1And the LORDH3068 spokeH1696 to MosesH4872 and to AaronH175, sayingH559 to them, 2SpeakH1696 to the childrenH1121 of IsraelH3478, sayingH559, TheseH2063 are the beastsH2416 which ye may eatH398 among all the beastsH929 that are on the earthH776. 3Whatever partethH6536 the hoofH6541, and is clovenfootedH8156 H8157, and chewethH5927 the cudH1625, among the beastsH929, that shall ye eatH398. 4NeverthelessH389 these shall ye not eatH398 of them that chewH5927 the cudH1625, or of them that divideH6536 the hoofH6541: the camelH1581, because he chewethH5927 the cudH1625, but dividethH6536 not the hoofH6541; he is uncleanH2931 to you. 5And the coneyH8227, because he chewethH5927 the cudH1625, but dividethH6536 not the hoofH6541; he is uncleanH2931 to you. 6And the hareH768, because he chewethH5927 the cudH1625, but dividethH6536 not the hoofH6541; he is uncleanH2931 to you. 7And the swineH2386, though he dividethH6536 the hoofH6541, and is clovenfootedH8156 H8157, yet he chewethH1641 not the cudH1625; he is uncleanH2931 to you. 8Of their fleshH1320 shall ye not eatH398, and their carcaseH5038 shall ye not touchH5060; they are uncleanH2931 to you. 9These shall ye eatH398 of all that are in the watersH4325: whatever hath finsH5579 and scalesH7193 in the watersH4325, in the seasH3220, and in the riversH5158, them shall ye eatH398. 10And all that have not finsH5579 nor scalesH7193 in the seasH3220, and in the riversH5158, of all that moveH8318 in the watersH4325, and of any livingH2416 creatureH5315 which is in the watersH4325, they shall be an abominationH8263 to you: 11They shall be even an abominationH8263 to you; ye shall not eatH398 of their fleshH1320, but ye shall have their carcasesH5038 in abominationH8262. 12Whatever hath no finsH5579 nor scalesH7193 in the watersH4325, that shall be an abominationH8263 to you. 13And these are they which ye shall have in abominationH8262 amongH4480 the fowlsH5775; they shall not be eatenH398, they are an abominationH8263: the eagleH5404, and the ossifrageH6538, and the osprayH5822, 14And the vultureH1676, and the kiteH344 after his kindH4327; 15Every ravenH6158 after his kindH4327; 16And the owlH1323 H3284, and the night hawkH8464, and the cuckowH7828, and the hawkH5322 after his kindH4327, 17And the little owlH3563, and the cormorantH7994, and the great owlH3244, 18And the swanH8580, and the pelicanH6893, and the gier eagleH7360, 19And the storkH2624, and the heronH601 after her kindH4327, and the lapwingH1744, and the batH5847. 20All fowlsH5775 that creepH8318, goingH1980 upon all fourH702, shall be an abominationH8263 to you. 21Yet these may ye eatH398 of every flyingH5775 creepingH8318 thing that goethH1980 upon all fourH702, which have legsH3767 aboveH4605 their feetH7272, to leapH5425 withH2004 upon the earthH776; 22Even these of them ye may eatH398; the locustH697 after its kindH4327, and the bald locustH5556 after its kindH4327, and the beetleH2728 after its kindH4327, and the grasshopperH2284 after its kindH4327. 23But all other flyingH5775 creeping thingsH8318, which have fourH702 feetH7272, shall be an abominationH8263 to you. 24And for these ye shall be uncleanH2930: whoever touchethH5060 the carcaseH5038 of them shall be uncleanH2930 until the eveningH6153. 25And whoever bearethH5375 any of the carcaseH5038 of them shall washH3526 his clothesH899, and be uncleanH2930 until the eveningH6153. 26The carcases of every beastH929 which dividethH6536 the hoofH6541, and is not clovenfootedH8157 H8156, nor chewethH5927 the cudH1625, are uncleanH2931 to you: every one that touchethH5060 them shall be uncleanH2930. 27And whateverH3605 H1992 goethH1980 upon its pawsH3709, among all manner of beastsH2416 that goH1980 on all fourH702, those are uncleanH2931 to you: whoever touchethH5060 their carcaseH5038 shall be uncleanH2930 until the eveningH6153. 28And he that bearethH5375 the carcaseH5038 of them shall washH3526 his clothesH899, and be uncleanH2930 until the eveningH6153: they are uncleanH2931 to you. 29These also shall be uncleanH2931 to you among the creeping thingsH8318 that creepH8317 upon the earthH776; the weaselH2467, and the mouseH5909, and the tortoiseH6632 after its kindH4327, 30And the ferretH604, and the chameleonH3581, and the lizardH3911, and the snailH2546, and the moleH8580. 