] AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘ferret,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘gecko.’
(4) kôach , tr. [Note: translate or translation.] AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘chameleon,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘land crocodile.’
(5) chômet , tr. [Note: translate or translation.] AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘snail,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘sandlizard.’
(6) tinshemeth , tr. [Note: translate or translation.] AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘mole,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘chameleon’ (wh. see).
All these names occur in Leviticus 11:29-30 , as ‘unclean’ animals; most of them are very uncertain.
(7) sÄ›m âmîth ( Proverbs 30:28 ), tr. [Note: translate or translation.] AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘spider,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘lizard.’
Lizards are ubiquitous and exceedingly plentiful in Palestine: over 40 species have been identified. The most common is the green lizard ( Lacerta viridis ). The Palestinian gecko ( Ptyodactylus Hasselquistii ) is common in all native houses; it is able to walk up the walls and along the ceilings by means of the disc-like suckers at the ends of its toes. If sçmâmîth was, as many scholars claim, a lizard, then probably the gecko is the special species indicated. The dabb is a large lizard ( Uromastix spinipes ), with a long spiny tail. The sandlizards or skinks are common on soft, sandy soil; seven species are found in Palestine. The ‘ land crocodile ,’ known to the Arabs as the warrel , is a large lizard, sometimes five feet long; two species have been found in the Jordan valley the Psammosaurus scineus and the Monitor niloticus . The chameleon is dealt with in a separate article.
E. W. G. Masterman.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Lizard'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/l/lizard.html. 1909.
