Shalom Lambchop,
Glad we could bring a smile to your face...
Seriously tho, yes we realize that the duck and water-hen of today look nothing alike. The reason why we said that is because we don't know exactly if that is what Scripture was referring to.
Example: the behemoth. Some scholars will tell you it is a hippo, some will say a crocodile, and some a dinosaur, and some even elephant.
Example: the unicorn. Some scholars will tell you it is a horse with a horn, some will say a type of deer, and some a type of antelope.
In all of the above cases, we don't KNOW. We can each be persuaded as to what they are.
As the unclean birds that are listed some could be listed as birds found in marshes, they could be listed as birds that live in hollows and banks of rivers, and they could be listed as lean aquatic birds; one could say that any one of these definitions fits that of a duck.
I was the one that ate duck. I had it one time in my younger years and my Taiwanese aunt cooked it. It was greasy. Perhaps it was her cooking...dare I ask her
And I remember watching the Outdoor Channel on satellite t.v. and they had a segment on duck hunting. They showed the duck hunted, brought home, cleaned and cooked. The only thing they cooked was the breast. From what I watched there wasn't much meat there. Of course, I don't remember what kind of duck it was, I know it wasn't mallard.
In any case, we had two concerns regarding the issue of duck. So we did the word study. As we cannot emphatically say duck is clean or that duck is unclean we presented the study for what it was.
Again,
Please do further research on your own to be persuaded in your own mind as to whether ducks are clean or not.
Thanks again for your post,
~dawn