Leviticus 11:2

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,.... For to them only belong the following laws, and not unto the Gentiles, as Jarchi rightly observes; these were parts of the ceremonial law, which was

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. No JFB commentary on this verse.

Though every creature of God be good and pure in itself, as appears from ; yet it pleased God to make a difference between clean and unclean, and to restrain the use of them, which he did in general and in part before the flood, ; but more fully and particularly here for many reasons, as, 1. To assert his own sovereignty over man, and over all the creatures, which men may not use but with God’ s leave, and to inure that stiff-necked people to obedience. 2. To keep up the wall of partition between the Jews and other nations, which was very useful and necessary for many great and wise purposes. 3. That by bridling their appetite in things in themselves lawful, and some of them very desirable and delightful for food, they might be better prepared and enabled to deny themselves in things simply and grossly sinful. 4. For the preservation of their health, some of the creatures forbidden being, though used by the neigbbouring nations, of unwholesome nourishment, especially to the Jews, who were very obnoxious to leprosies, which some of these meats are apt to produce and foment. 5. For moral signification, to teach them to abhor that filthiness and all those ill qualities for which some of these creatures are noted.

Leviticus 11:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These [are] the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that [are] on the earth.Ver. 2. These are the beasts which ye shall eat.] These, and these only; (1.) That ye may be at mine appointment for your very meat, as who am chief Lord of all; (2.) That there may be a difference betwixt you and all other people; (3.) That ye may be taught to study purity, and know that the very creatures are defiled by man’ s sin; (4.) That ye may have these things as "a shadow of things to come."

(2) These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all . . . —Better, These are the animals which ye may eat of all . . . . The dietary laws, which stand first in the general precepts about clean and unclean things, begin with the quadrupeds, or land animals, both domesticated and wild. This is in accordance with the Hebrew division of the animal kingdom into four principal classes :—(1) the land animals, (2) the water animals, (3) the birds of the air, and (4) the swarming animals. – Though not specified here by name, yet the parallel regulations in Deuteronomy 14:4-5 enumerate the following ten animals :—the ox, the sheep, the goat, the hart, the roebuck, the fallow deer, the wild goat, the pygang, the wild ox, and the chamois, with their various kindred species, which are not mentioned. From the expression, “These are the animals,” the opinion obtained during the second Temple that God actually caused specimens of every animal to pass before Moses and Aaron, in order to show them the veritable creatures which are clean and unclean, just as the Lord caused every species to come to Noah into the ark.

Ch. Leviticus 11:1-23 [51]. The Distinction between Clean and Unclean Food [51] For the sources from which this ch. comes, and its relation from a critical point of view to Deuteronomy 14:3 ff. see App. I (c), pp. 162 f.One principle underlying this distinction appears to have been that animals which were recognised as in any way objects of worship by heathen neighbours, or even supposed by them to be connected with unseen supernatural beings, were to be considered unclean. See Bertholet in KHC., introd. note to this ch. But in other cases the prohibition probably rested on the animal’s repulsive appearance or uncleanly habits, or on sanitary or totemistic grounds. See Driver, Deut. p. 164, and Rob.-Sm. OTJC.2 p. 366. A list of animals which may and may not be eaten is given in Deuteronomy 14:3-20; it has close verbal affinity with Leviticus 11:2-21 of this ch. The two passages are placed side by side in Driver (ICC.) Deut. P. 157 f. Both lists are divided into classes: (a) Beasts Leviticus 11:2-8. Cp. Deuteronomy 14:3-8 Deut. enumerates three domestic, and seven wild animals, as clean beasts which may be eaten. Lev. does not mention the clean beasts, but both give their two distinguishing marks—‘Whatsoever parteth the hoof … and cheweth the cud,’ and specify the same four beasts which have not both of these marks as unclean. Lev. is more diffuse, but employs the same expressions as Deut. (b) Fishes Leviticus 11:9-12. Cp. Deuteronomy 14:9-10 The same criterion of cleanness, having ‘scales and fins,’ is given both in Lev. and Deut., but Lev. is more diffuse, and introduces a word (Heb. shéḳ ?eẓ ?) detestation, used frequently in this ch., also in Leviticus 7:21, and Isaiah 66:17; Ezekiel 8:10. Another and commoner form (shiḳ ?ḳ ?uẓ ?) occurs in Deuteronomy 29:16. No fish is mentioned by name, and the distinction between clean and unclean fishes in particular cases was determined by the Jewish rabbis. (c) Birds Leviticus 11:13-19. Cp. Deuteronomy 14:11-18 Deut. begins with ‘Of all clean birds ye may eat’ (Leviticus 11:11), but does not give a list like that of clean beasts. The forbidden birds are almost identical in both. (d) Winged swarming things Leviticus 11:20-23. Cp. Deuteronomy 14:19-20 Lev. adds ‘that go upon all four’ (Leviticus 11:20), and in Leviticus 11:21-22 gives a list of winged swarming things that may be eaten (those that ‘leap’), repeating in Leviticus 11:23 the prohibition of Lev 11:20. Deut. concludes the list with ‘of all clean fowls (the same Heb. word as for ‘winged things’) ye may eat’ (Leviticus 14:20), but gives no list.

Rather, “These are the animals which ye may eat out of all the beasts;” that is, out of the larger creatures, the quadrupeds, as distinguished from birds and reptiles. See Genesis 1:24.

BEASTS, Leviticus 11:1-8. 2. These are the beasts which ye shall eat — See Genesis 7:2, note.