Every beast that hath cloven hoofs, but not feet quite split open, nor cheweth the cud, shall be unclean unto you every one that toucheth them shall be unclean.
An animal had to pass two tests to count as clean: a fully split hoof and the chewing of the cud. This verse takes up the animal that passes only one — unclean at the table, and unclean to the touch.
One mark is about what the animal does with its food. The other is about the print it leaves on the ground.
What, then, are we to learn from those two features in a clean animal? The chewing of the cud pictures the natural process of "inwardly digesting" what one eats. The divided hoof sets out the character of one's outward walk. There is, as we know, a close connection between the two in the Christian life. The one who feeds on the green pastures of the Word of God and digests what he takes in — the one who can combine calm meditation with prayerful study — will without doubt show an outward walk that praises Him. He has graciously given us His word to form our habits and govern our ways.
The hoof is split into two halves that press against each other.
The cloven foot suits a light, firm tread and so gives speed. It also keeps the animal from sinking in soft ground. These opposed hoofs join to give stability. They may hint to us how the truths of the Word that seem most opposed to one another in fact only give balance and a firm tread to the one who rests on them. They certainly keep him from sinking in the very place where he feeds. The speed the foot is above all made for surely reminds us of this: where spiritual digestion is found in the believer, faith that looks at what is unseen turns the Christian's course into a race.
This verse describes an animal that half-qualifies: the hoof is divided, but not fully, and it does not chew the cud. Looking like a clean animal was not enough.
The two things were inseparable in every clean animal. The spiritual application matters greatly in practice. The inward life and the outward walk must go together. A man may claim to love the Word of God and feed on it — to study it and turn it over, the pasture of the soul. But if his footprints along the path of life are not what the Word calls for, he is not clean. On the other hand, a man may seem to walk with blameless correctness. But if his walk does not come out of the hidden life, it is worse than worthless.
The verse does not stop at diet. Why should a touch make a person unclean?
Death was the great defiler — death as the wages of sin, the greatest defiler of all. Yet it was not left to a general principle. In these verses the Israelite was told plainly that a touch of those carcasses made him unfit for his usual communion of privilege under the law. No one who only touched escaped the consequence. No contact passed without result. The requirement was inflexible.
A dead body was not evil in itself. So what was this rule teaching?
The unclean animals of Israel were not only forbidden as food. Anyone who touched the dead carcass of one of them became unclean himself. He had to wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. Again, we must insist that there was no moral uncleanness in the dead body itself. It stood for the uncleanness that believers today may pick up by associating with what is morally or spiritually unclean. With very real reason Timothy was told, "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure" (1 Tim. 5:22). If we disobey this, we may in effect be handling a dead carcass. The person may be guilty of serious sins we do not suspect, and by associating with him we would identify ourselves with his sins. In other words, we must take time to know a person before we identify ourselves with him.
The Christian is not bound by these food and contact rules. But the holiness behind them still stands.
It is not for the Christian a matter of eating or drinking. "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" are legal rules. The apostle quotes them in Colossians 2:21 in order to deny flatly that we are subject to such commands… Restrictions of touch, taste and the like have passed away for us. By faith we stand on the resurrection side of Christ's grave. Yet that makes the call stronger, not weaker. As God's children here below, we are urged to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1).
- Feed — chewing the cud pictures taking in the Word and digesting it, not merely reading it.
- Walk — the divided hoof pictures the walk. It is built for firm footing where soft ground would swallow it.
- Both — one mark without the other left the animal unclean. Inward life and outward walk go together.
- Touch — the rule reached past the table to the hand. Death, the wages of sin, defiled every contact.
- Holiness — the food rules are gone for the Christian. The call to cleanse ourselves from every defilement remains.
And whatever goeth on its paws, among all manner of beasts that go upon all four, those are unclean unto you whoever toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even.
The list of unclean land animals now moves past hoofs and cud to a third test: how the creature walks. Anything that goes on padded feet is off limits. Even touching its dead body left an Israelite unclean until evening. So why does God look at feet, and why does a touch matter when nothing is eaten?
Commentators pick up the older wording that these animals go on their "hands." They take it as a point about the foot itself, and read the chapter's order as moral rather than scientific.
The stain of the earth in view here explains why rules about death come in, since even a touch of the carcasses of unclean animals defiled a person. From this same point of view this chapter also names as unclean the beasts that go on their "hands" — that is, those whose feet have no hoofs to protect them. Classifying them this way shows how a moral symbolism governs the list; otherwise there is no order to see.
The list has another pattern in it: what these creatures live on.
We know from other scriptures that the animals described here as unclean are not really so, but are good as creatures of God. Yet Israel was to regard them as unclean and an abomination. The unclean are mostly those that eat flesh.
The clean animal had to carry two marks at once. Commentators suggest each one pictures something in a believer's life.
Dividing the hoof and chewing the cud may point to a steady, patient walk (like the camel or the ox), and to digesting or meditating on what is received.
Neither mark counts on its own. What God looks at is the footprint left on the road of life.
The inward life and the outward walk must go together. A man may claim to love and feed on the Word of God — to study it and turn it over as the pasture of the soul — but if his footprints along the pathway of life are not what the Word requires, he is not clean. On the other hand, a man may seem to walk with the blamelessness of a Pharisee; but if his walk is not the result of the hidden life, it is worse than worthless.
The verse does not stop at food. It reaches the person who only handles the dead animal.