31These are uncleanH2931 to you among all that creepH8318: whoever doth touchH5060 them, when they are deadH4194, shall be uncleanH2930 until the eveningH6153. 32And upon whatever any of them, when they are deadH4194, doth fallH5307, it shall be uncleanH2930; whether it is any vesselH3627 of woodH6086, or raimentH899, or skinH5785, or sackH8242, whatever vesselH3627 it is, in which any workH4399 is doneH6213, it must be putH935 into waterH4325, and it shall be uncleanH2930 until the eveningH6153; so it shall be cleansedH2891. 33And every earthenH2789 vesselH3627, into which any of them fallethH5307 H8432, whatever is in it shall be uncleanH2930; and ye shall breakH7665 it. 34Of all foodH400 which may be eatenH398, that on which such waterH4325 comethH935 shall be uncleanH2930: and all drinkH4945 that may be drunkH8354 in every such vesselH3627 shall be uncleanH2930. 35And every thing on which any part of their carcaseH5038 fallethH5307 shall be uncleanH2930; whether an ovenH8574, or rangesH3600 for pots, they shall be broken downH5422: for they are uncleanH2931, and shall be uncleanH2931 to you. 36Nevertheless a fountainH4599 or pitH953, in which there is plentyH4723 of waterH4325, shall be cleanH2889: but that which touchethH5060 their carcaseH5038 shall be uncleanH2930. 37And if any part of their carcaseH5038 shall fallH5307 upon any sowingH2221 seedH2233 which is to be sownH2232, it shall be cleanH2889. 38But if any waterH4325 shall be putH5414 upon the seedH2233, and any part of their carcaseH5038 shall fallH5307 on it, it shall be uncleanH2931 to you. 39And if any beastH929, of which ye may eatH402, shall dieH4191; he that touchethH5060 its carcaseH5038 shall be uncleanH2930 until the eveningH6153. 40And he that eatethH398 of its carcaseH5038 shall washH3526 his clothesH899, and be uncleanH2930 until the eveningH6153: he also that bearethH5375 its carcaseH5038 shall washH3526 his clothesH899, and be uncleanH2930 until the eveningH6153. 41And every creeping thingH8318 that creepethH8317 upon the earthH776 shall be an abominationH8263; it shall not be eatenH398. 42Whatever goethH1980 upon the bellyH1512, and whatever goethH1980 upon all fourH702, or whatever hath manyH7235 feetH7272 among all creeping thingsH8318 that creepH8317 upon the earthH776, them ye shall not eatH398; for they are an abominationH8263. 43Ye shall not makeH8262 yourselvesH5315 abominableH8262 with any creeping thingH8318 that creepethH8317, neither shall ye make yourselves uncleanH2933 with them, that ye should be defiledH2930 by them. 44For I am the LORDH3068 your GodH430: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselvesH6942, and ye shall be holyH6918; for I am holyH6918: neither shall ye defileH2930 yourselvesH5315 with any manner of creeping thingH8318 that creepethH7430 upon the earthH776. 45For I am the LORDH3068 that bringethH5927 you out of the landH776 of EgyptH4714, to be your GodH430: ye shall therefore be holyH6918, for I am holyH6918. 46This is the lawH8451 of the beastsH929, and of the fowlH5775, and of every livingH2416 creatureH5315 that movethH7430 in the watersH4325, and of every creatureH5315 that creepethH8317 upon the earthH776: 47To make a differenceH914 between the uncleanH2931 and the cleanH2889, and between the beastH2416 that may be eatenH398 and the beastH2416 that may not be eatenH398.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 Now that Aaron was consecrated a high priest over the house of God, God spoke to him with Moses, and appointed them both as joint-commissioners to deliver his will to the people. He spoke both to Moses and to Aaron about this matter; for it was particularly required of the priests that they should put a difference between clean and unclean, and teach the people to do so. After the flood, when God entered into covenant with Noah and his sons, he allowed them to eat flesh (
