Hawk

The hawk appears in the UPDV both as a bird excluded from the diet of Israel and as an emblem of instinct that lies beyond human wisdom.

An Unclean Bird

The hawk is named in the lists of birds Israel is not to eat. The Levitical roster places it among the unclean flying creatures: "and the ostrich, and the nighthawk, and the seamew, and the hawk after its kind" (Lev 11:16). Deuteronomy repeats the prohibition with the same grouping: "and the ostrich, and the nighthawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kind" (Deut 14:15). The phrase "after its kind" extends the ban beyond a single species to the whole class of hawks.

A Sign of Wisdom Beyond Human Reach

In Yahweh's questioning of Job, the hawk's migration becomes a test of human knowledge: "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, [And] stretches her wings toward the south?" (Job 39:26). The bird's seasonal flight is set among the wonders of the natural order whose design Job did not author and cannot explain.