Death was the great defiler — death as the wages of sin, the greatest defiler of all. Yet it was not left as a general principle. These verses tell the Israelite plainly that a touch of those carcasses made him unfit for the fellowship he normally enjoyed under the law. No one who so much as touched escaped the consequence. No contact could be passed over without penalty. "Bearing a carcass" might mean removing it out of the way, with no wish to use it for gain or any other selfish end. Even so, the bearer had to take the place of defilement, wash his clothes, and be unclean till evening. The requirement was inflexible.
The uncleanness had a time limit and a set remedy. Commentators see the washing as more than hygiene.
It is worth noticing the remedy God graciously provided for those who made themselves unclean by touching the carcasses of unclean things. Several times we are told that he "shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening." In every case the instruction is to wash his clothes. For us this pictures bringing our immediate surroundings under the cleansing action of the word of God. In it there is both the admission of defilement and its removal according to God's mind.
The rules about touching carcasses no longer bind the Christian. The holiness behind them still stands.
It is not for the Christian a matter of eating or drinking. "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" are legal rules quoted in Colossians 2:21, so that the apostle can deny outright that we are under such commands... We died with Christ from the elements of the world... So restrictions of touch, taste and the like have passed away for us. By faith we stand on the resurrection side of Christ's grave. Even so — and all the more — we are urged, as God's children here below, to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1).
- Foot — God judges the animal by its foot: paws instead of hoofs, with nothing to protect it from the ground.
- Food — The unclean creatures are mostly the flesh-eaters, and Israel was to treat them as an abomination.
- Footprint — Clean needs two marks together: a steady walk and inward feeding. A fine walk with no hidden life is worse than worthless.
- Contact — Touching defiled a man, not only eating. Even carrying a carcass out of the way did. The rule allowed no exceptions.
- Cleansing — The remedy was washing and waiting till evening. It points to the cleansing action of God's word. The touch rules have passed for the Christian; the call to perfect holiness has not.
And he that carrieth their carcase shall wash his garments, and be unclean until the even they shall be unclean unto you.
This rule closes a section on animals that walk on their paws. Touching their dead bodies makes a person unclean. Carrying one costs more: washed clothes, and uncleanness until evening. Why would God care about a man handling a dead animal? And what does a one-evening stain teach readers who no longer keep these food laws?
The carcass defiles because it is dead. God wanted His people to feel what death means.
To touch the carcass makes a person unclean till evening; to carry part of the carcass meant he had to wash his clothes and be unclean till then. Death came through sin, and the LORD would have His people feel it. Pagan feeling tried to hide death under flowers. But Israel learned how defiling death is. So Scripture urges us too to touch no unclean thing, and to come out and be separate to the Lord, in keeping with our new and near relationship to Him.
The verse says nothing about why the man picked the carcass up. That silence matters. A good reason for handling it did not keep the man clean.
This was not left to a general principle. In these verses God told the Israelite plainly that a touch of those carcasses made him unfit for his usual share in the privileges of fellowship under the law. No one who merely touched it escaped the consequence; no contact went without penalty. "Carrying a carcass" might mean removing it out of the way, with no wish to profit by it or any other selfish end. Even so, the one who carried it had to take the place of defilement, wash his clothes, and be unclean till evening. The requirement did not bend.
Commentators read the dead body as a picture of what is morally unclean. Carrying it pictures taking a share in someone else's sin.
There was no moral uncleanness in the dead body itself, but it symbolised the uncleanness believers today may pick up by associating with what is morally or spiritually unclean. There is very real reason behind Timothy's instruction, "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure" (1 Tim. 5:22). In disobeying this we would in effect be handling a dead carcass. The person may be guilty of serious sins we do not suspect. By associating with him we would identify ourselves with his sins. In other words, we must take time to know a person before identifying ourselves with him.
The picture covers more than one kind of contact. It reaches everyday friendships too:
These verses picture many kinds and degrees of uncleanness. In a world that has forfeited life, the defilement of death lies heavy over the whole realm ruled by the one who holds the power of death. We cannot be close friends with those who belong to this world, or make companions of them and walk with them, without being made unclean.
The cure here is not a sacrifice but a wash. Writers take the clothes as a picture of a person's habits.
Suppose we have had such contact with uncleanness, willingly or not. Then there is to be true self-judgment about it, a washing of our clothes (our habits), and then restoration.
Scripture itself says how that washing is done:
The clothes tell us of what touches us — our associations, what we have to do with, what the world around us sees connected with us. Perhaps people have been used to seeing us in the gambling halls, or in other evil places. All these associations and ways must be "washed." How do we wash our ways and associations? Psalm 119:9 answers that for us. It asks, "How can a young man keep his way pure?" Here is God's own answer: "By guarding it according to your word."
The uncleanness has an end. Commentators compare it to the way dealing with evil leaves its mark on us for a while.
Being occupied with evil, however necessary, is defiling. It has effects on the mind until we return to what is our normal state — occupation with Christ and His Word. How seriously all this speaks to us! Having to do with evil defiles for a time. So we need to apply what God has written to ourselves — to examine our ways and circumstances in the light of God's truth.
Christians are not under rules about touching and tasting. That makes the moral lesson stronger, not weaker.
"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch" are legal ordinances quoted in Colossians 2:21 so that the apostle can deny outright that we are under such commands... By faith we stand on the resurrection side of Christ's grave. Yet we are urged all the more, as God's children here below, to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1).
- Contact. Death came through sin, so a dead body defiled. God taught His people to feel that, not hide it under flowers.
- No excuse. The carrier might have been clearing the carcass away for good reasons. The law still counted him unclean.
- Company. The picture reaches our friendships. Taking part in another's sins is handling a dead carcass.
- Cleansing. Clothes stand for habits, and God's Word washes our habits clean.
- Closure. The stain ran only until evening. Judge yourself, find restoration, and return to Christ and His Word.