SUMMARY
The LORD gives laws to the people through Moses and Aaron about which animals are “clean” (that is, lawful for eating) and which are “uncleanIn Hebrew law many regulations warned against impurity. Unclean things were numerous and included leprosy, menstruating women, dead bodies, shell fish, and pigs. More” (not to be eaten).
ANALYSIS
This chapter establishes dietary laws for the Israelites, specifying which animals can be eaten by them and which cannot be eaten. It is difficult to discern the reasoning behind the distinctions. For instance, clean land animals are those that have divided hoofs, chew the cud, and are cleft-footed. Any animal that meets only two of these three criteria is unclean (11:1-8). Scholars speculate that in the priestly mind-set, animals of each distinct group (land animals, fish, birds, insects) must exhibit certain characteristics emblematic of that group. For instance, a fish must have fins and scales in order to be “clean.” Those water animals that do not have fins and scales (like shellfish) are “unclean” (that is, they do not fit within their category) and are therefore unlawful to be eaten (11:9-12). Birds of prey cannot be eaten, perhaps because they eat blood, and the Israelites are not to eat blood (11:13-19; cf. 3:17; 17:10-11).
Other scholars argue that there is an ethical component to the dietary laws. That is, the Israelites are to value life, including the lives of animals. There are, therefore, only a few animals that can be killed for food, the so-called “clean” animals. The rest are to be left alone. The dietary laws, then, are “the Bible’s method of tamping the killer instinct in humans” [JacobThe son of Isaac and Rebekah, renamed Israel, became the father of the twelve tribal families. More Milgrom, Leviticus (Fortress, 2004), 103].
Whatever the worldview behind them, the dietary laws illustrate the priestly concern with boundaries and distinctions, particularly between “clean” and “unclean” (see Genesis 1, Leviticus 10:10). In a similar vein, the Israelites are forbidden to sow their fields with two kinds of seed, or to wear garments made with two kinds of material, or to allow any of their animals to breed with a different species (19:19). This priestly concern with boundaries is present throughout the book, so that holiness might be maintained in the community.
