This is the law of cattle, and of fowl, and of every living soul that moveth in the waters, and of every soul that crawleth on the earth;
Leviticus 11 sorts beasts, birds, water creatures and swarming things into clean and unclean. This verse is God's label on the whole chapter. Why would God give His people a law about animals? And what does it say to readers who are no longer under it?
Verses 46 and 47 add no new rules. They gather up all that came before.
Here we find the Lord going into the most remarkable detail. He describes beasts, birds, fish and reptiles. He gives His people various marks by which they were to know what was clean and what was unclean. The two closing verses sum up this whole remarkable chapter.
That level of detail is itself a kindness. God left nothing to guesswork.
No one can overestimate this privilege. God lets us go to His words and find the fullest guidance there for every detail of our faith and service, day by day. All that we need is a broken will, a humbled mind, a single eye.
The law does not discuss what is healthy. It divides the animal world into clean and unclean, and the reason lies in what eating pictures.
Spiritually, our food declares our character, and it also forms it. The one who eats Christ will not only live by Him. In practice his life will be made like His. So the food God allows His people here pictures their spiritual life. This is the real and ultimate meaning of these divisions… health is never brought forward. The law does not deal with what is wholesome or unwholesome, but with what is clean or unclean.
A clean animal carried two marks.
Chewing the cud pictures the inward digesting of what one eats. The divided hoof pictures the character of one's outward walk. There is, as we know, a close connection between the two in the Christian life.
Commentators draw further detail from the hoof itself — its firmness and its speed.
These opposed hoofs, joining to give stability in this way, may perhaps show us how the truths of the Word that seem most opposed to one another in fact only give balance and a firm step to the one who rests on them, while they certainly prevent being stuck in the very place of pasture.
The chapter follows the setting apart of the priests. Those brought near had to judge by God's word, not by taste.
The previous chapter announced the task of the priests. They were to tell the difference between the holy and the unholy, and between unclean and clean. Here we have the details among the living creatures of every sort, starting with the beasts on the earth. Those whose standing privilege was to draw near to God were to decide according to the divine word.
The two sides belong together — nearness to God, and separation from what dishonours Him.
We have seen how God has in grace joined us to His dear Son. We belong to the priestly family, and God has brought us near. So fellowship with Him must mean separation from everything that is against His mind and will. Linked with God on the one side, we cannot on the other side link Him with what would dishonour Him.
But the rules could not make anyone holy.
Nature has no power against the fall or its effects. The law has no power either. It can only forbid, and condemn anyone who breaks it… But law gave power no more than it gave life. Christ alone gives both, to those who receive Him by faith.
These food rules were never laid on everyone.
In Noah's day all people were in view. In Moses' day only Israel was in question. These special laws had two purposes. They were to impress Israel with the holiness of God, and to help keep them distinct and separate from the nations.
Peter learned in Acts 10 what those unclean animals pictured.
Then he realised that the unclean animals stood for people, that is, Gentiles. Peter says in Acts 10:28 that God had shown him he should not call any man unclean… The sacrifice of Christ cleanses all who trust Him as Saviour, whether Jews or Gentiles. So God has removed the barrier between clean and unclean animals.
The diet is gone; the training in discernment is not.
The ungodliness and deceitfulness of the flesh come out especially in the night birds. Eager to devour others, they quietly seize their prey in the stillness of the night, when least suspected… So God's dear children are to keep away entirely from the unclean principles we have been looking at. We are to hate the quiet, unnoticed activities of the flesh as much as those that are openly filthy and corrupt.
- Detail — this verse labels a chapter of painstaking instruction. God left His people nothing to guess at.
- Diet — the law never argues from health. It argues from cleanness, because what a person feeds on both shows and shapes character.
- Digestion — the clean animal chewed the cud and had a split hoof. One pictures feeding on the Word, the other a walk that matches.
- Difference — drawing near to God brings separation from what dishonours Him. His word decides, not taste.
