How does Israel distinguish animals it may eat from animals and carcasses it must avoid?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The Lord gives Israel specific signs and lists for lawful food, then rules for contact with carcasses and affected objects. The chapter closes by calling Israel to be holy because the Lord is holy, recalling that he brought them out of Egypt, and stating that these laws distinguish clean from unclean and what to eat from what to refuse.

Chapter breakdown

The Lord tells Moses and Aaron to give Israel these food rules. A land animal may be eaten if it has a divided hoof and chews the cud. The camel and similar animals that chew the cud but do not divide the hoof must be counted unclean. The cherogrillus and hare are also described as chewing the cud without dividing the hoof; the pig divides the hoof but does not chew the cud. Israel must not eat their flesh or touch their carcasses. Challoner’s note on verse 2 gives four explanations for the prohibitions: training in obedience and temperance, restraint from vices symbolized by the animals, the view that most forbidden creatures were unsuitable or unhealthy to eat, and training toward spiritual cleanness through bodily abstinence. These are the commentator’s explanations. His note on verse 3 interprets the divided hoof and cud-chewing as discernment between good and evil and meditation on God’s law; it also interprets fins and scales as prayer and virtue. A separate note keeps the name cherogrillus because its identification is uncertain: some suppose a rabbit, others a hedgehog, while St. Jerome suggests another animal found in Palestine that lives in rock holes or the earth. The note explains that Greek or Latin names are retained for several unfamiliar creatures.

Water creatures may be eaten if they have both fins and scales, whether in seas, rivers or pools. Creatures moving and living in water without those features are detestable to Israel: their flesh must not be eaten and their carcasses must be avoided. The rule repeats that water creatures without fins and scales are unclean.

The birds to avoid and not eat are the eagle, griffon, osprey, kite and vulture according to their kinds; all of the raven kind; the ostrich, owl, larus and hawk according to its kind; the screech owl, cormorant, ibis, swan, bittern and porphyrion; the heron, charadroin according to its kind, houp and bat. These are the edition’s names. Challoner explains that griffon here means a bird of the eagle kind larger than the common eagle, rather than the imaginary creature depicted by painters.

Flying things that go on four feet are detestable, with a stated exception: those with longer legs behind that they use to hop on the ground may be eaten. The examples are bruchus, attacus, ophimachus and locust, each according to its kind. Flying things with only four feet remain detestable.

Anyone who touches these carcasses is unclean until evening. If someone must carry one of the dead creatures, that person must wash their clothes and remain unclean until sunset. A beast with an undivided hoof that does not chew the cud is unclean, and touching it defiles a person. Among four-footed animals, those that walk on hands are unclean; touching their carcasses makes a person unclean until evening. Carrying those carcasses requires washing clothes and remaining unclean until evening.

The unclean creatures moving on the earth include the weasel, mouse and crocodile according to their kinds, and the shrew, chameleon, stellio, lizard and mole. Touching their carcasses makes a person unclean until evening. If a carcass falls on a wooden vessel, garment, skin, haircloth or anything used for work, the object must be dipped in water. It remains unclean until evening and is then clean. An earthen vessel into which one falls is unclean and must be broken. Food becomes unclean if water from such a vessel is poured on it, and any drink taken from such a vessel is unclean. Anything on which one of these dead creatures falls is unclean; an affected oven or pot with feet must be destroyed.

Fountains, cisterns and gathered waters remain clean, though a person who touches the carcasses is defiled. A carcass falling on seed corn does not defile it. But if water has been poured on the seed and it is afterward touched by a carcass, the seed is immediately defiled.

If an animal that Israel may lawfully eat dies, anyone touching its carcass is unclean until evening. Anyone who eats or carries anything from it must wash their clothes and remain unclean until evening.

Everything that creeps on the earth is detestable and must not be eaten: creatures that go on the breast, on four feet, with many feet or that trail along the earth. Israel must not defile their souls or touch these creatures and become unclean. The Lord calls them to be holy because he is holy, and tells them not to defile their souls through creeping things. He identifies himself as the Lord who brought them out of Egypt to be their God and repeats the call to holiness. The closing statement names this as the law of beasts, birds, creatures moving in water and creatures creeping on earth, so Israel may distinguish clean from unclean and know what to eat and what to refuse.

