This chapter treats of creatures clean and unclean, as fit or not fit to be eaten; and first of beasts, whose signs are given, Lev. 11:1–8 then of fishes, which are likewise described, Lev. 11:9–12 after that of fowls, and those that are not to be eaten are particularly named, Lev.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron The one being the chief magistrate, and the other the high priest, and both concerned to see the following laws put into execution; according to Jarchi, the Lord spoke to Moses that he might speak to Aaron; but being now in office, and one part of his…

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 peculiarly given to them, and lay, among other things, in meats and drinks, and now abolished; for it is not…

Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven footed That is, whose hoof is parted and cloven quite through; for there are some creatures that have partitions in their feet, but not quite through, they are parted above, but underneath are joined together by a skin; wherefore both these phrases are…

Nevertheless, these shall ye not eat To whom one of these descriptive characters may agree but not the other: of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: there being some that chewed the cud but did not divide the hoof; others that divided the hoof but did not chew the cud, of which…

And the coney Or rabbit: because he cheweth the cud; or “though he cheweth”; which yet, some observe, the coney or rabbit does not, it having upper teeth, and therefore they think some other creature is meant by Shaphan, the word here used; and Bochart [[11]] is of opinion, that the Aljarbuo of the…

And the hare, because he cheweth the cud Or, “though he chews” it: but divideth not the hoof, he is unclean to you; and so not to be eaten; so Plutarch [[15]] says, that the Jews are said to abstain from the hare, disdaining it as a filthy and unclean animal, and yet was in the greatest esteem with…

And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be cloven footed Not only its hoofs are parted, but cloven quite through, and so in this respect answers Moses’s first descriptive character of clean creatures; though Aristotle [[19]] and Pliny [[21]] speak of some kind of swine in Illyricum, Paeonia,…

Of their flesh shall ye not eat Meaning, not of swine only, but of the camel, coney, and hare: and their carcass shall ye not touch; which must not be understood of touching them in any sense; for then it would have been unlawful for a Jew to have rode upon a camel, or to take out and make use of…

These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters In the waters of the sea, or in rivers, pools, and ponds; meaning fishes; for though some persons abstain from eating them entirely, as the Egyptian priests, as Herodotus [[11]] relates; and it was a part of religion and holiness, not with the…

And all that have not fins nor scales in the seas, and in the rivers Such as eels, lampreys, &c. of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters; the former of these are interpreted by Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom of little fishes that have but a small body, and such as…

They shall be even an abomination to you This is repeated again and again, to deter from the eating of such fishes, lest there should be any desire after them: ye shall not eat of their flesh, here mention is made of the flesh of fishes, as is by the apostle, .

Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters Which is repeated that they might take particular notice of this law, and be careful to observe it, this being the only sign given: that shall be an abomination unto you; the Targum of Jonathan says, that not only the flesh of such fish, but the…

And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls No description or sign is given of fowls, as of beasts and fishes, only the names of those not to be eaten; which, according to Maimonides, are twenty four; so that all the rest but these are clean fowls, and might be eaten;…

And the vulture, and the kite after his kind. ] Perhaps it might be better if the version was inverted, and the words be read, “and the kite, and the vulture, after his kind”; and the last word is by us rendered the vulture in and very rightly, since the kite is not remarkable for its sight, any…

Every raven after his kind. ] The red raven, night raven, the water raven, river raven, wood raven this also includes crows, rooks, pies, jays, and jackdaws The raven was with the Heathens sacred to Apollo [[13]], is a voracious creature, and so reckoned among unclean ones, and unfit for food; nor…

And the owl The great and little owls being after mentioned, it seems best, by the word here used, to understand the “ostrich” with the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, the Oriental versions, and the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan: the account which Pliny [[14]] gives of the African and Ethiopic…

And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl. ] Ainsworth translates the words just the reverse, and takes the first word to signify the great owl, and the last the little one; the great owl may intend the great horn owl, called sometimes the eagle owl, which is thus described; it is of…

And the swan This is a bird well known to us, but it is a question whether it is intended by the word here used; for though it is so rendered in the Vulgate Latin, it is differently rendered by many others: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it “otia”, which seems to be the same with the…

And the stork . A bird of passage, it has its name from kindness, which it exercises both to its dam, and to its young. Various writers [[1]] speak of the kindness of these birds to their dams, which when they are old they take care of and feed them, to which the apostle is thought to allude, and…

All fowls that creep Or rather “every creeping thing that flies”; for what are designed are not properly fowls, but, as the Jewish writers interpret them, flies, fleas, bees, wasps, hornets, locusts so the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, Ben Gersom, and Maimonides [[23]]: going upon all four; that is,…

Yet these may ye eat Which are after described and named: of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four; even though it is a creeping thing that flies and goes upon four feet, provided they be such, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; there is a double reading…

Even these of them ye may eat, &c] The four following ones, which seem to be no other than four sorts of locusts: the locust after his kind; this is the common locust, called by the name of Arbeh, from the great multiplication and vast multitudes of them; the phrase, “after his kind”, and which…

But all other flying creeping things Excepting the four sorts before mentioned, wherefore we rightly supply the word “other”: which have four feet; or more; the Vulgate Latin version adds, “only”, but wrongly; for those that have more are unclean, and forbidden to be eaten, excepting those in the…