Gen 9:13), whereas before they were confined to the productions of the earth. But the liberty allowed to the sons of Noah is here limited to the sons of Israel. They might eat flesh, but not all kinds of flesh; some they must look upon as unclean and forbidden to them, others as clean and allowed them. The law in this matter is both very particular and very strict. But what reason can be given for this law? Why may not God's people have as free a use of all the creatures as other people? 1. It is reason enough that God would have it so: his will, as it is law sufficient, so it is reason sufficient; for his will is his wisdom. He saw good thus to try and exercise the obedience of his people, not only in the solemnities of his altar, but in matters of daily occurrence at their own table, that they might remember they were under authority. Thus God had tried the obedience of man in innocency, by forbidding him to eat of one particular tree. 2. Most of the meats forbidden as unclean are such as were really unwholesome, and not fit to be eaten; and those of them that we think wholesome enough, and use accordingly, as the rabbit, the hare, and the swine, perhaps in those countries, and to their bodies, might be hurtful. And then God in this law did by them but as a wise and loving father does by his children, whom he restrains from eating that which he knows will make them sick. Note, The Lord is for the body, and it is not only folly, but sin against God, to prejudice our health for the pleasing of our appetite. 3. God would thus teach his people to distinguish themselves from other people, not only in their religious worship, but in the common actions of life. Thus he would show them that they must not be numbered among the nations. It should seem there had been, before this, some difference between the Hebrews and other nations in their food, kept up by tradition; for the Egyptians and they would not eat together,
Gen 43:32. And even before the flood there was a distinction of beasts into clean and not clean (
Gen 7:2), which distinction was quite lost, with many other instances of religion, among the Gentiles. But by this law it is reduced to a certainty, and ordered to be kept up among the Jews, that thus, by having a diet peculiar to themselves, they might be kept from familiar conversation with their idolatrous neighbours, and might typify God's spiritual Israel, who not in these little things, but in the temper of their spirits, and the course of their lives, should be governed by a sober singularity, and not be conformed to this world. The learned observe further, That most of the creatures which by this law were to be abominated as unclean were such as were had in high veneration among the heathen, not so much for food as for divination and sacrifice to their gods; and therefore those are here mentioned as unclean, and an abomination, which yet they would not be in any temptation to eat, that they might keep up a religious loathing of that for which the Gentiles had a superstitious value. The swine, with the later Gentiles, was sacred to Venus, the owl to Minerva, the eagle to Jupiter, the dog to Hecate, etc., and all these are here made unclean. As to the beasts, there is a general rule laid down, that those which both part the hoof and chew the cud were clean, and those only: these are particularly mentioned in the repetition of this law (
Deut 14:4,
Deut 14:5), where it appears that the Israelites had variety enough allowed them, and needed not to complain of the confinement they were under. Those beasts that did not both
chew the cud and divide the hoof were unclean, by which rule the flesh of swine, and of hares, and of rabbits, was prohibited to them, though commonly used among us. Therefore, particularly at the eating of any of these, we should give thanks for the liberty granted us in this matter by the gospel, which teaches us that
every creature of God is good, and we are to
call nothing common or unclean. Some observe a significancy in the rule here laid down for them to distinguish by, or at least think it may be alluded to. Meditation, and other acts of devotion done by the hidden man of the heart, may be signified by the chewing of the cud, digesting our spiritual food; justice and charity towards men, and the acts of a good conversation, may be signified by the
dividing of the hoof. Now either of these without the other will not serve to recommend us to God, but both must go together, good affections in the heart and good works in the life: if either be wanting, we are not clean, surely we are not clean. Of all the creatures here forbidden as unclean, none has been more dreaded and detested by the pious Jews than swine's flesh. Many were put to death by Antiochus because they would not eat it. This, probably, they were most in danger of being tempted to, and therefore possessed themselves and their children with a particular antipathy to it, calling it not by its proper name, but
