chameleon Summary and Overview

a species of lizard which has the faculty of changing the colour of its skin. It is ranked among the unclean animals in Lev. 11:30, where the Hebrew word so translated is "coah" (R.V., "land crocodile"). In the same verse the Hebrew "tanshemeth", rendered in Authorized Version "mole," is in Revised Version "chameleon," which is the correct rendering. This animal is very common in Egypt and in the Holy Land, especially in the Jordan valley.

a species of lizard. The reference in #Le 11:30| is to some kind of an unclean animal, supposed to be the lizard, known by the name of the "monitor of the Nile," a large, strong reptile common in Egypt and other parts of Africa.

CHAME'LEON . Lev 11:30. A species of lizard of very singular anatomy, appearance, and habits. "It remains exclusively on trees (and bushes), often suspended by its tail to the extremity of a branch, whence it darts forth its long tongue, covered with a viscous fluid, to entrap passing insects. Each foot is a grasping hand, by which it clings with great force to a branch, but it is almost helpless on the ground. The chief peculiarity of this lizard is the enormous size of the lungs (whence arose the fable that it lived on air), and these, when filled, render the animal semi-transparent. It has the faculty of changing color more developed than in any other lizard, and this change is influenced, not by the bodies on which it happens to rest, but by the wants and passions of the animal. The structure of the eyes is very wonderful. They are so prominent that one-half of the ball projects out of the head, and not only can they be moved in any direction, but each has an independent action:one eye may be looking forward, while with the other the animal examines an Chameleon. (After Tristram.) object behind it. The chameleon is very common in Egypt and the Holy Land, especially in the Jordan valley." - Tristram.

A kind of large lizard, called koach from its great strength (Leviticus 11:30). Kuebel makes it "the croaking frog"; Gesenius, "the Nile lizard." The word translated "the mole," tinshemeth, is rather the chameleon, literally, "the inflating animal," as it inflates its body when excited. The koach answers well to the qecko lizard, small, clumsy, hiding by day in holes, and at night coming forth to prey upon insects. They can crawl like flies on the under side of ceilings by the laminated structure of the under surface of their toes.