Leviticus 11

CHAPTER 11THEME: The food of God’s peopleclean and unclean animals; contact with carcasses of unclean animals; contact with carcasses of clean animals; contamination of creeping creatures; classification of clean and unclean made by a holy GodThis is a most unusual chapter. We have come now to a radical bifurcation in this book. The subject matter is changed from the priests to the people; from offerings to God to food for man; from worship before God to the walk in this world. The change is made from the sacred to the secular without any change of pace or level. There is no thought that this is anything different. Today we make a false distinction between the sacred and the secular. We think if it is in the church it is sacred. Even gossip in the church seems to be regarded as sacred (especially if it is couched as a prayer request!). If gossip is outside the church, then it is secular. Friend, all and any of our work can be done to the glory of God. Someone has said, I want to dig a ditch so straight and true That God can look it through. Friends, you cannot make a distinction between the sacred and the secular. God moves right out here from that which we would call sacred to that which we would call secular, and He makes no distinction. This chapter is so unusual because God gives a diet, a menu, for the children of Israel to follow. They are to eat certain things and they are not to eat the things which God keeps off the menu. So here is the important question: Could the God of this vast universe be interested in what His creatures have for dinner? Could the One who orders all of creation prepare a menu for man? This chapter gives the answer: God was and is interested in the details of the lives of His people. No detail is too minute to escape His interest and His concern. A lady asked G. Campbell Morgan whether he thought we ought to pray to God about the little things in our lives. His answer was, “Madam, can you mention anything in your life that is big to God?” You see, we tend to divide things in our lives as big problems and little problems. They are not divided that way before God. They are all little problems to Him. Yet nothing is too small for His attention and care. There are so many injunctions to us to pray about everything, to worry about nothing. There are great spiritual lessons for us in this section, as we shall see; but there is also a very real and practical aspect which, because it pertained to Israel, we sometimes ignore. Since God forbade the eating of certain animals and permitted the eating of others, it must be assumed that there was a health factor involved. They could eat certain animals, fish, and birds, but not others. It was not a superstition and it was more than a religious rite to make a distinction between clean and unclean animals. Since God prescribed certain animals for the diet of His people, and since He definitely forbade others, there must be some benefit in following that diet. History should demonstrate that God had good and sufficient grounds for making His distinctions.

Now it is true that God could have acted in an arbitrary fashion in setting up these lines of separation between clean and unclean, but, ordinarily, God acted for the good of His people. Does history show this to be the case in these matters? Well, the interesting thing we will find is that the animals which were forbidden to be eaten were largely unclean feeders. The animals rejected by the Mosaic system are more liable to disease. Let me give a quotation from Dr. S. H. Kellogg: “One of the greatest discoveries of modern science is the fact that a large number of diseases to which animals are liable are due to the presence of low forms of parasitic life. To such diseases those which are unclean in their feeding will be especially exposed, while none will perhaps be found wholly exempt. Another discovery of recent times which has a no less important bearing on the question raised by this chapter is the now ascertained fact that many of these parasitic diseases are common to both animals and men, and may be communicated from the former to the latter” (The Book of Leviticus, p. 314). He goes on to list the parasite trichinae in swine, diphtheria in turkeys, and glanders in horses. Evidently Moses didn’t understand about these diseases and certainly the physicians in Egypt didn’t know about them. But God knew! God made these distinctions between clean and unclean. Does this work out in history? It certainly does. Listen to the statement of Dr. Noel de Mussy, presented to the Paris Academy of Medicine in 1885: “The idea of parasitic and infectious maladies, which has conquered so great a position in modern pathology, appears to have greatly occupied the mind of Moses and to have dominated all his hygienic rules. He excluded from Hebrew dietary animals particularly liable to parasites; and as it is in the blood that the germs and spores of infectious disease circulate, he orders that they must be drained of their blood before serving for food.” How did Moses know that? Well, Moses wouldn’t have known it, but God told him. I quote Dr. Kellogg again. “Even so long ago as the days when the plague was desolating Europe, the Jews so universally escaped infection that, by this their exemption, the popular suspicion was excited into fury, and they were accused of causing the fearful mortality among their gentile neighbors by poisoning the wells and springs.” Professor Hosmer wrote: “Throughout the entire history of Israel, the wisdom of the ancient lawgivers in these respects has been remarkably shown. In times of pestilence the Jews have suffered far less than others; as regards longevity and general health, they have in every age been noteworthy, and, at the present day, in the life-insurance offices, the life of a Jew is said to be worth much more than that of men of other stock.” Dr. Behrends also states: “In Prussia, the mean duration of Jewish life averages five years more than that of the general population.” Now, of course, today the Jews are breaking down their rules about diet, and the gap is closing. There were times when the life of the Jews was actually twice that of their gentile neighbors. There are some lessons in this for us today. We are apt to condemn Israel for placing such a great emphasis on the physical while missing the spiritual implications. At the same time, we tend to place such an emphasis on the spiritual that we ignore the physical altogether. A Christian should not ignore his body as to the food he eats, the use and abuse of the body, and the care of it. He should keep in mind that the body is the tabernacle of God today and the very temple of the Holy Spirit. Because a thing is physical does not preclude it from being spiritual. At the same time, we are told very definitely today, that we can eat whatever we wish to eat. If you want to eat rattlesnake meat, you may eat rattlesnake meat. There is no spiritual value in eating or not eating certain foods. In fact, it is a superstition when you approach it like that. Let us look at several Scriptures concerning this: “I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean” (Rom_14:14). “But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse” (1Co_8:8). “Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them …” (1Co_6:13). “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1Co_10:31). We should point out that gluttony is strictly forbidden and temperance, or self-control, is a command for a believer under grace.