a strange thing. It should seem the Gentiles used it superstitiously (
Isa 65:4),
they eat swine's flesh; and therefore God forbids all use of it to his people, lest they should learn of their neighbours to make that ill use of it. Some suggest that the prohibition of these beasts as unclean was intended to be a caution to the people against the bad qualities of these creatures. We must not be filthy nor wallow in the mire as swine, nor be timorous and faint-hearted as hares, nor dwell in the earth as rabbits; let not man that is in honour make himself like these beasts that perish. The law forbade, not only the eating of them, but the very touching of them; for those that would be kept from any sin must be careful to avoid all temptations to it, and every thing that looks towards it or leads to it.
9 Here is, 1. A general rule concerning fishes, which were clean and which not. All that had fins and scales they might eat, and only those odd sorts of water-animals that have not were forbidden,
Lev 11:9,
Lev 11:10. The ancients accounted fish the most delicate food (so far were they from allowing it on fasting-days, or making it an instance of mortification to eat fish); therefore God did not lay much restraint upon his people in them; for he is a Master that allows his servants not only for necessity but for delight. Concerning the prohibited fish it is said,
They shall be an abomination to you (
Lev 11:10-
Lev 11:12), that is, You shall count them unclean, and not only not eat of them, but keep at a distance from them. Note, Whatever is unclean should be to us an abomination;
touch not the unclean thing. But observe, It was to be an abomination only to Jews; the neighbouring nations were under none of these obligations, nor are these things to be an abomination to us Christians. The Jews were honoured with peculiar privileges, and therefore, lest they should be proud of those,
Transeunt cum onere -
They were likewise laid under peculiar restraints. Thus God's spiritual Israel, as they are dignified above others by the gospel-covenant of adoption and friendship, so they must be mortified more than others by the gospel-commands of self-denial and bearing the cross. 2. Concerning fowls here is no general rule given, but a particular enumeration of those fowls that they must abstain from as unclean, which implies an allowance of all others. The critics here have their hands full to find out what is the true signification of the Hebrew words here used, some of which still remain uncertain, some sorts of fowls being peculiar to some countries. Were the law in force now, we should be concerned to know with certainty what are prohibited by it; and perhaps if we did, and were better acquainted with the nature of the fowls here mentioned, we should admire the knowledge of Adam, in giving them names expressive of their natures,
Gen 2:20. But the law being repealed, and the learning in a great measure lost, it is sufficient for us to observe that of the fowls here forbidden, (1.) Some are birds of prey, as the eagle, vulture, etc., and God would have his people to abhor every thing that is barbarous and cruel, and not to live by blood and rapine. Doves that are preyed upon were fit to be food for man and offerings to God; but kites and hawks that prey upon them must be looked upon as an abomination to God and man; for the condition of those that are persecuted for righteousness' sake appears to an eye of faith every way better than that of their persecutors. (2.) Others of them are solitary birds, that abide in dark and desolate places, as the owl and the pelican (
Pss 102:6), and the cormorant and raven (
Isa 34:11); for God's Israel should not be a melancholy people, nor affect sadness and constant solitude. (3.) Others of them feed upon that which is impure, as the stork on serpents, others of them on worms; and we must not only abstain from all impurity ourselves, but from communion with those that allow themselves in it. (4.) Others of them were used by the Egyptians and other Gentiles in their divinations. Some birds were reckoned fortunate, others ominous; and their soothsayers had great regard to the flights of these birds, all which therefore must be an abomination to God's people, who must not learn the way of the heathen.
