Some body asked me the other day about how many species of bird are mentioned in the bible so I thought I should check it out with a quick search on Biblegateway.com
Accordingly there are 29 Birds species or families mentioned in the bible. However care needs to be taken here because of the translation problem which I have already noted. Particularly in the list below we should note that the Swift is not mentioned and if you look at my post on Swallows and Swifts you will realise that the Swift probably should be in this list. (Biblegateway.com uses information from NAVE Bible dictionary which I think in turns use the King James translation.)
I would also comment that a Glede noted in this list and mentioned in Deuteronomy 14:13 is probably a Kite. An Ossifrage is probably a type of Vulture known as a lammergeier. So the list could be 29 (as shown below) or 27 removing Glede and Ossifrage or 28 if we add Swift.
As you look at the list it is also worth remembering that some of these references are simply in the list of clean or unclean birds.
BITTERN
CHICKEN, HEN
CORMORANT
CRANE
CUCKOO
DOVE
EAGLE
FALCON
GLEDE
HAWK
HERON
KITE
LAPWING
NIGHT HAWK
OSPREY
OSSIFRAGE
OSTRICH
OWL
PARTRIDGE
PEACOCK
PELICAN
PIGEON
QUAIL
RAVEN
SPARROW
STORK
SWALLOW
SWAN
VULTURE
Hello Chris, good to see you’ve chosen an obscure specialist topic for your blog, nevertheless nowhere near as dull as mine! I’ll have a read and try to say something intelligent about ducks in the Bible.
Comment by Chris Sissons — July 28, 2009 @ 6:28 pm |
It’s me again. I’ve had a read through your blog, although not a lot of detail about the birds. You can follow my comments, starting with the one above and then from the beginning forward in time to here.
A couple of ideas you might like to develop. They go a bit beyond the Bible but bloggers are always greatful for ideas or so I’m told.
1. Could you reflect on bird images of the Holy Spirit? The dove is the obvious one? Are there others in the Bible? Also, there are others in tradition – I’m thinking of the image of the Wild Goose used by the Iona Community. Are there others?
2. Silent, contemplative prayer. Sitting for a long time watching birds – is there an element of spirituality here? Is this worth reflecting upon? Have contemplatives watched birds in the past? Francis of Assisi for example, lots of images. (Indeed there are similar images of Jesus, eg the one that seemed to be in every vestry at one time of Jesus with the animals and children. But back to Francis – I rmember when I visited Assisi in the 1960s, a statue of F inside the main church. The statue held a nest and live birds were using it. Is it still there? How do they do it? And should I get a budgie to assist my prayer life?
Comment by Chris Sissons — July 29, 2009 @ 12:07 pm |
Hi Chris thanks for your comment. I have been thinking about looking into the image of a dove in particular. There is a great deal about them in the bible partly the sacrificial variety but also the Holy Spirit images. I will give this some thought in the future. Hopefully I will get time to blog!
Comment by chrisrev — July 29, 2009 @ 12:13 pm |