Leviticus 11:1

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS (ON THE LAND)God draws a strict line of demarcation between light and darkness, night and day, black and white, right and wrong, clean and unclean. And by the way, God is the One who makes the difference between light and darkness. It is His intent to sharpen man’s discriminating nature so that he is sensitive to these God-made distinctions. God wants man to love the good and to loathe the evil. This present age is witnessing the dulling of man’s sensibilities to the sharp distinctions between right and wrong and good and bad. Man tries to put everything in life in the gray zone of amorality. God draws these distinctions to drive man to the altar and the shed blood of Christ for cleansing and for forgiveness. God makes the rules. Someone asks, “How do you know what is right?” The answer is that right is what God says is right! This is His universe. Do you know any better rules than the ones He has made? He’s made the rules of the physical realm. (Do you want to defy the law of gravity and jump off the earth? It’s an expensive trip, and it will cost you millions of dollars to do it. It put our government in debt to do it, and it will put you in debt to do it.) God moves into the realm of the everyday life and nothing comes closer to that than what man eats. God declares certain things to be clean and certain to be unclean. Man is to be reminded that he lives in a world where sin abounds. Man must learn to choose the good and shun the evil. The distinction was moral, yet the clean creatures were wholesome and gave nourishment to the body. The distinction of the clean and unclean animals is older than the Mosaic economy, and we know that Noah recognized such a division. It is noticeable that the choice of edible animals, fish, and fowl follow generally the pattern of civilized man down through the centuries to the present day. That is no accident. God made the distinction and there are certain animals you want and some you don’t want to eat. Another feature we should note is that certain animals were probably healthful in that land and in that day which might not be true elsewhere. Today we have no command concerning clean and unclean animals for food. There are great moral issues involved in this chapter. Man lives in a world of sin, and God requires recognition of this fact. Choices must be made. Fallen man outside of Eden still has a “tree” of which God says he must not eat. I think the moral objective is primary. You remember that when Peter saw the sheet come down with all kinds of animals and birds in it, he didn’t want to eat when God told him to eat. God then told him, “Don’t you call unclean what God has called clean” (See Act_10:11-15). In other words, God makes the rules, and man must make his decisions according to God’s rules. This is a tremendous moral lesson.

Leviticus 11:3

This was the rule to be followed to determine the animals to be eaten. This was repeated in Deu_14:6, and in that chapter it lists the ox, the sheep, the goat, the hart, the roebuck, the fallow deer, the wild goat, the pygarg, the wild ox, and the chamois. In Leviticus, the principle and rule are given with a few examples of those which are unclean. In Deuteronomy, the principle and rule are not emphasized, but a more extended list of the clean animals is given. Leviticus emphasizes the negative; Deuteronomy emphasizes the positive. In Leviticus the division of clean and unclean is sharply drawn although this is not a new commandment. The distinction does not follow any biological division, but a health factor was involved. Some heathen nations, Persia for example, attributed the creation of certain animals to the good god while other animals were the product of a bad god. God created all the animals. Neither did the nature of the animal, as representing some sin or virtue, make the distinction. For example, the lion was unclean, but it represents the Lord Jesus Christ and is the symbol of the tribe of Judah. That is why Christ is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah. There is not some mysterious connection between the soul and the body as one finds in some heathen cults today. The nature of the animal is not transferred to the one who eats it. That’s just nonsense and superstition. Some vegetarians think people become cruel because they eat animal meat. Well, I’ve seen some pretty mean folk who are vegetarians. May I say, such ideas are nonsense. For Israel, the distinction between the clean and unclean animals was part of God’s plan to keep them separate from all nations. Even today Kosher has a particular meaning to everyone. They were constantly reminded that they lived in a world where choices had to be made. For the Christian there are some spiritual applications. We have already shown that there is no merit in following a ritual regarding meat. But it is interesting to note that “to meditate” is a figurative expression of a cow chewing the cud. “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psa_1:2). Meditating is a valid application for the chewing of the cud for the spiritual benefit of believers. Likewise, the parting of the hoof speaks of the walk of the believer in separation. “I therefore, the prisoner of the LORD, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Eph_4:1). “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us…. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise” (Eph_5:2, Eph_5:15).