20 Here is the law, 1. Concerning flying insects, as flies, wasps, bees, etc.; these they might not eat (
Lev 11:20), nor indeed are they fit to be eaten; but there were several sorts of locusts which in those countries were very good meat, and much used: John Baptist lived upon them in the desert, and they are here allowed them,
Lev 11:21,
Lev 11:22. 2. Concerning the creeping things on the earth; these were all forbidden (
Lev 11:29,
Lev 11:30, and again,
Lev 11:41,
Lev 11:42); for it was the curse of the serpent that
upon his belly he should go, and therefore between him and man there was an enmity put (
Gen 3:15), which was preserved by this law. Dust is the meat of the creeping things, and therefore they are not fit to be man's meat. 3. Concerning the dead carcasses of all these unclean animals. (1.) Every one that touched them was to be unclean until the evening,
Lev 11:24-
Lev 11:28. This law is often repeated, to possess them with a dread of every thing that was prohibited, though no particular reason for the prohibition did appear, but only the will of the Law-maker. Not that they were to be looked upon as defiling to the conscience, or that it was a sin against God to touch them, unless done in contempt of the law: in many cases, somebody must of necessity touch them, to remove them; but it was a
ceremonial uncleanness they contracted, which for the time forbade them to come into the tabernacle, or to eat of any of the holy things, or so much as to converse familiarly with their neighbours. But the uncleanness continued only till the evening, to signify that all ceremonial pollutions were to come to an end by the death of Christ in the evening of the world. And we must learn, by daily renewing our repentance every night for the sins of the day, to cleanse ourselves from the pollution we contract by them, that we may not lie down in our uncleanness. Even unclean animals they might touch while they were alive without contracting any ceremonial uncleanness by it, as horses and dogs, because they were allowed to use them for service; but they might not touch them when they were dead, because they might not eat their flesh; and what must not be eaten must not be touched,
Gen 3:3. (2.) Even the vessels, or other things they fell upon, were thereby made unclean until the evening (
Lev 11:32), and if they were earthen vessels they must be broken,
Lev 11:33. This taught them carefully to avoid every thing that was polluting, even in their common actions. Not only the vessels of the sanctuary, but every pot in Jerusalem and Judah, must be
holiness to the Lord, Zech 14:20,
Zech 14:21. The laws in these cases are very critical, and the observance of them would be difficult, we should think, if every thing that a dead mouse or rat, for instance, falls upon must be unclean; and if it were an oven, or ranges for pots, they must all be broken down,
Lev 11:35. The exceptions also are very nice,
Lev 11:36, etc. All this was designed to exercise them to a constant care and exactness in their obedience, and to teach us, who by Christ are delivered from these burdensome observances, not to be less circumspect in the more weighty matters of the law. We ought as industriously to preserve our precious souls from the pollutions of sin, and as speedily to cleanse them when they are polluted, as they were to preserve and cleanse their bodies and household goods from those ceremonial pollutions.
