Pelican
(Heb. kaath, sometimes translated “cormorant,” as (Isaiah 34:11; Zephaniah 2:14) though in the margin correctly rendered “pelican”), a voracious waterbird, found most abundantly in tropical regions. It is equal to the swan in size. (It has a flat bill fifteen inches long, and the female has under the bill a pouch capable of great distension. It is capacious enough to hold fish sufficient for the dinner of half a dozen men.
The young are fed from this pouch, which is emptied of the food by pressing the pouch against the breast. The pelican’s bill has a crimson tip, and the contrast of this red tip against the white breast probably gave rise to the tradition that the bird tore her own breast to feed her young with her blood. The flesh of the pelican was forbidden to the Jews. (Leviticus 11:18)—ED.)
The psalmist in comparing his pitiable condition to the pelican, (Psalms 102:6) probably has reference to its general aspect as it sits in apparent melancholy mood, with its bill resting on its breast.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Pelican
Pelican pel'-kan (qa'ath; Latin Pelecanus onocrotalus Septuagint reads pelekan, in Leviticus and Psalms, but has 3 other readings, that are rather confusing, in the other places)): Any bird of the genus Pelecanus. The Hebrew qi' means "to vomit." The name was applied to the bird because it swallowed large quantities of fish and then disgorged them to its nestlings. In the performance of this act it pressed the large beak, in the white species, tipped with red, against the crop and slightly lifted the wings. In ancient times, people, seeing this, believed that the bird was puncturing its breast and feeding its young with its blood. From this idea arose the custom of using a pelican with lifted wings in heraldry or as a symbol of Christ and of charity. (See Fictitious Creatures in Art, 182-86, London, Chapman and Hall, 1906.) Palestine knew a white and a brownish-gray bird, both close to 6 ft. long and having over a 12 ft. sweep of wing. They lived around the Dead Sea, fished beside the Jordan and abounded in greatest numbers in the wildernesses of the Mediterranean shore. The brown pe…
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible on Pelican
The word nxp ka’ath is usually derived from the root xip ké’=‘to vomit,’ corre- sponding with the Arab. kd’a. The kd’ath is ‘the vomiter.’ It was interdicted as food (Ly 1118, Dt 14). It inhabited the wilderness (Ps 102° "7 =‘ uninhabited place’), It is one of the creatures that were to be found in the ruins os Edom (Is 34") and Nineveh (Zeph 2"). Unfortu: nately the LXX gives us no help, but on the contrary confuses us by translating it at Lv 118 πελεκάν, Dt 14" καταράκτης (AV and RV in both ‘ pelican’), Is 34" ὄρνεα, Zeph 2% χαμαιλέων (AV both ‘ cormor- ant,’ AVm and RV ‘ pelican’), Ps 102° πελεκάν (AV and RV ‘pelican’). The weight of scholarship is in favour of ‘pelican,’ which suits the idea of an unclean bird, and is a bird of uninhabited places (wilderness). As to its being in ruins, it could well inhabit the marshes near the site of Nineveh. As regards Edom, where there is little water, this bird typifies desolation, and the absence of man (see BITTERN). The pelican belongs to the order Steganopodes, family Pelicanide, to which the cormorant also belongs. Two species are found…
Fausset's Bible Dictionary on Pelican
ka'ath. Two species exist in the Levant, Pelican onocratalus and Pelican crispus. Often found on the upper Jordan. The Hebrew name is an imitation of its harsh donkey-like braying note, as onocratalus expresses; or from a root "to throw up," from its bringing fish back to its mouth from its large pouch beneath the beak. The origin of the fable of its feeding its young with its blood sprang from its pressing its under mandible against its breast to help it to disgorge its pouch's contents for its young, and from the red nail on the end of the upper mandible coming in contact with the breast. "Pelican of the wilderness" alludes to its seeking uninhabited places as breeding places. Being a water bird, it could not live in a place destitute of water. But midbar means simply "an open unenclosed land", as distinguished from a settled agricultural region. Its posture with bill resting on its breast suggests the idea of melancholy solitude (Psa 102:6; Isa 34:11, where ka'ath is "pelican" not "cormorant".) After filling its pouch with fish and mollusks, it retires miles away inland to consume…
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia