And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
Ver. 19. And the stork.] Which builds high, Psa 104:17 but feeds low on fishes, frogs, and snakes; and so might be the rather rejected as unfit for food.
And the lapwing.] Which is worthily made a hieroglyphic of infelicity; because it hath as a coronet upon the head, and yet feeds upon the worst of excrements. It is pity that the saints, that are brought up in scarlet, should embrace the dunghill; Lam 4:5 that any one that is washed in Christ's blood, should bedabble his robe in the stinking puddle of the world.
And the bat.] Cast away either thy wings or thy teeth, saith one a to a neuter, and loathing this batlike nature, be what thou art, either a bird or a beast.
a Dr Hall, Epist. to W. L.