Leviticus 11

Leviticus 11:1

Leviticus – Bible Study Commentary *Worship the *LORD in the Beauty of *Holiness An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Leviticus www.easyenglish.info Gordon Churchyard This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 11 Chapter 11:1 to 15:33 Rules about what is *clean and what is *unclean The most important idea in Leviticus is *holiness. This means two things.

 If  you have ‘*holiness’, you are very, very good. Really, only God  is holy. That is, only God is perfect; only God has no *sin. But he  says that his people are holy too. They become holy because they  belong to him. And he is changing their lives.

 Because  his people are holy, they must be separate for him. In chapters 11  to 15, we find rules that make God’s people separate from other  people.

There are several groups of rules in these chapters.

 Chapter  11 tells us what food is *clean or *unclean. Remember, *unclean does  not mean dirty in Leviticus. God’s law did not allow the  *Israelites to eat the meat from any *unclean animals.

 Chapter  12 tells us about women who have a baby. They are *unclean after the  baby’s birth. This does not of course mean that they were dirty.  It means that they cannot go to the House of God.

 Chapters  13 and 14 tell us about various diseases of the skin. These diseases  make people *unclean. Here, ‘*unclean’ means that they could not  live with the other people in the *Israelites’ camp.

 Chapter  15 tells us about liquids from the body that made the *Israelites  *unclean. Food that is *clean, and food that is *unclean v1 The *LORD said (this) to Moses and to Aaron.

v2 ‘Say (this) to the *Israelites. “These are the animals that you may eat. (But you may not eat all the other animals that live on (dry) land.

v3 You may eat any animal with a completely *divided hoof that *chews the *cud.

v4 Some (animals) only *chew the *cud or they only have a *divided hoof. You must not eat these animals. The camel does *chew the *cud, but it does not have a *divided hoof. Your religion therefore says that it is *unclean.

v5 The animal called the coney does *chew the *cud, but it does not have a *divided hoof. (Your religion says that) it is *unclean.

v6 The rabbit does *chew the *cud, but it does not have a *divided hoof. (Your religion says that) it is *unclean.

v7 The pig does have a completely *divided hoof, but it does not *chew the *cud. (Your religion says that) it is *unclean.

v8 You must not eat the meat (from any of these animals). And you must not touch their dead bodies. (Your religion says that) they are *unclean.

v9 Many animals live in water. (They live in) the seas and in the rivers. You may eat any of them that have (both) *fins and *scales.

v10 But some animals in the seas and in the rivers do not have *fins and *scales. They may be animals that swim together. Or they may be other animals that are in the water. You must hate (to eat) them.

v11 And because you hate them, you must not eat their meat. You must hate their dead bodies.

v12 You must hate any (animal) that (is like this).

 It  lives in water.

 Also,  it does not have *fins and *scales.

v13-19 These are the birds that you must hate. You must not eat them because they are nasty. (These birds are called):

 The  eagle, the vulture and the black vulture.

 The  red kite and any kind of black kite. (v14)

 Any  kind of raven. (v15)

 The  owl with *horns, the owl that screams, the gull and any kind of  hawk. (v16)

 The  little owl, the cormorant, and the great owl. (v17)

 The  white owl, the desert owl and the osprey. (v18)

 The  stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat. (v19)

v20 You must also hate most flying insects that rush about.

v21 But you may eat some flying insects that rush about. These ones are insects whose legs have *joints. They can therefore jump on the ground.

v22 From this group, you may eat any kind of *locust, bald *locust, desert *locust or *grasshopper.

v23 But you must hate all other insects that have wings and 4 (pairs of) legs.

v24 If you touch the dead bodies (of these animals), you will be *unclean until the evening.

v25 Anyone who picks up one of their dead bodies must wash his clothes. And that person will be *unclean until the evening.

v26 Anyone who touches (the dead body of) one of these animals will be *unclean. (The animals are those) whose *hoofs are not completely *divided. Or, (the animals) do not *chew the *cud.

v27 Many animals walk on all their 4 feet. If they walk on their paws, then they will make you *unclean. Anyone who touches their dead bodies will be *unclean until the evening.

v28 Anyone who picks up their dead bodies must wash his clothes. That person will be *unclean until the evening. (These animals) will make you *unclean.

v29-30 These animals that crawl on the ground will make you *unclean. (They include the animals called):

 The  weasel and the rat.

 Any  kind of great lizard.

 The  gecko and the monitor lizard. (v30)

 The  wall lizard.

