VULTURE
[Heb., ra·hhamʹ]; Black vulture [Heb., ʽoz·ni·yahʹ].
These birds are listed among those declared ‘unclean’ in the Mosaic law.—Lev. 11:13, 18; Deut. 14:12, 17.
Vultures are large carrion-eating birds rather similar in appearance to the hawks and eagles, except that the vultures generally have only soft down or scattered feathers on the head and neck and their claws are comparatively weak. They render a very valuable service in many lands of warm climate, consuming the dead carcasses and putrefying flesh that might otherwise cause disease.
In Arabic, a language that is cognate with Hebrew, a word similar to ra·hhamʹ designates the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), often called Pharaoh’s hen. This bird is white except for its black wings and yellow bill and legs. It is the smallest of the vultures found in Bible lands, being about twenty-five inches (64.1 centimeters) in length. With its bare wrinkled face, large eyes, hooked beak and curved talons, it is quite repulsive in appearance. Due to its willingness to eat refuse disdained even by other vultures, it is considered the foulest scavenger of the East, and by the same token the most useful, because of the service it performs.
The griffon vulture is the most common of the vultures found in Palestine and, according to one naturalist, it is “the most striking ornithological feature of Palestine. It is impossible in any part of the country to look up without seeing some of them majestically soaring at an immense height.” A yellowish-brown bird, it measures about four feet (1.2 meters) in length, with a wingspan of some nine feet (2.7 meters). The griffon vulture was the symbol of the Egyptian goddess Nekhebt and also appeared on the battle standards of the Egyptians, Assyrians and Persians.
The lammergeier or bearded vulture is now becoming uncommon in Palestine. It is the largest of the vultures, standing about four feet (1.2 meters) high. With its long pointed wings that span almost ten feet (3 meters), the lammergeier flies with unusual grace and wheels effortlessly as it searches the land below for food. Unlike other vultures, the lammergeier has feathers on its head and a beard resembling that of a goat. It has a preference for marrow bones, carrying these to great heights and then letting them drop upon rocks so that they split open, allowing the bird to reach the marrow within.
The Hebrew word ʽoz·ni·yahʹ is of uncertain derivation. Lexicographer Ludwig Koehler (Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, p. 695) suggests that it identifies the black vulture (Aegypius monachus), a vulture about the same size as the griffon but classed by ornithologists as of a separate “genus” among the vultures. Whereas vultures commonly prefer to nest on cliff ledges or rocky crevices, the black vulture usually nests in tall trees. More brown than black, it has the vulture’s characteristic naked head; the neck is blue, the tail wedge-shaped.