It appears to me that the distinguishing factor between unclean and clean birds is what they eat; clean birds, tahor birds, eat living things, not carrion.
Yehovah created the birds of the air and the fish that swim in the waters on the fifth day of creation. And all those that dwell on the land, the behemah (4-footed animals), the creeping things (which I like to refer to as “bug kind”) and “the man” and “his woman” (man kind) on the sixth day.
“Then Elohim (the lawmaker and judge) blessed them, and Elohim said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth [behemah kind, bug kind and man kind].” (Gen 1:28)
His creation is to be fruitful and multiply! Notice: The Creator did not tell His creation to multiply and multiply, He said: “be fruitful and multiply.” Concerning man kind, I decided long ago that men and women are fruitful if they are doing the things that they were created to do (following Yehovah’s instructions); but don’t think for a moment that both men and women were created to do the same things (that would be a grave mistake).
So my question became, “How can an animal be fruitful?” While talking this question through with a friend, it finally came to us; all animals were created for a purpose, and they all automatically do the things which they were created to do. Ha – except for man kind – they have a will of their own.
Clean Birds Seem To Eat Living Things
All living things have a purpose. The pig and other unclean (tamei) animals eat the dead and the filth of the land; and just like the pig, the crab, the clam and animals like them, keep the waters clean.
Concerning the birds Yehovah said:
“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.” (Lev 11:13-19)
With the four-footed animals and the fish, the Creator gave us some specific guidelines to discern which are clean, but that is not the case here. Instead we have a list of birds and “bird kinds” that we are not to eat if we want to reflect Yehovah’s image and light on the earth.
It appears to me that the distinguishing factor between unclean and clean birds is what they eat. Those birds that eat carrion (dead things) or eat things that eat the dead and the other filth of the earth, are the birds that man kind was not created to eat. We promote Yehovah’s image when we eat:
Clean Birds
Chicken
Dove
Duck
Goose
Grouse
Guinea fowl
Partridge
Peafowl
Pheasant
Pigeon
Prairie chicken
Ptarmigan
Quail
Sage-hen
Snipe
Sparrow (and other songbirds)
Teal
Turkey
Unclean Birds
Albatross
Bittern
Buzzard
Condor
Coot
Cormorant
Crane
Crow
Cuckoo
Eagle
Flamingo
Grebe
Grosbeak
Gull
Hawk
Heron
Kite
Lapwing
Loon
Magpie
Osprey
Ostrich
Owl
Pelican
Penguin
Plover
Rail
Raven
Roadrunner
Sandpiper
Seagull
Stork
Swallow
Swift
Vulture
Water hen
Woodpecker
Go to – Clean Bugs
Meat “Sacrificed” to “Idols” (9 Parts)
Oh my! We are all doing this, unless we are slaughtering our own animals. Many want to obey Leviticus 11, but completely ignore Leviticus 17. Failure to understand this will get a man (with his family) kicked out of Israel.