Leviticus 11

“Whatsoever parteth the hoof and is c’oven-footed, and cheweth the cud, that shall ye eat.”

Lev. 11 : 3. Cheweth the cud. Ruminates, casts up the grass which had been taken into the stomach, for the purpose of mastication. Animals which chew the cud, or ruminate, are provided with two, three, or four stomachs. The ox has four: in the first or largest, called the ventriculus (rumen), the food is collected without being masticated. The food, by the force of the muscular coats of this stomach and the liquors poured in, is sufficiently macerated, after which, formed into small balls, it is thrown up by the œsophagus into the mouth, where it is made very small by mastication or chewing, and then sent down into the second stomach, into which the œsophagus opens as well as into the first, ending exactly where the two stomachs meet. This is what is termed chewing the cud. The second stomach, which is called the reticulum, honey-comb, bonnet, or king’s-hood, has a great number of small shallow cells on its inward surface; in this the food is further macerated, and then pushed onward into the third stomach, called the omasum or manyplies, because its inward surface is covered with a great number of thin membranous partitions. From this the food passes into the fourth stomach, called the abamassum or reed. In this stomach it is digested, and from the digested mass the chyle is formed, which being absorbed by the lacteal vessels is afterward thrown into the mass of blood, and becomes the principle of nutrition to all the solids and fluids of the body. The intention of rumination, or chewing the cud, seems to be that the food may be sufficiently comminuted, that being more fully acted on by the stomachs it may afford the greatest possible portion of nutritive juices. A C.

Another peculiar characteristic of clean beasts is that of chewing the cud—a faculty so expressive of that act of the mind by which it revolves, meditates, and reasons upon what it receives within it, that the word ruminate, from rumen, the stomach, distinctive of this class of animals, has become an established metaphorical term in our language, by which to express the act of the mind in studious meditation.

Distinction of Fishes.

All that have scales and fins were to be accounted clean, and all others unclean—a distinction equally clear, simple, and systematic. Even to this day fish with fins and scales are generally regarded as wholesome and often delicious, while others that differ in these particulars are looked upon with disgust, and occasionally with horror, under a belief that they are sometimes poisonous. It is interesting to remark how the sentiments of mankind do generally, in this matter, coincide with the Divine precept.

Distinction of Fowls.

The ordinance respecting birds differs from the others in the absence of any particular distinction of clean and unclean. It merely specifies, for the sake of prohibiting, certain species of known birds, leaving it to be understood that all others were allowed. But even in regard to the permitted species, it is now so difficult to ascertain them, that we cannot resist the inference that the Law itself must be considered as abrogated; for there is probably not a Jew in existence who is able to identify the different classes here mentioned. And the same remark holds good in respect to many of the animals and insects designated in this chapter. As Moses begins his catalogue with the eagle, the highest and noblest of the feathered race, so he ends with the bat, which is the lowest, and forms the connecting link between the quadruped and volatile species. Bush.

The unclean birds are those which are gross feeders, devourers of flesh or offal, and therefore offensive to the taste, beginning with the eagle and vulture tribe. F. M.—The birds forbidden are either rapacious, and live on flesh, or are nightbirds, or haunt marshes and lakes, or are heavy and not easily raised from the ground, or live on coarse diet. On the contrary, the birds allowed by the Law of Moses are those that live upon a cleaner food. Lewis.

Distinction of Insects.

20. All winged creeping things. That insects are here meant is plain from the following verse, and therefore the sense is, all those creatures which fly and also creep, “going upon all four”—i.e., creeping along upon their feet in the manner of quadrupeds, such as flies, wasps, bees, etc., together with all leaping insects; these are to be avoided as unclean, with the exceptions in the two next verses.—21, 22. Insects, reptiles, and worms are generally prohibited; but an exception is here made in favor of those insects which, besides four walking legs, have also two longer springing legs and which, under the name of “locusts,” are declared clean. Those particularly enumerated seem to indicate the four leading genera of the locust family. In Palestine, Arabia, and the adjoining countries, locusts are one of the common articles of food, and the people would be very ill off if precluded from eating them. Bush.—They collect them in great quantities, not only for their own eating, but for sale in the bazaars—for these insects are highly relished by all classes of people. In some towns there are shops exclusively for the sale of locusts. They are so prepared as to be kept for use a considerable time. Kit.

Creeping Things.

The great inconveniences which the Law connected with defilements necessarily obliged the Israelites to pay great attention to cleanliness: and this was probably what the laws on this subject had principally in view. Kit.

Animals Eaten to be Properly Slaughtered.

Ex. 22:31. “Flesh torn of beasts in the field ye shall not eat; ye shall cast it to the dogs.”

Lev. 17:15. “Every soul that eateth that which dieth of itself, or is torn of beasts, be he home-born or stranger, shall be unclean until even.”

De. 14:21. “Ye shall not eat anything that dieth of itself: thou mayest give it to the stranger, or sell it to a foreigner.”

With the law of clean and unclean foods, there fitly connects itself this one forbidding as food the flesh of animals accidentally killed or dying a natural death. It is really the old Noachian precept (Gen. 9:4) in another form, which forbade eating the blood with the flesh (cf. De. 12:16, 24; 15:23), and which was held by the Jews of later times to be binding on all proselytes (cf. Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25). The present enactment is found in each of the three codes, but with considerable difference of detail. It is quite in keeping with the circumstances, that the Law in its Levitical shape, as applicable especially to life in camp, should put both citizens and strangers under the same rule; while the Deuteronomic, looking toward changed conditions in Palestine, takes on a considerably milder form as it respects the latter. In fact, the permission to sell the carcases of fallen animals to “foreigners” would have been without special pertinence during the forty years’ wanderings. Such a class was then almost entirely wanting; while the “stranger”—that is, sojourner and possible proselyte, belonging to a wholly different category, was necessarily subjected, as we have seen, to Israelitish laws. E. C. B.

Dieth of itself, or torn of beasts. This is but the application of the main law in regard to blood; for in both cases the blood was retained in the body; hence the council at Jerusalem forbade things strangled, as well as blood; because in such beasts the blood was coagulated in the veins and arteries. Bush.

The defiling character of death through natural causes was to be constantly recognized. Men might devote an animal to death for sacrificial purposes or for their own use, but when death came as the debt of nature, at once its defiling character must be realized and purification sought accordingly. These laws entailed constant watchfulness. No careless living was possible under the Jewish régime. Edgar.

Neither Fut nor Blood to be Eaten.

All creatures of the creeping kind may be ranged under the three following classes: Those which move by the aid of the under part of the stomach and belly, as serpents. Those which, though they have four legs, nevertheless move like reptiles, as lizards, moles. Those which move by short and almost imperceptible feet, as caterpillars, centipedes, millepedes. Bush.

31-38. As the little animals mentioned—weasels, mice, and lizards—are more likely than those of a larger size to be found dead in domestic utensils and clothes, a further warning as to their defiling character is added, with rules for daily use.

41-43. The last class is that of vermin, which constitute a part of the unwinged creeping class already spoken of (verses 29, 30) Whatsoever goeth upon the belly indicates snakes, worms, maggots; whatsoever goeth upon all four, things that grovel, as moles, rats, hedgehogs; whatsoever hath more feet, or doth multiply feet, centipedes, caterpillars, spiders. F. M.

Defilement from Unclean Carcases.