r/todayilearned • u/Macrihanishautomatic • 10h ago
TIL that Hyraxes are mentioned in the bible as remarkable animals for being “small but exceedingly wise”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_hyrax207
u/Lord_Parbr 10h ago
It’s true! A hyrax helped me with my taxes once
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u/Scoobydoomed 10h ago
Muad'Dib!
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u/bernpfenn 10h ago
you might want to read the books before making these statements
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u/behold-my-titties 9h ago
I have it's what the little mouse is called lol
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u/bernpfenn 10h ago
every couple of years i find Hyrax comments videos and photos.
A crazy looking animal
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u/BaconJudge 8h ago
When I visited East Africa on a safari, we saw many wonderful animals, but the tour guides were puzzled by our interest in the hyraxes. To the locals they were everyday creatures comparable to pigeons in New York, but to us they were so playful and fun to watch.
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u/Fluffy_Respond_7405 10h ago
Where at?
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u/0Rider 10h ago
The rock hyrax is classified as treif (not kosher; unclean) according to kashrut – Jewish food hygiene rules – due to statements in the Torah: "And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you" (Leviticus 11:5).[43] Hyraxes are also mentioned in Proverbs 30:26 as one of a number of remarkable animals for being small but exceedingly wise, in this case because "the conies are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs".[44]
From wookipedia
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u/Fetlocks_Glistening 10h ago
I thought coney was a hamster
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u/Avaricio 9h ago
In English, a coney is usually a rabbit (see Spanish cognate 'coneja/conejo'), but when translating the King James Bible it was chosen to refer to the hyrax.
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u/Dixiehusker 10h ago
Africa and the Middle East
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u/Fluffy_Respond_7405 10h ago
Where at in the Bible?
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u/Macrihanishautomatic 10h ago
Proverbs 30:26
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u/SheriffBartholomew 4h ago
For the lazy:
Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise: Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer; hyraxes are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags; locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks; a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.
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u/Beerasaurwithwine 9h ago
They have have communal poop spots, called middens that are old enough to contain petrified poops called hyraceum.
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10h ago edited 9h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Trump_Russia 9h ago
Wait.. so you don't think like.. God wrote it?!
lol
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u/drewster23 9h ago
You're telling me the book of John was written by John not God?. My life is a lie.
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u/SenHeffy 8h ago
The Gospel of John is anonymous. It was given that name by Iraneous, as far as can be known.
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u/drewster23 8h ago
Yeah exactly, whoever that is
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u/Laura-ly 8h ago
Iraneous was an early church father. He gave the four names to the Jesus stories in 180 CE. There were many Jesus stories floating around but he picked out the four most popular stories being read in private homes. To Irenaeus, they represented the four corners "pillars" of the Earth and the "four winds that blow" Prior to that time they were not referred to by those four names. The authors are anonymous people.
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u/koke84 9h ago
Also the all knowing God of the universe said they were ruminants but they are in fact not ruminants and neither are rabbits
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u/samurguybri 9h ago
Rabbits do chew up some of their poop, so perhaps that’s the thinking behind them not being kosher. Kosher ain’t science, it’s about ritual cleanliness .
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u/Laura-ly 7h ago
Rabbits don't chew their cud, as the Bible claims. The Bible also claims that flying insects have four legs. LOL, makes me wonder if the writers ever took a good look at an insect. Anyway, they're not kosher.
Leviticus 11:23 - But all other flying insects that have four legs you are to regard as unclean.
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u/Steven_The_Shoe 7h ago
Did you even read that verse you pasted? It clearly isn't saying that all insects have 4 legs. It says not to eat the ones that do.
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u/Laura-ly 7h ago
The key word here is "insect". Every flying insect has SIX legs. All insects, whether flying or crawling, has six legs. No insect has four legs.
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u/Steven_The_Shoe 7h ago
By today's definitions sure but you don't know what they meant by "insect" back then.