The relationship between the study of the Word of God and the walk of the believer is intimately tied together. “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou has learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2Ti_3:14-15). “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (Jas_1:22). My friend, the walk of the believer is tied up with the Word of God. If you are going through this world, you will have to chew the cud, the Word of God, and you will need to have that separated walk that only the Word can produce. The Bible-studying believer, who puts into practice the teaching of the Word of God, identifies himself as a child of God by his work and his walk. Friend, what kind of tracks are you making? I remember the story of a man years ago when someone tried to hand him a tract. He asked what it was and was told it was a tract. He handed it back and said he couldn’t read it. He said, “I’ll just watch your tracks.”

Leviticus 11:4

This is an extended list of animals which are unclean. Evidently, there must have been some question about these animals. Only vegetable-eating animals chew the cud. This eliminated the carnivorous animals. God warned about eating a camel. The reaction would be, “Who would want to?” Don’t you think this adds a note of humor to the words of our Lord when He accused the Pharisees of straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel? The camel wasn’t only lumpy; he was unclean. A coney is something like a rabbit and lives in rocky places. This corresponds to our rabbit. It is quite interesting to me that today there are those who emphasize that one should not eat pork but I have never heard them mention that one should not eat rabbit. The swine divides the hoof but does not chew the cud. The pig seems to be constantly eating but does not chew the cud. It is interesting to note that pork is still a difficult meat to digest. Swine are unclean animals. They are unclean in their eating habits. The Israelite was even forbidden to have contact with the dead carcasses of these unclean animals. The spiritual implications of this are unavoidable.

Leviticus 11:9

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN CREATURES (ON THE WATER)There is a sharp line drawn here as well as among animals. The clean fish must be characterized by two visible marksfins and scalesto be clean. This rule applied to both fresh and saltwater fish. Crawling creatures in the water were forbidden, which would eliminate a great segment of the creatures of the waters. No examples are given, probably because the distinction is very clear cut. Israel depended on the supply of fish from the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan River. Fish played a prominent part in the diet of the nation. One of the gates of Jerusalem was called the fish gate. This is where the fish from the Mediterranean were brought in, and it is interesting that this was a problem in the times of Nehemiah. The fishermen would bring in their fish on the Sabbath Day (Neh_13:16-22). The important role of fishing in the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ is well known to the student of the New Testament. The first disciples our Lord called were fishermen. They were told that they were to become fishers of men. Jesus told the parable that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net which caught good fish and bad fish (Mat_13:47-50). What was the method of determining the good from the bad fish? It is not whether the fish were large or small but would be according to the Levitical law. A fish that has both fins and scales is clean, or good. Now how is this like the judgment of the wicked from among the just? Well, the believer is the one who is propelled by the Holy Spirit and who is clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Those are the two identifying marks. Those are the fins and the scales, if you please.

Leviticus 11:13

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN FLYING CREATURES (IN THE AIR)On the birds there are no visible markers like there are on the fish and the animals. But they seem to have in common that they are all unclean feeders. For the most part, they feed on dead carcasses of animals, fish, and other fowl. A list of unclean birds of Palestine is given. This is another point that reveals that the Mosaic system was intended for the nation Israel and also for the particular land of Palestine. Some of these birds sound strange to us. They fall into the family of the eagles and the hawks, the vultures and the ravens, the owls and cormorants, and the swans and pelicans. They don’t even sound appetizing. They are the “dirty birdies” because of their feeding habits. Now remember, some people eat some of these birds today. I can’t say I would like any of them, but whether we eat them or don’t eat them makes no differencemeat will not commend us to God. The point is that it was teaching Israel to make a distinction. They had to make a decision about what was clean and unclean. The lesson for us today is that we must make decisions about our conduct and our profession. We have to make the decision about whether to accept Christ or not, whether to study the Word of God or not, whether to walk in a way pleasing to God or not. That is the application for us today. This section throws some light on the experience of Elijah. He was fed by the ravensdirty birds. Elijah did not eat the ravens, but they fed him. This was a humbling experience for this man of God who obeyed God in every detail.

Leviticus 11:20

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN CREEPING CREATURES (ON THE GROUND)Well, folks, you can leave all of these off my menu. However, we must note that some of them are clean. There were apparently four species of locusts. The locust was the regular species; the bald locust had a protuberance; the beetle was a locust with a protuberance and a tail; the grasshopper was a locust with a tail but without a protuberance. So they were permitted to eat these four kinds of locusts. But, friend, if you’re having me over for dinner, let’s have something else on the menu! Although they don’t appeal to me, there is nothing religiously or ceremonially unclean about them. John the Baptist had a scriptural diet when he ate locusts and wild honey.

