>Other examples will be found. For example: do rabbits "chew the
>cud"? (Leviticus 11:6). This has created problems for those who
>know that rabbits appear to chew the cud but are not actually
>ruminants! Another example concerns the classification of bats:
>both Leviticus 11:19 and Deuteronomy 14:18 refer to bats at the
>end of a long list of undoubted birds. This raises the question:
>why associate bats with birds - when they are taxonomically so
>different? If we look for technical precision here, we are
>liable to struggle. The reason the bat is in the list is that
>it shares with birds the ability to fly.
>
You may be surprised to learn that indeed rabbits are ruminants. I was,
after being at a meeting of Christian scientists where one individual
advocated just what you have suggested for rabbits, and then used that
construction to advocate a rather loose interpretation of many other parts
of scripture having to do with origins, in particular. I was disturbed by
what I felt was his effusive misapplication of a principle of interpretation
for his own ends. When I arrived back in my office after the conference,
there in my mailbox was a CR bulletin (French Academy of Sciences)with a
lead article "Do Rabbith Chew Their Cud?" I could hardly believe it! The
pathway is a little different, but the author maintained they were fully
rumenants, and they certainly did chew their cud (They store their food
unchewed in their caecum, where it ferments, is broken down by intestinal
microbes, then they void the material in a special interval, ingest it and
chew it before swallowing it for a second time. So use another example if
you must to illustrate your principle of accomodation.
As to bats being "birds" sensu stricto, I think it would be interesting to
find out when in history "birds" began to mean something other than flying
animals. Incidentally, I have associated with scientists, including many
astronomers and physicists for 30 years, and I have never once had any of
them suggest that I was witnessing anything other than a sunset or sunrise,
so "accommodation" is alive and well today!
Art