Animals in The Bible - Classification of Animals

Classification of Animals

Although no regular classification is to be sought for in the Bible, animal creation is there practically divided into four classes, according to the four different modes of locomotion. Among the animals, some walk, others fly, many are essentially swimmers and several crawl on the ground. This classification, more empiric than logical, would not by any means satisfy a modern scientist. It must be known, however, if we wish fairly to understand the language of the Scriptures on the matters connected therewith. The first class, the beasts, in the Biblical parlance, includes all large, walking animals, with the exception of the amphibia, such small animals as moles, mice and the like, and humans as they were not classified as animals.

Beasts are divided into cattle, or domesticated (behemoth in the strict sense), and beasts of the field, i.e. wild animals. The fowls, which constitute the second class, include not only the birds, but also "all things that fly", even if they "go upon four feet", as the different kinds of locusts. Of the many "living beings that swim in the water" no particular species is mentioned; the "great whales" are set apart in that class, while the rest are divided according to whether they have, or have not, fins and scales (Leviticus 11:9, 10).

The reptiles, or "creeping things", form the fourth class. References to this class are relatively few. However, it should be noticed that the "creeping things" include not only the reptiles properly so called, but also all short-legged animals or insects which seem to crawl rather than to walk, such as moles, lizards, etc. From a religious viewpoint, all these animals are divided into two classes, clean and unclean, according to whether they can, or cannot, be eaten.