- Deliverance — the law could forbid, but it could not give life or power. Christ gives both. In Him the barrier between clean and unclean falls, and the call to discern evil stays.
to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that is to be eaten and the beast that is not to be eaten.
The chapter ends by naming its own purpose: the long list of beasts, birds, fish and crawling things was there to teach Israel to tell one from the other. Why teach holiness through a menu, and what does a food rule have to do with us today?
This list is not about taste. It follows from the duty given to the priests in the previous chapter, and it hands them a standard outside themselves.
The previous chapter announced that the priests were to tell the holy from the unholy, and the unclean from the clean… Those who drew near to God as their standing privilege were to decide according to the divine word.
The order in Leviticus matters. It deals with the consecration of the priests first, and only then with clean and unclean. Commentators read that order as a pattern for the believer.
In Leviticus, after the consecration of the priests, everything to do with being clean or unclean comes together. It was the priests who were to know how to discern between the clean and the unclean. The priesthood had to discern everything. This also belongs to the Christian — not as one who fears having sin charged to him (though he has a responsibility), but because God has anointed him to distinguish between good and evil, according to the holiness of the service of God.
The chapter never argues from health. Its categories are clean and unclean, and the reason lies in what eating does to a person.
First, then, we have to learn here about food — what is clean and what is unclean… Spiritually, our food declares our character, and it also forms it. The one who eats Christ will not only live by Him; his life will also grow like Christ's own life in practice… Still, health is never brought forward. The law does not deal with what is wholesome or unwholesome, but with what is clean or unclean.
A clean animal needed both marks together — chewing the cud and a split hoof. Neither mark on its own was enough. Commentators take the pair as a picture of two things that belong together in a life.
The chewing of the cud expresses the natural process of "inwardly digesting" what one eats. The divided hoof sets forth the character of one's outward walk. There is, as we know, a close connection between the two in the Christian life. Take the one who feeds on the green pastures of the Word of God and inwardly digests what he takes in — the one who is able to combine calm meditation with prayerful study. He will without doubt show that character of outward walk. It is to the praise of Him who has graciously given us His word to form our habits and govern our ways.
The chapter gives its reason before it gives its summary. The reason is God's own holiness, and that keeps the difference from becoming a claim of superiority.
The personal holiness of God's people — their complete separation from every kind of uncleanness — flows out of their relationship to Him. It is not on the principle of "stand by yourself, I am holier than you." It is simply this: "God is holy," and therefore all whom He brings into association with Himself must be holy too… If anyone asks a Christian why he walks apart from the ten thousand things the men of this world share in, his answer is simply to be, "My Father is holy."… It took the eye and the heart of a disciple of God's law to discern what was clean and what was not. An outsider knew no difference.
The difference reached further than diet. Israel could not even handle the carcasses, and commentators apply that to hidden evil as much as open evil.
Not only are we not to eat, but not even to touch their carcasses. Their carcass is to be loathsome to us… We are to hold the secret and refined ways of selfishness in abomination as much as those which are open and godless.
Commentators point to the moment when God set these tests aside. The standard did not drop. What settled it changed.
Before turning from Leviticus 11, my reader might compare it with Acts 10:11-16… The hand of sovereign grace has thrown open the door of the kingdom, but not to admit anything unclean… A cloven hoof was no longer the test, but "what God has made clean." When God cleanses a man, he must be clean… Peter had to learn that the standard for true cleanness was no longer fleshly, ceremonial and earthly, but spiritual, moral and heavenly.
- Word decides. The line between clean and unclean was never left to taste. Those who drew near to God judged by what God had said.
- Nearness trains. Leviticus consecrates the priests first; discernment comes after. The same order holds for the believer.
- Food forms. The law asks what is clean, not what is healthy, because what a person feeds on shapes what that person becomes.
- Two marks, one life. Feeding deeply on God's word and a walk others can see belong together. One without the other left the animal unclean.
- Holiness, then grace. The reason given is God's own holiness. Later, heaven resets the test: "what God has made clean."