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0 All creatures clean and unclean (Lev 11)

Episode 46: All creatures clean and unclean

(Leviticus 11)

11 1 God said to Moses and Aaron,

3 You may eat animals that are cloven footed and chew the cud.

4 Don't eat animals that don't chew the cud and divide the hoof.

Like the camel. Don't eat it since it chews the cud but doesn't divide the hoof. It is unclean to you.

5-6 Don't eat coneys or hares since they chew the cud, but don't divide the hoof. They are unclean to you.

7-8 Pigs divide the hoof and are cloven-footed, but they don't chew the cud. So they are unclean to you.

Don't eat them or touch their dead bodies.

10 Every animal that lives in water and doesn't have both fins and scales is an abomination to you. 11 Don't eat them or touch their dead bodies.

13-19 The following birds are abominations: eagles, ospreys, vultures, kites, ravens, owls, nighthawks, gulls, hawks, cormorants, swans, pelicans, storks, herons, lapwings, and bats.

20 All birds that creep, going on all four, shall be an abomination unto you.

21 You may eat any flying creeping thing that goes on all four, with legs above their feet.

23 But all other four-footed, flying, creeping things shall be an abomination to you.

24 Whoever touches the carcass of a dead unclean thing is unclean until the evening.

29 Weasels, mice, tortoises, ferrets, chameleons, lizards, snails, and moles are also unclean creeping things.

32 Whoever or whatever touches a dead unclean beast will also be unclean, including vessels, wood, clothing, skin, sack, oven, and pots. The unclean thing must be washed with water and will be unclean until the evening.

33 An unclean earthen vessel must be broken.

39-40If you touch the body of a beast that dies of natural causes, then you will be unclean until the evening. And if you eat its carcass, you must wash your clothes and be unclean until the evening.

41 Every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth is an abomination. Don't eat them.

43 Don't make yourself abominable or defile yourself with any creeping thing that creeps.

46 This is the law of the beasts.

A few more words about this episode

Don't eat coneys or hares since they chew the cud, but don't divide the hoof. (11:5-6)
The Bible says that hares and coneys are unclean because they "chew the cud" but do not part the hoof. But hares and coneys are not ruminants and they do not "chew the cud."
Every animal that lives in water and doesn't have both fins and scales is an abomination. (11:10)
(God Hates Shrimp)
What the Bible says about food and shrimp
The following birds are abominations: eagles, ospreys, .... and bats. (11:13-19)
Bats are birds to the biblical God.
You may eat any flying creeping thing that goes on all four, with legs above their feet.

Or as the Beatles said in Come Together, "He's got feet down below his knees."

Which flying creeping things may we eat?

All other four-footed, flying, creeping things shall be an abomination (11:23)

Be sure to watch out for those "other flying creeping things which have four feet." (I wish God wouldn't get so technical!)

I guess he must mean four-legged insects.

You'd think that since God made the insects, and so many of them (at least several million species), he'd know how many legs they have!

Whoever touches the carcass of a dead unclean thing is unclean. (11:24)
Shoot! There goes my insect collection!
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