The “Problem”

In Leviticus 11:13–19, a list of “birds” that are not to be eaten is provided. Included at the end of this list is the bat.

> “And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, the kite, and the falcon after its kind; every raven after its kind, the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind; the little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl; the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture; the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.” (Leviticus 11:13–19)

Many critics of the Bible argue that this is a blatant scientific error. Bats are mammals, not birds. Since God is supposed to be the creator of all animals, why would He misclassify a bat as a bird? Does this not prove the Bible is merely the flawed writing of ancient men who did not understand biology?

The Solution

This alleged contradiction arises from imposing modern scientific classification systems (taxonomy) onto an ancient text. The Linnaean taxonomic system, which categorizes animals based on internal anatomy and reproductive methods (e.g., mammals having hair and nursing their young), was not developed until the 18th century by Carl Linnaeus.

The Bible, however, does not use modern scientific taxonomy. It classifies animals phenomenologically—that is, based on their appearance and behavior in their environment, specifically their primary mode of locomotion.

The Hebrew word translated as “birds” or “fowls” in Leviticus 11 is ‘owph (עוֹף). This word is derived from the root ‘uph, which simply means “to fly.” Therefore, the literal translation of ‘owph is “a flying creature” or “that which has wings.”

In the ancient Hebrew understanding, the animal kingdom was divided into broad categories based on where they lived and how they moved:

• Creatures that walk or creep on the land
• Creatures that swim in the water
• Creatures that fly in the air

A bat is undeniably a creature that flies in the air. Therefore, classifying the bat under the Hebrew category of ‘owph (flying creatures) is perfectly accurate both linguistically and observationally. There is no biological or scientific error in the text; it is merely a matter of translation and understanding the ancient categorizations of the original language.

Conclusion

The Bible is not in error when it lists the bat among the ‘owph. The text accurately describes the bat as a flying creature according to the observational classification system of its time. Understanding the original Hebrew terminology easily resolves this supposed contradiction.