Leviticus 11

Since Noah knew about clean and unclean animals (Gen. 7:1–10), this distinction was part of an ancient tradition that antedated the Mosaic law. Whether a creature was “clean’’ or “unclean’’ had nothing to do with the quality of the beast; it all depended on what God said about the animal. When He gave these laws, no doubt the Lord had the health of His people in mind (Ex. 15:26; Deut. 7:15), but the main purpose of the dietary code was to remind the Israelites that they belonged to God and were obligated to keep themselves separated from everything that would defile them. “Be holy, for I am holy’’ (Lev. 11:44; see Deut. 14:3–20 for a parallel list of clean and unclean foods).

Nevertheless, the spiritual principle of separation from defilement applies to the people of God today. The fact that we know God must make a difference in every aspect of our lives. “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s’’ (1 Cor. 6: nkjv). “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God’’ (10: nkjv). God hasn’t given His church a list of things that are clean and unclean, but He’s revealed enough to us in His Word to help us know what pleases Him and what grieves Him.

Three facts should be noted about the dietary laws: (1) God gave these laws only to the Jewish nation; (2) obeying them guaranteed ceremonial purity but didn’t automatically make the person holy in character; and (3) the laws were temporary and were ended on the cross of Christ (Col. 2:14).

Jesus made it clear to His disciples that all foods were clean (Mark 7:1ff.), and God taught this lesson again to Peter before He sent him to minister to the “unclean’’ Gentiles (Acts 10:9–16). Paul affirmed that special days and diets must not be considered either the means or the measure of a person’s spirituality (Rom. 14:1—15:13). “But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do’’ (1 Cor. 8: niv). It’s wrong to judge other Christians on the basis of what they eat (Col. 2:16–23). As long as they believe God’s Word that all foods are clean, and ask God to bless their food, they have the right to eat it (1 Tim. 4:1–6).

It isn’t necessary to identify every creature named in this chapter. In fact, some of them are mysteries to us. Keep in mind that the law named representative creatures and didn’t attempt to give a complete list. Moses gave the general characteristics of the creatures that were approved and disapproved, and the people had to exercise discernment in applying the law. If a creature was doubtful, it was rejected; there was no sense taking a chance of becoming defiled.

Land animals (vv. 1–8). The two requirements were that the animal chew the cud and have a split hoof. An animal with only one of these features wasn’t considered clean and had to be rejected. The Hebrew word translated “hare’’ in verse 6 (“rabbit,’’ niv) refers to an animal we’re not familiar with, because the kinds of rabbits we’re familiar with don’t chew the cud. The movements of a rabbit’s jaw and nostrils may give the appearance that he’s chewing the cud, but that isn’t the case at all.

Water creatures (vv. 9–12). These had to have both fins and scales to be edible, and so all shellfish, catfish, and eels were prohibited. Aquatic creatures that are scavengers and burrow in the bottom of a body of water could pick up parasites that would be dangerous to the eater’s health. Since fish swim freely in the water, they generally escape such infections.

Fowl (vv. 13–19). Carrion-eating birds of prey would be defiled by the dead carcasses of their victims as well as by the blood still in the flesh; this made them doubly unclean. When Israel lusted after meat, the Lord sent them quails (Ex. 16:1–13; Num. 11:31–35).

Flying insects (vv. 20–23). All insects were forbidden except those with jointed hind legs used for jumping, such as locusts, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers. These creatures aren’t normally a part of the Western diet, but many peoples in the East eat parts of their bodies roasted. John the Baptist lived on a diet of locusts and wild honey (Matt. 3:4). The Jews would shun cockroaches, flies, and other insects of that variety.

Some years ago, during the course of my annual physical examination, my doctor discovered that my sugar count was rather high. He checked it very carefully and then informed me that I was a borderline diabetic in danger of experiencing some serious calamity, like a heart attack or blindness. The easiest solution to my problem was to lose weight, so I immediately went on a diet.

He gave me a piece of good advice. “Remember the secret of a happy diet is to learn to hate the things that aren’t good for you and to enjoy the things that are good for you.’’

It worked! I followed the diet, lost my taste for sweets and rich desserts, and soon got rid of the excess weight that was threatening my health, if not my life. We got the sugar under control.

