The Book Of LEVITICUS
Leviticus 27:34 "These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for
the children of Israel in mount Sinai."
Chapters 11-15 of Leviticus deal with sources of uncleanness and ritual purity for God’s chosen people. Chapter 11 addresses which kinds of animals the Israelites may consume for food and which ones they are commanded to avoid. The whole of this chapter is summed up in verse 47, which echoes verse 10 of the previous chapter: “And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;”. (Ezekiel 44:23, Malachi 3:18) The Hebrew word for “unclean” is “tâmê’” (pronounced taw-may), and the definition from Strong’s Concordance says, “Foul in a religious sense; defiled, polluted.” By contrast, the Hebrew word for “clean” is “tâhôr (pronounced taw-hore), and its definition is “That which is pure in a ceremonial or moral sense.” These words are first used in Genesis 7:2-3, 8-9 where God is describing to Noah which kinds of animals to bring aboard the ark. In that instance, the terms “clean” and “unclean” pertained to the blood sacrifices that Noah offered up at the end of the flood. Here in Leviticus 11, the distinction now applies to the dietary restrictions for the Israelites.
Verses 44-45 give a more detailed explanation for these laws. God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt, called them to be His chosen people, and they had agreed to serve, obey and worship Him alone, forsaking all else. “For I am the Lord your God…ye shall be holy; for I am holy…” (v.44) Being holy before God means more than just bringing sacrifices to the tabernacle once a day or observing the annual rituals and feasts. Holiness is a way of living every waking moment of one’s life. God demands us to always be striving for holiness in all that we say and do. For the Israelites, that included their daily meals. There is no specific reason given in the text for why some of the animals listed in this chapter are considered clean or unclean by God. Scholars have speculated that some of these animals of this time period were more susceptible than others to various diseases that would have been deadly to the Israelites at that time due to a lack of proper refrigeration and other similar preservation methods. (This certainly makes sense for the birds listed as prohibited in verses 13-15.) Another possibility is that the animals which God deemed unclean were used regularly in the pagan rituals and idol worship of the heathen nations of the ANE. It’s also possible that these distinctions are arbitrary and based solely on God’s desire for the Israelites to separate themselves from the gentiles. The reason for this explanation is found in Acts 10:14-15. God tells Peter that the categories of “clean” and “unclean” that He laid down in this chapter for the Israelites no longer apply to the New Testament church. The Holman Bible commentators put it this way: “Although there may have been some hygienic benefit derived from keeping the food laws, the prohibited creatures were not consistently unhealthy for human consumption. More likely, these laws reflected the distinctive kinds at creation (Genesis 1:26) and thereby taught the Israelites that there was an ordained pattern of conformity. The instructions showed the Israelites that they must conform to their creation as a holy people, avoiding assimilation with their pagan neighbors by adopting their domestic habits.” Based on the passage from Acts 10 as well as Colossians 2:16, this explanation seems the best reason for the categories of clean and unclean given here in Leviticus. Verses 1-8: Those beasts whose hooves are split in two and that also chew the cud are acceptable for the Israelites to eat. (v.3) The most common of this example are the bovine, sheep and goat families. What then follows is a list of examples of animals that are not acceptable: the camel (v.5), the rock badger or hyrax (v.5), the rabbit (v.6), and the pig (v.7). The first three don’t have cloven hooves, and the swine doesn’t chew cud. The Moody Bible Commentary suggests that because God limits what is acceptable for the blood sacrifices and offerings, the dietary prohibitions in this chapter are following a similar pattern. Therefore, only the cow, sheep or goat families are also acceptable for eating from the category of land animals. NOTE: Rabbits, according to Answers In Genesis, actually do chew cud. “Rabbits normally produce two kinds of feces, the more common hard feces as well as softer fecal pellets called cecotropes. Cecotropes are small pellets of partially digested food that are passed through the animal but are then reingested. As part of the normal digestive process, some partially digested food is concentrated in the cecum where it undergoes a degree of fermentation to form these cecotropes. They are then covered in mucin and passed through the anus. The rabbit ingests the cecotropes, which serve as a very important source of nutrition for the animal. Is this the same as cud? In the final analysis, it is. Cud-chewing completes the digestion of partially digested food.” Verses 9-12: Only those sea creatures that use fins and scales as forward movement are acceptable to eat. (v.9) All others – such as mackerels, eels and shellfish – are considered unclean. (v.12) (Deuteronomy 14:9) This is one reason that many orthodox Jews today will not eat shrimp, crab or oysters. Verses 13-19: Most of the birds considered unclean are of the predator (eagle, hawk, owl) or carrion (vulture, buzzard, raven) families. This list make sense according to health and sanitary precautions. Birds that eat the flesh of other animals, especially carcasses that have been laying in the desert sun for some time, are more prone to carry a greater number of diseases than those birds that don’t. That might also explain why swans, pelicans, storks and herons are also forbidden, as they eat many types of fish and sea creatures, some of which are forbidden for the Israelites to consume. (Refer back to verses 9-12.) The reason the bat also falls into the category of birds is because the Hebrew word for “bird” contains a broader meaning than the English translation. “Ôph” is translated as “flying thing”. Certain species of bat (such as the vampire bat) are also notorious for feeding on the blood of other creatures, something that God had already made clear was forbidden to His people. (Leviticus 7:26) Verses 20-23: Only those insects with jointed legs above their feet (v.21) are acceptable to eat, mainly the locust, cricket and grasshopper. Verses 24-28: Anyone that touches or handles the carcass of an unclean animal in any way is himself considered unclean until sunset. (v.24) He must bathe and wash his clothes while presumably also isolating himself from others. The remains of animals such as cats, dogs, lions, tigers, bears (oh my!), etc. are also considered unclean. (v.27) Anyone whose task is to remove these carcasses away from the camp is considered unclean until sundown. (v.28) Verses 29-31: Another short list of unclean animals, this time of the rodent family: weasel, mouse, ferret and mole; the reptile family: lizard and chameleon; the snail; and the tortoise. Verses 32-38: Anything that comes into contact with the carcasses of these unclean animals is deemed contaminated. This includes utensils, vessels and clothing. All of it must be washed, and any earthen vessel is to be destroyed. Any food in the contaminated vessels is to be thrown out. This is another indication that these laws are probably more for sanitary and general health reasons rather than a particular prejudice by God against these specific animals. There are, however, two exceptions to this rule: a freshwater spring or a cistern is not considered unclean if it comes into contact with an animal carcass(v.36); and a seed that has been set aside for planting is not contaminated unless it has come into contact with water first. (v.37-38) Verses 39-40: Even clean animals that die of natural causes are considered unclean. The rules are the same for the handling of their carcasses as those of the unclean animals. (v.24-28) Verses 41-47: These are the closing statements for this set of laws. As I noted at the beginning of this chapter, God is setting a standard of holiness for His chosen people, dividing the clean animals from the unclean. Those that are clean are considered safe for consumption, while the unclean are to be avoided and shunned. (v.47) Why? “For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” (v.45) (Exodus 6:7, 20:2, Leviticus 22:33, 25:38, 26:45, Psalm 105:43, Hosea 11:1)
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