Making my way through the Pentateuch, I came across the section in Deuteronomy 14 regarding clean and unclean food. Included in the list of birds that the Israelites were not to consume was a little critter called a "hoopoe" (Deut 14:18). I was hanging with Moses when he was listing the "bearded vulture," "nighthawk," and "Sea Gull." But what in the hound-dog is a hoopoe, I gracefully thought. Well, this was enough to compel me to get out my detective's cap and click over to Wikipedia embark on a digitalized epic journey to discover what kind of creature this was. Result: Behold, the Hoopoe.
Its very cool scientific name is Upupa epops, pronounced, OOO papa EE pops! It flies erratically, is fond of dust-baths, and appears to be sporting a sweet mohawk. It was probably considered unclean because it was a forager and rooted around in the dirt to find its main diet of insects and worms.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZPtW80YkuM8OWWBYUlpTslcVuOTECvOmHLUJXakO-AvXx8SRX8hG6npvGzUxs46UXKIx0_oQweVoNXTW-jE9wE85M9qLby3VU94-QSplybnfuYvk3kombSs_7K6VOKbWMoE4U/s200/hoopoe1.jpg)
Now you know more about the Hoopoe than most people in the world. Since it was an "unclean" bird, the Israelites most assuredly did not eat it. So now when I think of the Israelites wandering through the wilderness, I'll think (however hermeneutically erroneously) of these little critters hopping through camp and catching some rays with them. Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoopoe
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January 8, 2007
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