 The  skink and the chameleon.

v31 All these animals that crawl on the ground will make you *unclean. If you touch their dead bodies, you will be *unclean until the evening.

v32 One of these (animals) may die and fall onto something. That thing, whatever it is, will be *unclean. (Someone may have) made it out of wood, cloth, animal skin or sacks. Put it in water. It will be *unclean until the evening. Then it will be *clean.

v33 One of (the dead animals) may fall into a *clay pot. Then, everything in (the pot) will be *unclean. You must break the pot.

v34 There may be some food that you could eat. But if it has water on it from such a pot, it is *unclean. Also, anything that you could drink from the pot is *unclean.

v35 If the dead body (of an animal) falls onto anything, (that thing) becomes *unclean. If it is an oven or a pot to cook (food in), you must break it. They are *unclean and you must consider them as *unclean.

v36 However, these things remain *clean (if a dead animal falls into them).

 A  well (into which fresh water comes).

 A  large bath that collects water.

But anyone who touches the dead bodies in them is *unclean.

v37 The dead body (of an animal) may fall onto (dry) seeds that are ready to plant. (Those seeds) will remain *clean.

v38 But if the dead body (of an animal) falls onto wet seeds, they are *unclean for you.

v39 An animal that you can eat may die. Anyone who touches its dead body will be *unclean until the evening.

v40 Anyone who eats any (meat from the animal’s) dead body must wash his clothes. He will be *unclean until the evening. Anyone who picks up the dead body must wash his clothes. He will be *unclean until the evening.

v41 You must hate every animal that crawls about on the ground. You must not eat any of them.

v42 You must not eat any animal that crawls about on the ground. It is nasty, whether it moves on its stomach, on 4 feet, or on many feet.

v43 Do not make yourselves *unclean with any of these animals. Do not become *unclean by them. Do not let any of them make you *unclean.

v44 I am the *LORD (who is) your God. Make yourselves separate (from other people) and be holy. (Do this) because I (the *LORD) am holy. Do not make yourselves *unclean with any animal that moves about on the ground.

v45 I am the *LORD who brought you out of Egypt. (I did it so that) I could be your God. Therefore, be holy because I am holy.

v46 These are the rules about animals and birds. (Also these are the rules about) everything that moves in water. (And these are the rules about) everything that moves on the ground.

v47 You must distinguish between what is *clean and *unclean. You must know which animals you can eat. And (you must know) which animals you must not eat.” ’ About these rules The rules in this chapter remain very important for the *Jews today.

In 10:10, God told Aaron, ‘You must learn the difference between what is holy and not holy. Also (you must learn) what is *clean and *unclean.’

God had separated the *Israelites from other people. And God had also separated the animals to be *clean or *unclean. The *Israelites already knew something about this difference (Genesis 7:2). But they needed God to teach them more.

Soon they would enter the *Promised Land. But the *Promised Land was not perfect. It was not like heaven. And the *Promised Land was not like the garden called Eden, where everything was perfect. In the *Promised Land, there lived both *unclean animals and *clean animals. God told the *Israelites that they must not eat the *unclean animals.

All the kinds of *clean animals provide good, healthy meat. Some of the *unclean animals seem good too, but God still told the *Israelites not to eat them. So the *Israelites had to trust that God’s decision was right.

We do not know the reasons why all these animals were *clean or *unclean. But we can understand some of the reasons:

 Some  *unclean animals are actually dirty.

 Some  *unclean animals seem to behave in a cruel manner. So they did not  behave as the *Israelites should behave.

 Some  *unclean animals eat food that was *unclean for the *Israelites. For  example, those animals eat meat that comes from *unclean animals.

 Some  *unclean animals do not provide healthy meat.

 Some  *unclean animals are especially close to the ground when they walk.

When they followed these rules, the *Israelites were learning not to please themselves. They should not eat whatever they wanted to eat. Instead, they must always try to obey God.

Usually, the words ‘*clean’ and ‘*unclean’ are about whether a person can *worship God in public. But most of this chapter is not about public *worship. It is about the decisions that people must make each day. They decide what food they should eat. They make a choice whether to obey God, or not to obey God. Notes Verses 1-8 The *hoof is the foot of some animals. Sometimes there is a division in the *hoof. We call this ‘a *divided hoof’. Some animals can get their food back from their stomachs. Then they can eat it again, slowly. We say that they ‘*chew the *cud’. The cow has a *divided hoof and it *chews the *cud. So, the *Israelites could eat cows. They could also eat goats and sheep for the same reason. But they could not eat camels, coneys, rabbits and pigs. A coney is probably an animal like a large rabbit that lives on rocky ground. We are not certain about this. Some people think that it was the animal now called the badger. Neither are we now certain that coneys and rabbits *chew the *cud. So maybe these verses refer to other animals.

