bat Summary and Overview

The Hebrew word (atalleph') so rendered (Lev. 11:19; Deut. 14:18) implies "flying in the dark." The bat is reckoned among the birds in the list of unclean animals. To cast idols to the "moles and to the bats" means to carry them into dark caverns or desolate places to which these animals resort (Isa. 2:20), i.e., to consign them to desolation or ruin.

#Le 11:19; De 14:18| Many travellers have noticed the immense numbers of bats that are found in caverns in the East, and Mr. Layard said that on the occasion of a visit to a cavern these noisome beasts compelled him to retreat.

BAT . Lev 11:19. An unclean beast whose resting-places are caves, old ruins, and filthy and desolate places. Hence the allusion Isa 2:20. It has no resemblance to a bird except that it can fly, but the organs it uses for this purpose are altogether different from those of a bird.

(hatalleph; "the darkness bird".) Delighting in dark holes and caverns. This is the point of Isaiah 2:20, "a man shall cast his idols to the bats," while the idolaters themselves shall vainly hide in the rock from the wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6:16). Unclean in the eye of the law (Deuteronomy 14:18-19; Leviticus 11:19-20). Ranked among "all fowls that creep, going upon all four;" it has claws on its pinions, by which it attaches itself to a surface, and creeps along it. It is connected with quadrupeds: the bones of the arm (answering to a bird's wing) and fingers being elongated, and a membrane extended over them to the hind limbs.