And for these ye shalt be unclean That is, for eating them; or should they eat them they would be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcass of them shall be unclean until the even; not only he was unclean that ate them, but he that even touched their dead bodies was reckoned unclean; might not go…

And whosoever beareth ought of the carcass of them That carries them from one place to another, out of the camp, city, village, or house or field where they may lie; and though this is done with a good design, as being offensive or infectious, yet such an one shall wash his clothes, and be unclean…

The carcasses of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not cloven footed As the camel: nor cheweth the cud; though it may divide the hoof, as the swine; and on the other hand, such as may chew the cud, and yet not dividing the hoof, as the coney and hare; for the Scripture here, as Aben Ezra…

Whatsoever goeth upon his paws Or “the palms” [[3]] of his hands; meaning such creatures, whose feet are not divided into two parts, but into many, like the fingers of an hand, as apes, lions, bears, wolves, foxes, dogs, cats among all manner of beasts that go on all four; this is added, to…

And he that beareth the carcass of them Carries it upon any account, from place to place: shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even; as he that bore the carcasses of any of the flying creeping things, they are unclean to you; even the carcasses of the one and of the other; and to all…

These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth As distinguished from those creeping things that fly, these having no wings as they; and which were equally unclean, neither to be eaten nor touched, neither their blood, their skin, nor their flesh, as the…

And the ferret Whatever creature is here meant, it has its name in Hebrew from the cry it makes; and so the ferret has but one note in its voice, which is a shrill, but small, whining cry: it is used to drive rabbits out of their holes: the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render the word by…

These are unclean to you of all that creep Unfit for food, and not to be touched, at least when dead, as in the next clause, that is, these eight sorts of creeping things before mentioned, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, and these only, as Maimonides says [[16]]: whosoever doth touch them…

And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean Any of the above eight creeping things, that is, of their flesh, for as for their bones, nails, nerves, and skin, as before observed, being separated from them and dry, they do not defile: whether it be any vessel…

And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them falleth, &c.] Any of the above eight reptiles, should they by chance fall into the midst an earthen vessel: whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; if it only by falling touched the outside of it, it was not unclean; but if it fell into it, then…

Of all meat which may be eaten Which otherwise is lawful to eat and fit for food, whether herbs, or whether the flesh of clean creatures: that on which such water cometh shall be unclean; that is, such water as is put into an unclean vessel, become so by the fall of any unclean reptile into it;…

And everything whereupon any part of their carcass falleth shall be unclean Before the Scripture seems to speak of anyone of the reptiles perfect, that falling upon anything should pollute it; but here of any part of them, though ever so small, which should, through any accident, fall and light…

Nevertheless, a fountain or pit, wherein there is plenty of water Or, “a fountain or pit, a collection of waters”, the copulative being wanting, as some observe, Aben Ezra takes notice of; or it may be by way of apposition, and so may explain what fountain or pit is meant, even such an one where…

And if any part of their carcass fall upon any sowing seed that is to be sown That which is selected from the other seed in order to be sown, and which is laid by and laid up for that purpose; should the carcass, or any part of the carcass of a creeping thing fall upon an heap of it, into a vessel…

But if any water be put upon the seed Either accidentally or on purpose; whether on sowing seed, and with water with which they water the field, as Aben Ezra interprets it; or on seed used for food, by steeping it in water, as sometimes wheat is, and boiled; and whether it is water or the rest of…

And if any beast of which ye may eat die Any clean beast, as the ox, sheep, goat, deer what, if rightly killed, is very lawful to eat of; but if it died of itself through any distemper, or was torn by the wild beasts, so the Targum of Jonathan: he that toucheth the carcass thereof shall be unclean…

And he that eateth of the carcass of it For though it might be eaten, if rightly killed, yet not if it died of itself, or was strangled, or torn to pieces by wild beasts: shall wash his clothes; besides his body, which even he that touched it was obliged to: and be unclean until the even; though he…

And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, &c.] Nothing is called a creeping thing, as Jarchi says, but what is low, has short feet, and is not seen unless it creeps and moves: and “every creeping thing” comprehends, as Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom observe, the eight creeping things before…

Whatsoever goeth upon the belly Jarchi’s paraphrase is, “whatsoever goeth”, as worms and beetles, and the like to them, “upon the belly”, this is the serpent; and to go upon the belly is the curse denounced upon it, this and every such creature are forbidden to be eaten; as there are others who…

Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth With any creeping thing that flies in the air, excepting the four sorts of locusts, and with any creeping thing in the waters, or with anything that creeps on the land, by eating any of them; which being abominable for…

For I am the Lord your God Their Lord, and therefore had a right to enjoin them what laws he pleased concerning their food; and their God, their covenant God, and therefore would consult their good, and direct them to what was most proper, convenient, and wholesome for them: ye shall therefore…

For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt He had brought them out of it, and was now bringing them on in the wilderness towards Canaan’s land, in order to settle them there; and this is observed, to show what obligations they lay under to him to observe his commands; for since…

This is the law of the beasts Clean and unclean, what were to be eaten, and what not, and of the fowl; the unclean ones, which are particularly mentioned that they might be avoided, all others excepting them being allowed, : and of every living creature that moveth in the waters; all sorts of fish…

To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, &c.] Whether of beasts, fish, fowl, and flying creeping things: and between the beast that may be eaten, and the beast that may not be eaten; the former clause takes in all in general, this instances in a particular sort of creatures; and the…