Leviticus · chapter 11 of 27
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Leviticus 11 teaches which animals the Israelites could eat and which were unclean: of land animals, those with split hooves that chew the cud; of water creatures, those with fins and scales; and a list of forbidden birds and insects. It also deals with uncleanness from touching carcasses. The chapter ends with the reason: be holy, for the Lord is holy.
After the tragedy of Nadab and Abihu, the Lord charges the priests to distinguish the clean from the unclean. Leviticus 11 begins that teaching with everyday food. In a world where Israel lived among other nations, these rules helped keep the people set apart for the Lord in the most ordinary part of life: what they ate each day.
The Lord speaks to Moses and Aaron. Among land animals, those that have split hooves and chew the cud may be eaten. The camel, the rock badger, the hare and the pig are named as examples of unclean animals because they do not meet both conditions. Whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean.
Of water creatures, those with fins and scales may be eaten; everything else is detestable. Then forbidden birds are listed, among them the eagle, the vulture, the raven, the owl and the bat. Of winged insects that go on all fours, the locusts and grasshoppers that hop may be eaten, and the rest are unclean.
The second part deals with uncleanness by contact: whoever touches the carcass of an unclean animal, or one that died without being slaughtered, is unclean until evening and must wash his clothes. Contaminated clay pots are broken. The creatures that swarm on the ground are unclean. The chapter concludes with the basis: the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt to be their God, and so they must be holy because he is holy.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The land animals that may be eaten are those with divided hooves that also chew the cud. For the people, that clear rule served as a daily boundary, a constant reminder that they belonged to God and were to live differently.
The Lord says he is their God, that they are to consecrate themselves and be holy because he is holy. The food rules are not ends in themselves: they point to a whole life set apart for God. Peter quotes this call to holiness in his first letter.
The chapter ends by saying its purpose is to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between what may be eaten and what may not. In this way the charge given to the priests in the previous chapter is carried out.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: A split hoof and chewing the cud. — Leviticus 11:3
Answer: Because it has a split hoof but does not chew the cud. — Leviticus 11:7
Answer: Fins and scales. — Leviticus 11:9
Answer: The locusts and grasshoppers that hop on the ground. — Leviticus 11:21-22
Answer: Wash his clothes and remain unclean until evening. — Leviticus 11:24-25
Answer: That he is holy. — Leviticus 11:44-45
Leviticus 11 shows that holiness reaches the table. Although believers today are not under these food laws, the principle remains: God wants a people who live differently in everyday life. In a small group you can ask which ordinary habits set us apart or blend us in with the world.
For Christians, Jesus declared all foods clean, and Peter received in a vision the lesson that God does not call unclean what he has cleansed. Holiness, then, is no longer measured by food but by a transformed life. The call stands: be holy because he is holy.
Leviticus 11 concludes that God wants a holy people in small, daily things. Leviticus 12 turns to the rules about the birth of a child, with the mother's purification and the offering she was to bring.
Most Christians understand that they do not, because the New Testament declares all foods clean and teaches that God's people are no longer distinguished by such rules. Yet the principle of holiness and of living set apart for God remains valid.
The text gives no health or other reasons: its basis is the holiness of the Lord and Israel's identity as a people set apart. Some proposed explanations, such as health or contrast with other nations, are possible, but the Bible states only the religious motive.
Peter quotes this command in his first letter to call believers to live as obedient children, set apart from the evil of their former life. The call remains, but it is now lived by the grace of Christ, not by food rules.