Encyclopedia entry
Snail
Disambiguation
The source enumerates 2 distinct subjects under Snail. Jump to one below, or read in order.
Snail (1)
#Heb. homit, among the unclean creeping things (Lev. 11:30). This was probably the sand-lizard, of which there are many species in the wilderness of Judea and the Sinai peninsula.
Snail (2)
#Heb. shablul (Ps. 58:8), the snail or slug proper. Tristram explains the allusions of this passage by a reference to the heat and drought by which the moisture of the snail is evaporated. “We find,” he says, “in all parts of the Holy Land myriads of snail-shells in fissures still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, ’melted away.’”
Also from Smith's (1884) +−
The Hebrew word shablul occurs only in (Psalms 58:8) The rendering of the Authorized Version is probably correct. The term would denote either a limax or a helix, which are particularly noticeable for the slimy track they leave behind them, by which they seem to waste themselves away. To this, or to the fact that many of them are shrivelled up among the rocks in the long heat of the summer, the psalmist refers. The Hebrew word chomet occurs only as the name of some unclean animal in (Leviticus 11:30) Perhaps some kind of lizard may be intended.
In the Bible
2
Verses where Snail is named. Berean Standard Bible (public domain).
- Leviticus 11:30
the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.
- Psalms 58:8
Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.
Scripture on Snail
2
Sources · Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884)
Public-domain text. Modernized only where archaic spelling impedes reading; original facts preserved. Verify against an authoritative modern reference before quoting.