The story inside

The rules for objects show why a single rule about carcass contact would be incomplete (11:32–38). A wooden vessel, garment, skin, haircloth or work object is dipped in water and remains unclean until evening. An earthen vessel is broken instead; food receiving water from it and drink taken from it are also unclean. Affected ovens and pots with feet are destroyed. Yet fountains, cisterns and gathered waters remain clean, and seed corn is not defiled by a falling carcass unless water has first been poured on it. These distinctions change the required response. The chapter gives the conditions and actions but does not explain them through the absorbency of clay or a motive of preserving supplies. Challoner’s earlier explanations of the food laws are explicitly commentary and should not be used to invent a physical mechanism for these object rules.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Lawful food depends on the stated criteria and exceptions. Land beasts require both divided hooves and cud-chewing; water creatures require fins and scales; certain hopping flying creatures are allowed within the rule for four-footed flying things. The examples make clear that meeting one condition alone is insufficient.
2
Touching and carrying are not the same instruction. Several carcass rules require uncleanness until evening, while carrying also requires washing clothes. Even the carcass of an animal lawful to eat brings stated consequences, so edibility alone does not settle contact with its dead body.
3
The closing purpose belongs to the Lord’s own words in the chapter. Israel is called to holiness because he is holy, reminded of the departure from Egypt and told to distinguish clean from unclean and lawful food from what must be refused. Challoner’s symbolic explanations remain a separate layer of commentary.

