Clean and Unclean Creatures
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. 3 Whatever parts the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and chews the cud among the animals, that you may eat. 4 “‘Nevertheless these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those who part the hoof: the camel, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. 5 The hyrax, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. 6 The hare, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. 7 The pig, because it has a split hoof, and is cloven-footed, but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8 You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you. 9 “‘You may eat of all these that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that you may eat. 10 All that don’t have fins and scales in the seas and rivers, all that move in the waters, and all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination to you, 11 and you shall detest them. You shall not eat of their meat, and you shall detest their carcasses. 12 Whatever has no fins nor scales in the waters is an abomination to you. 13 “‘You shall detest these among the birds; they shall not be eaten because they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 14 the red kite, any kind of black kite, 15 any kind of raven, 16 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, 18 the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, 19 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat. 20 “‘All flying insects that walk on all fours are an abomination to you. 21 Yet you may eat these: of all winged creeping things that go on all fours, which have long, jointed legs for hopping on the earth. 22 Even of these you may eat: any kind of locust, any kind of katydid, any kind of cricket, and any kind of grasshopper. 23 But all winged creeping things which have four feet are an abomination to you.
The food laws are given as tests a person can apply, with no reason attached, and the criteria are visible on the animal.
The distinctions are made by inspection. For land animals the test is two features together — whatever parts the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and chews the cud Leviticus 11:3. For water creatures it is fins and scales Leviticus 11:9. Birds are given as a list of exceptions rather than a rule.
What is striking about the criteria is that they are visible. Anyone can look at an animal's foot and watch it eat. No priest is required, no laboratory and no expertise — the whole system is designed to be operated by a household, and that is consistent with a book whose distinctions are meant to be made all day by ordinary people.
The borderline cases get the most attention, and the chapter names four. The camel, the hyrax and the hare chew the cud but do not have a divided hoof; the pig has the divided hoof but does not chew the cud Leviticus 11:4–7.
Each fails on one criterion and passes on the other, and each is unclean. Half a qualification is not a qualification, and the near misses are singled out precisely because they are the ones a person would argue about.
What the chapter does not supply is a reason. No explanation of health, no account of what the creatures represent, no argument at all. The only ground given is at the end of the chapter, and it is not about the animals.
Explanations have been offered for centuries and the text authorizes none of them. What can be said from Scripture is what the last verse says: the purpose is to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean Leviticus 11:47. A people who practiced that discrimination three times a day were being trained in a habit of mind, and the habit is what the book asks for everywhere else.
One practical consequence runs through the section and shaped Israel's history more than any doctrine. A nation that cannot eat what its neighbors eat cannot dine with them, cannot buy meat in their markets, and cannot marry easily into their households. The food laws did more to keep Israel separate than any wall, and separation is what the chapter's closing verses say they were for.
settled What this mark means