A lizard in the Garden of Olives

I managed to photograph this lizard, lacerta laevis, while it basked in the sun, half asleep, on a rosemary bush, during my last trip to Israel.

It has not been possible to set foot in the Garden of Olives for many years now, due to the iron fence that was erected to protect it from the superstitious and fetishistic type of tourist who would wander around looking for olive twigs. Nonetheless, my camera lens fitted easily between the bars of the fence.

It is a specimen of lizard, about 20 centimetres long, which the English refer to as the “Lebanese Lizard”, and which is native to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.

In these regions over forty different species of lizard have been identified. Hence the numerous references to lizards in the Bible, and their inclusion in the list of unclean animals which could not be eaten as they “creep along the ground” (Leviticus 11 v 29).

We can be certain that some ancestor of a lizard like this one heard the voice of Jesus some two thousand years ago while he prayed to his Father. In Jesus God became human, thus bringing himself into proximity with the nature that he had created. Animals were the silent witnesses of this unique and mysterious event.