Leviticus 11:8

8 Never eat the meat of these animals or touch their dead bodies. They are unclean for you.

Leviticus 11:8 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 11:8

Of their flesh shall ye not eat
Meaning, not of swine only, but of the camel, coney, and hare:

and their carcass shall ye not touch;
which must not be understood of touching them in any sense; for then it would have been unlawful for a Jew to have rode upon a camel, or to take out and make use of hog's lard in medicine; but of touching them in order to kill them, and prepare them for food, and eat them; and indeed all unnecessary touching of them is forbidden, lest it should bring them to the eating of them; though perhaps it may chiefly respect the touching of them dead:

they [are] unclean to you:
one and all of them; for as this was said of each of them in particular, so now of all of them together; and which holds good of all wild creatures not named, to whom the description above belongs, and which used to be eaten by other nations; some of which were called Pamphagi, from eating all sorts, and others Agriophagi, from eating wild creatures, as lions, panthers, elephants {l}

---

FOOTNOTES:

F12 Plin. l. 6. c. 30. Solinus, c. 43.

Leviticus 11:8 In-Context

6 You must never eat rabbits. (Rabbits are unclean because they chew their cud but do not have divided hoofs.)

7 You must never eat pigs. (Because pigs have completely divided hoofs but do not chew their cud, they are also unclean.)

8 Never eat the meat of these animals or touch their dead bodies. They are unclean for you.

9 "Here are the kinds of creatures that live in the water which you may eat--anything in the seas and streams that has fins and scales.

10 However, you must consider all swarming creatures living in the seas or the streams that have no fins or scales disgusting.