The Jews under the Old Covenant had to adopt a similar outlook on life. They had to learn to despise the foods that God said were unclean and to enjoy the foods that God said were clean. It was a choice between pleasing themselves and being unclean or pleasing the Lord and being clean. There was no middle ground. If any food was questionable, it should have been automatically rejected, lest they disobey God and defile themselves.

When I was a young believer, somebody gave me a copy of the tract “Others May, You Cannot’’; it was a big help to me. I learned that I had to get my directions from God and not from other people, and that I had to be willing to be different. My great desire had to be to please the Lord joyfully, not grudgingly, and not to see how close I could get to sin and still not get into trouble.

Cleanliness is next to godliness.’’ John Wesley is generally credited with that saying, but it’s likely the proverb was current before his time. In fact, the way Wesley quoted it in his sermon “On Dress’’ indicates that his listeners were already familiar with the maxim.

The Jews would readily identify with the saying; in the camp of Israel, the concepts of cleanliness and godliness were so intertwined that they were almost synonymous. The Jews feared lest they become ceremonially unclean because of something they had touched or eaten. From birth to burial, the Jews had to submit every aspect of their daily lives to the authority of God’s law. Whether it was selecting their food, preparing their food, caring for a mother and new baby, diagnosing a disease, or disposing of waste, nothing was left to chance in the camp of Israel lest someone be defiled. In order to maintain ceremonial purity, each Jew had to obey God’s law in several areas of life.

The emphasis in this section is on avoiding the defilement caused by touching certain dead creatures, both clean and unclean. If a Jew happened upon the carcass of even a clean animal, he knew it was defiled because the blood hadn’t been properly drained out nor had the meat been protected from contamination. When Samson ate the honey from the carcass of the lion, he defiled himself and ceased to be a Nazarite (Judg. 14:1–9; see Num. 6:6, 9). No matter how sweet the honey was, it was unclean in God’s sight; this made Samson unclean.

People who became defiled from touching a carcass were considered unclean until the end of the day. They had to wash themselves and their clothes and couldn’t enter the camp until sunset. This kept them from spreading to others any contamination they might have picked up from touching the dead animal. If a dead creature fell into an earthen vessel, the vessel was smashed. Anything touched by the carcass was unclean and had to be either washed or destroyed.

It’s easy to see hygienic reasons behind these regulations, and no doubt obeying them helped the Jews avoid sickness. But the main reason for these laws was to teach the people to appreciate cleanliness and shun whatever was unclean. Paul’s admonition of the Corinthians is a contemporary application of this principle and must be pondered and obeyed by any believer who is serious about holy living (2 Cor. 6:14—7:1).

Moses also added lizards, rodents, and other creeping things to the list of prohibited foods (Lev. 11:29–30). These small creatures could die and be so concealed that a person would not know the carcass was there before they had touched it and become defiled. Or the corpse might fall into a container or on fabric, and this would make the item unclean. Jewish women were very careful in their housekeeping lest anything be present that would make the inhabitants unclean.

Thirty-two times in Leviticus 11, you find the word unclean, and ten times you find the word abomination. What God says is unclean must be an abomination in our eyes. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness’’ (Isa. 5: niv). The first step toward disobedience is often “reclassifying’’ sin and making it look acceptable instead of abominable.

For example, God said that the tree in the midst of the garden was off-limits to the man and woman, but Eve “saw that the tree was good for food’’ (Gen. 3:6) and took the fruit. God said that all the spoil of Jericho was under divine restriction and not to be touched by the Jewish soldiers (Josh. 6:16–19), but Achan revised that classification and took some of the spoil (7:16–26). It cost him his life. Samuel told King Saul to slay all the Amalekites and their flocks and herds, but the king kept Agag alive and kept “the best of the sheep and of the oxen’’ to give to the Lord (1 Sam. 15:15). Saul reclassified what God had said was abominable and thought this would make it acceptable, but his folly caused him to lose his kingdom.

Today, we live in a society that rejects moral absolutes and promotes a “fluid’’ morality that isn’t morality at all. Like the people described in the book of Judges, everybody is doing what is right in their own eyes (Judg. 21:25). But society’s reclassifying of sin hasn’t changed anything; God still calls sin an abomination and still judges it.