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u/Laura-ly 7h ago
Are you telling me the Bible doesn't mean what it says?
I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you.
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u/Steven_The_Shoe 7h ago
The English word "insect" doesn't show up in it, this is a Hebrew text from another country. There isn't some scientific dictionary for translating names of different species (nor was the concept of a species even a thing back then). Any names you see are guesses.
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u/sociallyawkwardhero 6h ago
Can you name anything that has four legs and flies?
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u/Steven_The_Shoe 6h ago
Locust/grasshoppers which, by their definitions, have 4 regular legs and 2 jumping legs as those legs are used for jumping, not walking.
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u/sociallyawkwardhero 3h ago
So an insect that has six legs, got it.
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u/Steven_The_Shoe 2h ago
Being ignorant of foreign cultures doesn't make you right
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u/Laura-ly 2h ago
They sometimes do walk on all 6 legs. They fold up their hind legs for hopping, but they're still legs.
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u/tj2286 2h ago
It is unreasonable to think that the Bible writer did not know that insects with wings have six legs. He speaks of these insects that ‘go on all fours’ and then specifies certain ones in this category, and the ones he mentions have six legs, two of these being legs for leaping. A Jewish commentary gives this explanation on Le 11 verses 20 and 23: “go upon all four. The phrase used here cannot be taken to mean that the insects were possessed of only four legs. The words probably refer to their method of locomotion, and signify, ‘that move like quadrupeds.’ . . . 23. which have four feet. i.e. without the ‘bending legs.’”
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u/Laura-ly 2h ago
"The Bible writer."
Leviticus was not written by one single person and it certainly wasn't written by Moses. There is no record in Egyptian inscriptions or papyri or any regional archaeological findings that record Moses. There is no evidence of the ten plagues, or a massive exodus of Israelites out of Egypt. The vast majority of Biblical scholars now deem Moses to be a myth. Leviticus was written, compiled and evolved over several centuries by anonymous priestly writers.
At any rate, insects, whether flying, hopping or crawling have six legs. It's evolutionary. They aren't arms.
It's not the first and only time the Bible gets biology and science wrong. The mustard seed is not the "smallest seed" as Jesus claims in Matthew's version of the story. The orchid has the smallest seed. Its seeds are microscopic. But I guess God/Jesus wasn't aware of tropical climates on Earth where orchids naturally grow. They didn't grow in the dry climate of the Middle East.
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u/joombaga 5h ago
"Insects" was just a bad translation there. "sheretz" also means creeping or swarming things and can include repitiles or even small mammals. There are lots of good examples of blatantly false claims, but I don't think this is one.
Fair game: a talking snake, a talking donkey, a sun that refuses to set, human reanimation, vegetarian dinosairs, pi being exactly 3...
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u/Steven_The_Shoe 2h ago
The Bible doesn't say pi=3, the dimensions of the building are rounded to the nearest cubits, even if the numbers were more precise pi is irrational so you can't derive it given the dimensions of a round building because there is going to have to be some rounding.
Plus in general, by definition, miracles are going to break the laws of physics, once you at least humor the existence of God, there can't be any issue with the fact that he can produce miracles, if he couldn't he would be a part of nature and thus not a real god. Therefore it's logically necessary for a real god to be able to do miracles.
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u/Gogglesed 9h ago
Ritual cleanliness commanded by an "all-knowing" god that apparently doesn't know things.
Bible errors and contradictions are plentiful and hilarious.
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u/Tedsmith24 6h ago
I'm pretty sure it's called bush meat in my country. No I have never/will never try it.
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u/Captain-Cadabra 5h ago
Proverbs 30 has some excellent (and hilarious) poetry. The part about not understanding dating is great.
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u/Cosmonaut_Cockswing 7h ago
John Mamal, the most default thing God could come up with. Like he got bored with the character creator.
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u/SensitivePotato44 9h ago
They are also the closest living relatives of the elephant.