* two birds. or, sparrows.
The word {tzippor,} from the Arabic {zaphara,} to fly, is used
in the Scriptures to denote birds of every species,
particularly small birds. But it is often used in a more
restricted sense, as the Hebrew writers assert, to signify the
sparrow. Aquinas says the same; and Jerome renders it here
the sparrow. So the Greek [strouthia,] in Matthew and Luke,
which signifies a sparrow, is rendered by the Syriac
translator {tzipparin}, the same as the Hebrew {tzipporim}.
Nor is it peculiar to the Hebrews to give the same name to the
sparrow and to fowls of the largest size; for Nicander calls
the hen [strouthos katoikados,] the domestic sparrow, and both
Plautus and Ausonius call the ostrich, {passer marinus,} "the
marine sparrow." It is evident, however, that the word in
this passage signifies birds in general; for if the sparrow
was a clean bird, there was no necessity for commanding a
clean one to be taken, since every one of the species was
ceremonially clean; but if it was unclean, then it could not
be called clean.
# 1:14; 5:7; 12:8|
* cedar.
# 6,49-52; Nu 19:6|
* scarlet.
# Heb 9:19|
* hyssop.
# Ex 12:22; Nu 19:18; Ps 51:7|
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