Lizard

A lizard is a small reptile with scaly skin, four legs, and a long tail. Lizards belong to a group of reptiles called Lacertilia. Many lizards eat insects and worms. Like other reptiles, most lizards lay eggs. Their eggs usually have softer shells than bird eggs. Lizards cannot control their own body temperature. Their body temperature changes with the temperature around them. For this reason, lizards become less active when the weather is cold.

Lizards live well in dry areas that have little plant life. In the Near East, many lizards can be found in the Arabian Desert, Sinai Peninsula, and Judean wilderness. The Holy Land may have as many as 44 different kinds of lizards.

The Dabb lizard lives in the Negev Desert and grows up to 61 centimeters (24 inches) long. Its scientific name is genus Uromastyx. Unlike most lizards that eat insects, this lizard eats both plants and animals. It has tough, rough skin that is green with brown spots. It has a short, rounded head and a strong tail. The tail has spines along it, and the lizard uses it as a weapon to protect itself.

Lizards are ceremonially unclean in Jewish law (Leviticus 11:29–31). Lizards crawl on their bellies, which makes them unclean. Therefore, contact with a dead lizard made a law-abiding Jew ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 11:32–36). The Berean Standard Bible translates the "lizards" of Leviticus 11 as:

"the great lizard,"

"the gecko,"

"the monitor lizard,"

"the common lizard,"

"the skink," and

"the chameleon."

The monitor lizard is a large lizard that lives in the deserts of southern Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt. It is up to 1.4 meters (55 inches) long with a long snout and sharp teeth.

Other translators and Bible scholars translate the original Hebrew words in many different ways. These include:

“tortoise,”

“ferret,”

“lizard,”

“snail,”

“mole,” and even

“water hen.”

Most of these Hebrew words appear only once in the Bible. This makes it very difficult to know which animals the words describe.

See also Chameleon, Gecko.