Bible Dictionary
Snail
The Bible uses two different terms sometimes translated snail: one probably denotes a sand-lizard, while the other refers to a snail or slug whose trail suggested melting away.
Definition
The Bible uses two different terms sometimes translated “snail.” One denotes an unclean creeping creature probably identified with a sand-lizard or skink. The other denotes a snail or slug, whose movement is associated with melting away.
Biblical Usage
The first term occurs in the list of unclean creeping things in Leviticus. The second appears in Psalm 58:8 in the comparison, “Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away.”
Historical Background
The identification of the Levitical creature is uncertain, though the Revised Version gives “sand-lizard.” Snails occur in the Holy Land, and some species were collected and eaten by Christians in Syria and Palestine, while Jews and Muslims regarded them as unclean.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1.) Heb. homit, among the unclean creeping things (Lev. 11:30). This was probably the sand-lizard, of which there are many species in the wilderness of Judea and the Sinai peninsula. (2.) Heb. shablul (Ps. 58:8), the snail or slug proper. Tristram explains the allusions of this passage by a reference to the heat and drought by which the moisture of the snail is evaporated. “We find,” he says, “in all parts of the Holy Land myriads of snail-shells in fissures still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, ’melted away.’”
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>snal</p><p>((1) chomeT, the Revised Version (British and American) "sand-lizard," Septuagint saura, "lizard" (Le 11:30);</p><p>(2) shabbelul, Septuagint keros, "wax" (Ps 58:8)):</p><p>(1) ChomeT is 7th in the list of unclean "creeping things" in Le 11:30, and occurs nowhere else. "Snail" is not warranted by Septuagint or Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) the Revised Version (British and American) has "sand-lizard." It may be the skink or a species of Lacerta. See LIZARD.</p><p>(2) Shabbelul is translated "snail" in Ps 58:8: "Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away." Mandelkern gives limax, "slug."</p><p>Gesenius derives shabbelul from balal, "to pour"; compare Arabic balla, "to wet," instancing leimax, "snail," or "slug," from leibo, "to pour." While Septuagint has keros, "wax," Talmud (Mo`edh QaTan 6b) supports "snail." The ordinary explanation of the passage, which is not very satisfying, is that the snail leaves a trail of mucus (i.e. it melts) as it moves along. This does not in any way cause the snail to waste away, because its glands are continually manufacturing fresh mucous. Two large species of snail, Helix aspersa and Helix pomatia, are collected and eaten, boiled, by the Christians of Syria and Palestine, especially in Lent. The Jews and Moslems declare them to be unclean and do not eat them.</p><p>Alfred Ely Day</p>