Test your recall

How do the required responses differ when a carcass falls into an earthen vessel, on an object to be dipped in water, or on seed before and after water is poured on it?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 11621–11670
Leviticus Chapter 11 The distinction of clean and unclean animals. 11:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 11:2. Say to the children of Israel: These are the animals which you are to eat of all the living things of the earth. Animals which you are to eat, etc.... The prohibition of so many kinds of beasts, birds, and fishes, in the law, was ordered, 1st, to exercise the people in obedience, and temperance; 2ndly, to restrain them from the vices of which these animals were symbols; 3rdly, because the things here forbidden were for the most part unwholesome, and not proper to be eaten; 4thly, that the people of God, by being obliged to abstain from things corporally unclean, might be trained up to seek a spiritual cleanness. 11:3. Whatsoever hath the hoof divided, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, you shall eat. Hoof divided, and cheweth the cud.... The dividing of the hoof and chewing of the cud, signify discretion between good and evil, and meditating on the law of God; and where either of these is wanting a man is unclean. In like manner fishes were reputed unclean that had not fins and scales: that is, souls that did not raise themselves up by prayer and cover themselves with the scales of virtue. 11:4. But whatsoever cheweth indeed the cud, and hath a hoof, but divideth it not, as the camel, and others: that you shall not eat, but shall reckon it among the unclean. 11:5. The cherogrillus which cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof, is unclean. The cherogrillus.... Some suppose it to be the rabbit, others the hedgehog. St. Jerome intimates that it is another kind of animal common in Palestine, which lives in the holes of rocks or in the earth. We choose here, as also in the names of several other creatures that follow (which are little known in this part of the world,) to keep the Greek or Latin names. 11:6. The hare also: for that too cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof. 11:7. And the swine, which, though it divideth the hoof, cheweth not the cud. 11:8. The flesh of these you shall not eat, nor shall you touch their carcasses, because they are unclean to you.
Lines 11672–11683
11:9. These are the things that breed in the waters, and which it is lawful to eat. All that hath fins, and scales, as well in the sea, as in the rivers, and the pools, you shall eat. 11:10. But whatsoever hath not fins and scales, of those things that move and live in the waters, shall be an abomination to you, 11:11. And detestable. Their flesh you shall not eat: and their carcasses you shall avoid. 11:12. All that have not fins and scales, in the waters, shall be unclean.
Lines 11685–11704
11:13. Of birds these are they which you must not eat, and which are to be avoided by you: The eagle, and the griffon, and the osprey. The griffon.... Not the monster which the painter represent, which hath no being upon earth; but a bird of the eagle kind, larger than the common. 11:14. And the kite, and the vulture, according to their kind. 11:15. And all that is of the raven kind, according to their likeness. 11:16. The ostrich, and the owl, and the larus, and the hawk according to its kind. 11:17. The screech owl, and the cormorant, and the ibis. 11:18. And the swan, and the bittern, and the porphyrion. 11:19. The heron, and the charadroin according to its kind, the houp also, and the bat.
Lines 11706–11716
11:20. Of things that fly, whatsoever goeth upon four feet, shall be abominable to you. 11:21. But whatsoever walketh upon four feet, but hath the legs behind longer, wherewith it hoppeth upon the earth, 11:22. That you shall eat: as the bruchus in its kind, the attacus, and ophimachus, and the locust, every one according to their kind. 11:23. But of flying things whatsoever hath four feet only, shall be an abomination to you.
Lines 11718–11734
11:24. And whosoever shall touch the carcasses of them, shall be defiled: and shall be unclean until the evening: 11:25. And if it be necessary that he carry any of these things when they are dead: he shall wash his clothes, and shall be unclean until the sun set. 11:26. Every beast that hath a hoof, but divideth it not, nor cheweth the cud shall be unclean: and he that toucheth it, shall be defiled. 11:27. That which walketh upon hands of all animals which go on all four, shall be unclean: he that shall touch their carcasses shall be defiled until evening. 11:28. And he that shall carry such carcasses, shall wash his clothes, and shall be unclean until evening: because all these things are unclean to you.
Lines 11736–11761
11:29. These also shall be reckoned among unclean things, of all that move upon the earth. The weasel, and the mouse, and the crocodile, every one according to their kind: 11:30. The shrew, and the chameleon, and the stellio, and the lizard, and the mole. 11:31. All these are unclean. He that toucheth their carcasses shall be unclean until the evening. 11:32. And upon what thing soever any of their carcasses shall fall, it shall be defiled, whether it be a vessel of wood, or a garment, or skins or haircloths: or any thing in which work is done. They shall be dipped in water, and shall be unclean until the evening, and so afterwards shall be clean. 11:33. But an earthen vessel, into which any of these shall fall, shall be defiled: and therefore is to be broken. 11:34. Any meat which you eat, if water from such a vessel be poured upon it, shall be unclean; and every liquor that is drunk out of any such vessel, shall be unclean. 11:35. And upon whatsoever thing any of these dead beasts shall fall, it shall be unclean. Whether it be oven, or pots with feet, they shall be destroyed, and shall be unclean.
Lines 11763–11770
11:36. But fountains and cisterns, and all gatherings together of waters shall be clean. He that toucheth their carcasses shall be defiled. 11:37. If it fall upon seed corn, it shall not defile it. 11:38. But if any man pour water upon the seed, and afterwards it be touched by the carcasses, it shall be forthwith defiled.
Lines 11772–11776
11:39. If any beast die, of which it is lawful for you to eat, he that toucheth the carcass thereof, shall be unclean until the evening. 11:40. And he that eateth or carrieth any thing thereof, shall wash his clothes, and shall be unclean until the evening.
Lines 11778–11799
11:41. All that creepeth upon the earth shall be abominable: neither shall it be taken for meat. 11:42. Whatsoever goeth upon the breast on four feet, or hath many feet, or traileth on the earth, you shall not eat, because it is abominable. 11:43. Do not defile your souls, nor touch aught thereof, lest you be unclean, 11:44. For I am the Lord your God. Be holy because I am holy. Defile not your souls by any creeping thing, that moveth upon the earth. 11:45. For I am the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. 11:46. You shall be holy, because I am holy. This is the law of beasts and fowls, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and creepeth on the earth: 11:47. That you may know the differences of the clean, and unclean, and know what you ought to eat, and what to refuse.