Charles Ellicott Commentary Leviticus 11:29

"And these are they which are unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the great lizard after its kind," — Leviticus 11:29 (ASV)

These also shall be unclean. — Better, And these shall be the most unclean. Since Leviticus 11:24-28 dealt with the defilement caused by the carcasses of unclean quadrupeds (which, as we have seen, belong to the first class of the animal kingdom), the Lawgiver now enumerates those “creeping things” of the fourth class, which also cause defilement when they are touched. The eight animals presented here (Leviticus 11:29–30) are therefore a continuation of the things that go on their belly, mentioned in Leviticus 11:20-23. They differ only in this respect: in Leviticus 11:20-23 the creeping things also have wings, while those described here are creeping things without wings. In a stricter sense, however, Leviticus 11:29 and following is a resumption of Leviticus 11:20.

The weasel. — Although the Hebrew name (choled), which literally means “the gliding” or “slipping in” animal, does not occur again in the Bible, the ancient versions and the description given of it by the administrators of the law in the time of Christ place it beyond a doubt that it is the weasel. According to these authorities, the animal in question lives in holes in walls and in ditches, is excessively voracious, kills other animals of prey much larger than itself, and carries them off in its mouth.

It is especially harmful to poultry. For this reason, the ventilating holes in hen roosts are made so small that the weasel cannot get through them. It has pointed and crooked teeth, with which it pierces the skull and brain of hens. It also attacks sleeping children and human corpses, and laps water from a vessel. It delights in stealing bright objects, which it hides in holes. It is clear that this description of the animal referred to by choled, given by the administrators of the law during the Second Temple period, can only apply to the weasel and not to the mole. This is fully supported by the ancient versions, although the word means “mole” in Arabic and is sometimes also used in this sense in the Talmud.

And the mouse. — Besides this passage, this word (achbar), which is understood to mean “the field” or “corn-destroyer,” also occurs four times in 1 Samuel (1 Samuel 6:4–5; 1 Samuel 6:11; 1 Samuel 6:18) and once in Isaiah (Isaiah 66:17), and is consistently translated “mouse.” That this is the correct translation is fully confirmed by the ancient versions and the administrators of the law during the Second Temple period. Their insatiable voracity and great fertility enable mice to destroy the entire produce of a harvest in an incredibly short time. For this reason, they became the symbol of destruction in Egyptian hieroglyphics and obtained the title “the scourge of the field” in the Bible (1 Samuel 6:5).

The injury mice inflicted upon the fields in Palestine was so great that during the Second Temple period, the administrators of the law permitted the Jews to destroy them by any means, even on the middle days of the two great pilgrimage festivals, the Feasts of Passover and Tabernacles. Their mischievous instinct for gnawing at things they cannot eat, penetrating the sanctuary, and destroying sacred food and scriptures made mice peculiarly repulsive to the Jews. Consequently, they gave them the name “wicked mice,” a term with which they brand any malicious and wicked person to this day.

And the tortoise. — This creature (tzâb), which literally means “the swollen” or “the inflated” , occurs nowhere else in the Bible. It is perfectly certain that it is not the tortoise, since this animal, according to the highest legal authority, was not unclean. Thus, Maimonides tells us, “only those animals mentioned in the Law (Leviticus 11:29–30) are defiling, but not the serpent, the frog, and the tortoise.” It is certain that the authorities in the time of Christ understood it to mean the toad. This is evident from the discussion about the condition of a man who has touched an animal and cannot decide whether it is a frog (which is not defiling) or a tzâb (which is defiling).

Since it is the toad, and not the tortoise or lizard, that bears such a misleading resemblance to the frog, there can hardly be any doubt that the administrators of the law understood the reptile here to mean the toad. This agrees with the meaning of the name, which, as we have seen, means the “swollen one.” This is one of its peculiar characteristics, distinguishing it from the frog by its thick, squat, and more swollen body. The reason the toad, and not the frog, is included in the defiling list of reptiles is probably because its shorter legs give it more the appearance of a creeping thing, and because it was believed that the clear fluid this reptile suddenly discharges when touched is poisonous. Some ancient versions, however, translate it as “the land crocodile.”