Chapter 11

11:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.

These are the beasts

The dietary regulations of the covenant people must be regarded primarily as sanitary. Israel, it must be remembered, was a nation living on the earth under a theocratic government. Of necessity the divine legislation concerned itself with the social as well as with the religious life of the people. To force upon every word of that legislation a typical meaning is to strain 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 ; Hebrews 9:23 Hebrews 9:24 beyond all reasonable interpretation.

11:6  And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

hare

Heb. arnebeth, an unidentified animal, but certainly not a hare, possessing as it is said to, characteristics not possessed by the hare. The supposed error in the text is due entirely to the translators' assumption that the English hare and the ancient "arnebeth" were identical.