The religion of the *Israelites said that the animals in verses 4-7 were *unclean. That made the *Israelites separate from people who belonged to other religions. Other people could eat camels, rabbits and pigs. *Unclean does not mean that those people were dirty. But they did not live in the manner that God’s people lived. And they could not go to *worship God in his house.

Verses 9-12 A fish uses *fins with which to swim. *Scales cover its body. The word ‘hate’ in verses 11 and 12 has a special meaning. It means ‘not like’. This is because these animals could make the *Israelites ‘*unclean’.

*Jewish Bible students have a different explanation for the word ‘hate’. If a person touched even the dead body of an unclean animal, that person became *unclean. But that would not happen to a person who touched an *unclean fish, bird or insect. (And they say that verse 24 is about the passage after it, not before.) If so, ‘hate’ means simply that you must not eat that thing. But you can touch it.

Verses 13-19 Most of these birds eat smaller birds or dead animals. The bat is not a bird, but an animal that flies in the night. Again, ‘hate’ means the same as in verses 11-12.

‘Nasty’ means that they will make people *unclean. Here is a description of each of these birds. We cannot be sure what all these birds actually are.

   Name    of bird

   Description

   vultures,    ravens

   birds    that eat dead animals

   eagles,    kites, hawks

   birds    that catch and eat smaller birds

   osprey

   an    eagle that catches and eats fish

   owls

   birds    that catch and eat small animals at night

   cormorant,    heron, stork

   birds    that live near water; they catch and eat fish and small animals

   hoopoe

   a    bird that made its nest in dirty places

   gull

   a    bird that lives near the sea

Verses 20-23 Again, ‘hate’ means the same as in verse 11. Leg *joints in insects are like knees in animals. *Locusts are important in several places in the Bible, including:

 Exodus 10:12-19. They started the 8th *plague. The 10 *plagues  were the bad things that happened to the King of Egypt and to his  people.

 Matthew 3:4 and Mark 1:6. They were part of the food that John (called the  Baptist) ate.

Bible students are not sure what these 4 insects were. There are details in a *commentary on Leviticus by John E Harvey. Grasshoppers are like small *locusts. Insects have 3 pairs of legs. The 4th pair probably meant the antennae. Two antennae stand up from an insect’s head.

Verses 24-25 If someone merely touched the dead body of an *unclean animal, that person would be *unclean. Here, ‘*unclean’ means that the person could not go to God’s house. ‘Until the evening’ reminds us that the next day started each evening at sunset for the *Israelites.

Verses 26-28 These animals eat meat. This is probably why they made people ‘*unclean’. They are animals like cats and dogs, lions and bears. They ate meat that the *Israelites could not eat.

Verses 29-40 You can read something below about each animal. Bible students are not sure what each animal actually is.

   Name    of animal

   weasel

   like    a very big and long rat

   rat

   like    a very big mouse

   great    lizard

   an    animal that can live in water or on the land; lizards have skins    that shine

   gecko

   a    lizard that makes a low sound

   monitor    lizard

   a    lizard up to 4 feet long

   wall    lizard

   a    type of lizard

   skink

   another    type of lizard

   chameleon

   a    lizard that can change its colour

The *Israelites made their ovens and pots with *clay. *Clay is a type of soil, so they could easily make new ovens and pots. The water in the well or bath often changes so it is *clean. Some Bible students think that the wet seeds were for food. The animals in verses 39-40 still had their blood in them. This made them *unclean.

Verses 41-47 Again, ‘hate’ means the same as in verse 11. The animals here are probably small animals like insects and snakes. ‘Nasty’ means that the animal will make people *unclean.

Verses 44-45 contain the most important message in the Book of Leviticus:

   God’s    people must be holy.

The word ‘holy’ is in Leviticus over 50 times. That is why we called this Commentary: ‘*Worship the *LORD in the beauty of *holiness.’ It is *holiness (or ‘the quality that a holy person has’) that makes God’s people different from other people. Something to do

1. Read about Peter and the animals in the sheet, in Acts 10:9-16. Christians do not have to obey many of the rules for *Israelites – see Acts 15:28-29 and 1 Corinthians chapter 8.

2. Read Genesis 3:14. Of which verse in Leviticus chapter 11 does it remind you?

3. Learn to say 1 Peter 1:15-16 from memory. (‘From memory’ means that you do not look at the words.)

© 2010, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

July 2010

Visit our website: www.easyenglish.info

var w0 = new Array;w0[0]=’<b%3Eworship</b%3E ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.’;w0[1]=’<b%3ELORD</b%3E ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates <I%3EYHWH</I%3E. <I%3EYHWH</I%3E probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.