Leapin’ Lizards

Judean Hills dweller 

I could sense that some of you were secretly hoping for a post about the many lizards that inhabit Israel? Right?

Well you are forewarned, this is that post.

Bethsaida Buddy 

It’s kind of funny actually.  It doesn’t matter who I am with.  Kids, highly educated professionals, graduate students, our tour guards or tour buddies, if a lizard makes an appearance, whatever your reason for being in that place goes right out the window and you either duck and run, or start taking pictures!   I mean, you come back to your original purpose of course, but there seems to be something compelling about the little guys that we spook out of hidey hole or comfortable sunny spots.

Garden of Gethsemane 

And it’s not just us.  They made it into Leviticus 11: 29-30, “Of the animals that move along the ground, these are unclean for you: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon…” as non-kosher "creeping things", all of which I have seen, and clean or not, none of them created a desire in me to fire up the bar-b-que.  Fortunate, I know.

Say no to lizards?

Proverbs 30:28 mentions a tiny, pink lizard, "The shmamit climbs with her hands, but dwells in the palaces of kings". These little buddies are commonly found inside Israeli homes and I have also seen them, here and in other places of the world.  This little guy gets around.

I actually like lizards, certainly more than I like their favorite menu item, bugs.  Geckos in particular like moths, my most hated flying bug-creature, and the bigger guys like rodents, some of which I like, like hamsters and rabbits, but most of the wild variety belong somewhere far, far away from me, thank you very much. 

Fortunately I’ve seen no lizards larger than those I’ve photographed, and no snakes, poor snakes, they do get a pretty bad rap straightaway in scripture, "You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life."  Genesis 14. 

 
 And no turtles or frogs, but that’s ok, I seem to have enough distractions as it is.