lizard

A four-footed reptile. (Lev 11:30) lists six types of lizards or reptiles as unclean animals: the great lizard, the gecko, the land crocodile, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. The great lizard is probably the Negeb dabb lizard. There are a number of varieties of the gecko lizard. The term “land crocodile” seems to apply to the large carnivorous desert monitor or varan, and “lizard” could relate to the numerous lacertids (“European lizards”). The sand lizard may correspond to the burrowing skink, and the translation of the Hebrew tinshemeth as “chameleon” is disputable, although chameleons are quite common throughout Palestine.