Leviticus 11:24

CONTACT WITH CARCASSES OF UNCLEAN ANIMALSNot only was Israel forbidden to eat unclean animals, but also they were forbidden to touch the carcass of an unclean animal. Contamination by contact is the principle here. This was a great principle of life that was restated in the days of the return of Israel after the Captivity. “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean” (Hag_2:11-13). There is a very important principle set before us here. Cleanness or holiness is not transferred by contact. On the contrary, dirt, sin, and unholiness are transferred by contact. In other words, it is impossible to bring holiness out of the unholy. But the unclean can affect the clean. An unrighteous man cannot produce righteous works which are acceptable to God. You cannot bring righteousness out of unrighteousness. This principle operates as a law in every realm of life and in all strata of society. A gallon of dirty water is not made clean by adding a gallon of clean water. On the other hand, one drop of dirty water will contaminate the clean water. A boy with the measles is never cured by contact with a boy who is well, but the well boy may very well catch the measles from the sick boy. A Christian cannot mingle with the world and play with sin without becoming contaminated. Where do we get the idea that a Christian can dabble with drugs and drinking and night clubs and wild parties?

Some claim that the way to reach the lost is to meet them on their level. Well, do they reach the lost that way? No, they are contaminated and take part in those sins themselves. The New Testament is clear on this. “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jud_1:23). It is a terrible mistake to mix and mingle with sin. We are to beware of all contamination. An Israelite was reminded of this great principle when he walked along the road and saw a dead dog or a dead bear. He was forbidden to carry the carcass or any part of it. He was not to take a bone or the skin for any use. If he inadvertently touched the carcass of an unclean animal, he was to wash his garments and remain unclean until the end of the day. These are great spiritual lessons for us. The Christian is sanctified by the redemption of Christ and is clothed with His garments of righteousness. But we walk through the world where we can become contaminated. We still have the old nature. Not until we lay down this body in death will we be completely and totally sanctified and removed from the very presence of sin.

Leviticus 11:29

These are creatures that live on the ground or under the ground. They must have been rather commonplace but they were to be avoided by the Israelite. The carcass of a mole could contaminate him as much as the carcass of an elephant. So he was constantly reminded that he lived in a world of fallen creatures, and that little sins are as heinous in God’s sight as big sins. The mote and the beam are alike to God. “Little sins” are also sin and must be avoided.

Leviticus 11:32

Now we go into the kitchen. It must have been a commonplace experience for some rodent to get into the kitchen of that day and fall into one of the vessels and die. Any earthen vessel had to be broken and the water or grain or whatever was in it had to be thrown out. A bronze vessel was to be scoured clean. You see, God taught His people cleanliness in the preparation of food. And he was teaching them a lesson in holiness. Every vessel was holy to God and it was all to remain clean. In the Mosaic system, cleanliness was next to godliness and this applied to even the smallest detail in domestic situations. God guarded His people against contamination and pollution. If the dead carcass fell into a fountain or a lake, the water was not contaminated. It was too big and too fresh. Isn’t it wonderful that the Lord Jesus Christ is the fountain of living water? He is not contaminated by contact with the sinner or the sick, the leper or the woman with an issue of blood. Jesus said: “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (Joh_4:14). Also “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (Joh_7:37-38).

Leviticus 11:37

Now we leave the kitchen and go out into the field and the food production. Dry seed that was to be sown could not be contaminated by contact with a carcass of the unclean. However, if the seed was wet, then its shell or armor had been penetrated and it was unclean. This is why the child of God needs a shell or armor today. We are told, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph_6:11).

Leviticus 11:39

CONTACT WITH CARCASSES OF CLEAN ANIMALSAny clean animal that died of itself or of disease was unclean. In Mal_1:8 God forbade the sacrifice of any animal that was lame or sick. God will not accept the second-best or the castoff from us either.

Leviticus 11:41

CONTAMINATION OF CREEPING CREATURESEverything that crept on the earth or that went on its belly was unclean. God gives the reason they should not become unclean with them:

Leviticus 11:44

All creeping things were unclean as representatives of the fall of man when the serpent was cursed and made to crawl on its belly.

Leviticus 11:46

CLASSIFICATION OF CLEAN AND UNCLEAN MADE BY A HOLY GODIt is God who makes the sharp distinction between the clean and the unclean. Holiness in little things is essential. This is the real test of God’s man. The acid test of any life of any of God’s people is this. God says, “I am your Lord. I am holy. Be ye holy.” My friend, you must make the decision as to whether you are going to walk with God and for God in this contaminated world. This is the lesson for us from his chapter of the clean and the unclean.