Bible Commentaries

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These [are] the beasts which ye ^a shall eat among all the beasts that [are] on the earth.

(a) Or, of which ye may eat.

Whatsoever parteth the ^b hoof, and is clovenfooted, [and] cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.

(b) He notes four types of beasts, some that chew the cud only, and some that only have the hoof cleft. Others neither chew the cud, nor have the hoof cleft, and the fourth both chew the cud and have the hoof divided, which may be eaten.

Of their ^c flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they [are] unclean to you.

(c) God would that by this for a time they should be discerned as his people from the Gentiles.

And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that ^d move in the waters, and of any ^e living thing which [is] in the waters, they [shall be] an abomination unto you:

(d) As little fish begotten in the slime.

(e) As they which come of generation.

[Even] these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the ^f bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.

(f) These were certain types of grasshoppers, which are not now properly known.

And whosoever ^g beareth [ought] of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.

(g) Out of the camp.

These also [shall be] unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the ^g tortoise after his kind,

(g) The green frog that sits on the bushes.

And upon whatsoever [any] of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether [it be] any vessel of wood, or raiment, or ⁱ skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel [it be], wherein [any] work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed.

(i) As a bottle or bag.

Nevertheless a fountain or pit, [wherein there is] plenty of water, shall be clean: but that which ^k toucheth their carcase shall be unclean.

(k) So much of the water as touched it.

But if [any] ^l water be put upon the seed, and [any part] of their carcase fall thereon, it [shall be] unclean unto you.

(l) He speaks of seed that is laid to sleep before it is sown.

For I [am] the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be ^m holy; for I [am] holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

(m) He shows why God chose them to be his people, (1 Peter 1:15).