43 Here is, I. The exposition of this law, or a key to let us into the meaning of it. It was not intended merely for a bill of fare, or as the directions of a physician about their diet, but God would hereby teach them to sanctify themselves and to be holy,
Lev 11:44. That is, 1. They must hereby learn to put a difference between good and evil, and to reckon that it could not be all alike what they did, when it was not all alike what they ate. 2. To maintain a constant observance of the divine law, and to govern themselves by that in all their actions, even those that are common, which ought to be performed
after a godly sort, 3John 1:6. Even eating and drinking must be by rule, and
to the glory of God, 1Cor 10:31. 3. To distinguish themselves from all their neighbours, as a people set apart for God, and obliged not to walk as the Gentiles: and all this is holiness. Thus these
rudiments of the world were their tutors and governors (
Galat 4:2,
Galat 4:3), to bring them to that which is the revival of our first state in Adam and the earnest of our best state with Christ, that is,
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. This is indeed the great design of all the ordinances, that by them we may sanctify ourselves and learn to be holy. Even This law concerning their food, which seemed to stoop so very low, aimed thus high, for it was the statute-law of heaven, under the Old Testament as well as the New, that
without holiness no man shall see the Lord. The caution therefore (
Lev 11:43) is,
You shall not make yourselves abominable. Note, By having fellowship with sin, which is abominable, we make ourselves abominable. That man is truly miserable who is in the sight of God abominable; and none are so but those that make themselves so. The Jewish writers themselves suggest that the intention of this law was to forbid them all communion by marriage, or otherwise, with the heathen,
Deut 7:2,
Deut 7:3. And thus the moral of it is obligatory on us, forbidding us to
have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; and, without this real holiness of the heart and life,
he that offereth an oblation is
as if he offered swine's blood (
Isa 66:3); and, if it was such a provocation for a man to eat swine's flesh himself, much more it must be so to offer swine's blood at God's altar; see
Prov 15:8.
II. The reasons of this law; and they are all taken from the Law-maker himself, to whom we must have respect in all acts of obedience. 1.
I am the Lord your God, Lev 11:44. Therefore you are bound to do thus, in pure obedience. God's sovereignty over us, and propriety in us, oblige us to do whatever he commands us, how much soever it crosses our inclinations. 2.
I am holy, Lev 11:44, and again,
Lev 11:45. If God be holy, we must be so, else we cannot expect to be accepted of him. His holiness is his glory (
Exod 15:11), and therefore it
becomes his house for ever, Pss 93:5. This great precept, thus enforced, though it comes in here in the midst of abrogated laws, is quoted and stamped for a gospel precept,
1Pet 1:16, where it is intimated that all these ceremonial restraints were designed to teach us that we must not
fashion ourselves according to our former lusts in our ignorance, Lev 11:14. 3.
I am the Lord that bringeth you out of the land of Egypt, Lev 11:45. This was a reason why they should cheerfully submit to distinguishing laws, having of late been so wonderfully dignified with distinguishing favours. He that had done more for them than for any other people might justly expect more from them.
III. The conclusion of this statute:
This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, etc.,
Lev 11:46,
Lev 11:47. This law was to them a statute for ever, that is, as long as that economy lasted; but under the gospel we find it expressly repealed by a voice from heaven to Peter (
Acts 10:15), as it had before been virtually set aside by the death of Christ, with the other ordinances that
perished in the using: Touch not, taste not, handle not, Colos 2:21,
Colos 2:22. And now we are sure that
meat commends us not to God (
1Cor 8:8), and that
nothing is unclean of itself (
Roma 14:14), nor does that defile a man which goes into his mouth, but that which comes out from the heart,
Matt 15:11. Let us therefore, 1. Give thanks to God that we are not under this yoke, but that to us every creature of God is allowed as good, and nothing to be refused. 2.
Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and take heed of those doctrines which
command to abstain from meats, and so would revive Moses again,
1Tim 4:3,
1Tim 4:4. 3. Be strictly and conscientiously temperate in the use of the good creatures God has allowed us. If God's law has given us liberty, let us lay restraints upon ourselves, and never feed ourselves without fear, lest our table be a snare.
Set a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite; and
be not desirous of dainties or varieties,
Prov 23:2,
Prov 23:3. Nature is content with little, grace with less, but lust with nothing.
