Leviticus 11:5

5 A coney, which cheweth (the) cud, and parteth not the claw (but its foot is not divided), is unclean;

Leviticus 11:5 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 11:5

And the coney
Or rabbit:

because he cheweth the cud;
or "though he cheweth"; which yet, some observe, the coney or rabbit does not, it having upper teeth, and therefore they think some other creature is meant by Shaphan, the word here used; and Bochart ^F13 is of opinion, that the Aljarbuo of the Arabians, a sort of mountain mouse, is meant, which chews the cud and divides not the hoof, and resides in rocks, which agrees with the account of the Shaphan in ( Proverbs 30:26 ) but this is rejected by Dr. Shaw ^F14, who takes the creature here to be the Daman Israel, or Israel's lamb, an animal of Mount Lebanon, a harmless creature of the same size and quality with the rabbit, and with the like incurvating posture, and disposition or the fore teeth, but is of a browner colour, with smaller eyes, and a head more pointed, like the marmots; the fore feet likewise are short, and the hinder are nearly as long in proportion as those of the jerboa; and though this animal is known to burrow sometimes in the ground, yet its usual residence and refuge is in the holes and clifts of the rocks; but a learned man ^F15, and very inquisitive in the things of nature, tells us, that the "cuniculus", coney, or rabbit, this sort of animals do chew half an hour after eating:

but divideth not the hoof;
which is well known of this creature:

he [is] unclean unto you;
not fit or proper to be eaten of, but to be abstained from as an unclean animal; and may be an emblem of timorous persons, as these creatures by Aristotle ^F16 are observed to be, and it is well known they are; even of the fearful and unbelieving, reckoned among the impure, who will have their portion in the lake of fire, ( Revelation 21:8 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Hierozoic par. 1. l. 3. c. 33. col. 1015, 1016.
F14 Travels, p. 177, 348. Ed. 2.
F15 Scheuchzer. ut supra, (Physic. Sacr. vol. 2.) p. 281.
F16 Hist. Animal. l. 1. c. 1.

Leviticus 11:5 In-Context

3 ye shall eat all things among beasts that have the claw parted, and cheweth the cud; (ye shall eat all those among the beasts that have a divided hoof, or foot, and that chew the cud;)

4 soothly whatever thing cheweth cud, and hath a claw, but parteth not it, as a camel, and other beasts (but whatever beast cheweth the cud, and hath a hoof, or a foot, but it is not divided, like a camel, and other beasts), ye shall not eat it, and ye shall areckon it among unclean things.

5 A coney, which cheweth (the) cud, and parteth not the claw (but its foot is not divided), is unclean;

6 and an hare, for also he cheweth (the) cud, but parteth not the claw (but its foot is not divided);

7 and a swine, that cheweth not the cud, though he parteth the claw (though its hoof is divided).