Doctors can be sued for malpractice if they make the wrong diagnosis and prescribe the wrong treatment. But a university professor, a liberal preacher, or a popular newspaper columnist can excuse sin and defend immorality and be applauded for the skillful diagnosis. Why? Because the human heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked’’ (Jer. 17:9) and people love “darkness rather than light’’ because their deeds are evil (John 3:19).

Evangelist Billy Sunday used to say that a sinner can’t find God for the same reason a criminal can’t find a police officer: the criminal isn’t looking very hard! “Prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit,’’ wrote Jeremiah the prophet. “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace’’ (Jer. 8: niv). The people are persecuted who have the right diagnosis and the only remedy, while the people with the false diagnosis and the useless remedy are honored. “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so’’ (5:31).

If the Jewish people were to keep themselves clean and pleasing to the Lord, they had to exercise discernment; this meant knowing God’s Word, respecting it, and obeying it. Fathers and mothers had to teach their children the law and warn them about the things that were unclean (Deut. 6:1–9). The priests had to teach the people and remind them of the commandments of the Lord. It was when the nation of Israel neglected the Word of God and refused to obey it that the people began to follow the abominable practices of the heathen nations around them, and this is what led to Israel’s discipline and defeat.

The Jews had to remind themselves every hour of every day that they belonged to Jehovah, the true and living God, and that belonging to the nation of Israel was a high and holy privilege. “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy’’ (Lev. 11: niv). In New Testament language, “Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called’’ (Eph. 4: nkjv). Obeying God’s will isn’t a burden; it’s a privilege! As Moses reminded his people, “For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?’’ (Deut. 4:7–8 nkjv)

The Old Testament Jew, like the New Testament Christian, was not to walk “as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind’’ (Eph. 4:17). It was a temptation to “go along with’’ and then imitate the pagan practices of the heathen nations, and this led to Israel’s defilement and discipline. I fear that the church today is following the same philosophy and becoming more and more like the world. G. Campbell Morgan was right when he said that the church did the most for the world when the church was the least like the world.

Jews who exercised spiritual discernment would “walk in love’’ (Eph. 5:2), and their love for the Lord would motivate them to obey His law. Each morning, the orthodox Jew would recite “The Shema,’’ the official Jewish confession of faith: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength’’ (Deut. 6:4–5 niv). That is still the first great commandment (Matt. 22:34–40).

Like Israel in the Old Testament, believers today must not only walk worthy of their calling and walk in love, but also must “walk circumspectly … understanding what the will of the Lord is’’ (Eph. 5:15, 17). We must keep our eyes open and look around carefully lest we defile ourselves. Jews who knew what God said was clean and unclean, and who exercised constant caution, weren’t likely to touch something unclean and defile themselves. When we “walk as children of light’’ (Eph. 5:8), we won’t stumble over some carcass in the darkness; for God’s Word is the light that directs us (Ps. 119:105).

The Lord reminded His people that it was He who had redeemed them from Egyptian bondage (Lev. 11:45). Therefore, they belonged to Him and were obligated to obey His will. Christ has redeemed us, not that we might be free to please ourselves, but that we might be free to serve Him, which is the greatest freedom of all. In giving His law, the Lord frequently used the miracle of the exodus to call Israel to obedience (19:36; 22:31–33; 25:38, 42, 55; 26:13, 45). In New Testament language, the Jews had been “bought with a price’’ and were obligated to glorify the Lord who had redeemed them (1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18–25).

One of the marks of maturity is the ability “to make a difference’’ (Lev. 11:47) and distinguish between right and wrong. As a pathologist looks through his or her microscope, he or she can see a difference between a healthy cell and a cancerous cell. The expert musician can hear the difference between the right note and the almost-right note, and the expert writer knows the difference between “any word’’ and the right word. Likewise, mature believers can exercise discernment, identify that which is unclean, and avoid it. Remember, children are prone to walk into the mud and get dirty.

What the prophet Hosea said about Israel in his day is true of many professed Christians today: “You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you.… My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge’’ (Hos. 4:5–6 niv). “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil’’ (Heb. 5: niv). Commenting on 1 Corinthians 2:13–16, Vance Havner said, “Nothing is more rare in churches today than discernment. The natural man knows nothing of it, the carnal man is devoid of it. Only the spiritual man has it and we have all too few in that category.’’