Question 1

What is the main point of the clean and unclean animals in this passage?

Accepted Answer

This passage uses food and cleanliness rules to teach Israel about holiness. God lists certain birds, insects, and animals as “an abomination” for them, and he explains that even touching their dead bodies makes a person unclean until evening. Their pots, clothes, and water could also become unclean and had to be washed or even broken. All of this was not just about health or taste. God was teaching his people to draw a clear line between what is clean and what is unclean, so they would live as a people set apart for him in every part of daily life.

Question 2

Why were some birds and creeping things called an abomination?

Accepted Answer

The passage singles out birds that prey on other animals or eat dead flesh, and various creeping animals that people tend to shrink from. God tells Israel to “have them in abomination” and not eat them. These creatures picture things that are harsh, filthy, or close to death. By staying away from them, Israel learned to hate what is unclean and not let their appetites lead them into the same habits as surrounding nations. Calling them an abomination was God’s way of training his people to turn away from what corrupts and to keep their hearts and lives separate for him.

Question 3

Why did touching the carcass of an unclean animal make someone unclean?

Accepted Answer

The passage repeats that anyone who touches the dead body of certain animals is unclean until evening and must wash his clothes. This was not because death could harm them physically every time, but because God used these rules to impress on them how serious uncleanness is. Death is tied to sin in Scripture, so contact with dead animals pictured the stain of sin. Being unclean meant they could not take part freely in worship until the time had passed and washing was done. It reminded Israel that even casual contact with what God calls unclean affects their fellowship with him.

Question 4

What is the significance of the rules about pots, clothes, and water becoming unclean?

Accepted Answer

God says that if a dead unclean animal falls on clothes, wood, skin, sacks, ovens, or cooking ranges, those things become unclean. Some had to be washed and left until evening, and clay pots that were touched had to be broken. Food and drink inside could also become unclean. At first this looks very strict, but it trained Israel to watch carefully over purity even in small household details. By dealing seriously with unclean things in their homes, they were constantly reminded that God cares about inner and outer purity, and that nothing that is defiled should be kept lightly in their lives.

Question 5

Why were locusts and grasshoppers allowed when other insects were forbidden?

Accepted Answer

The passage makes an exception for some flying insects that have extra legs to leap on the earth, such as locusts and certain types of grasshoppers. These could be eaten, while other flying creeping things with four feet were called an abomination. The text does not give a full explanation, but it clearly shows that God did not simply ban all insects. He drew careful lines so Israel would obey his specific word, not just follow their own ideas of what seemed clean or unclean. Even here, they were learning to trust his wisdom and to let his instructions, not their own tastes, guide what they ate.

Question 6

What does “be holy, for I am holy” mean in this passage?

Accepted Answer

Near the end of the passage, God explains why he gives these detailed rules: “For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy.” Holiness here means being set apart to God, different from the nations around them. The food laws, rules about dead animals, and directions about vessels and water were like daily lessons that pointed to a deeper call. God is pure and separate from all evil, so his people were to avoid what he calls unclean. Their eating, handling, and washing were all meant to reflect that they belonged to a holy God.

Question 7

How do these clean and unclean laws relate to Israel being brought out of Egypt?

Accepted Answer

God reminds Israel, “I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God.” He ties their rescue from slavery to their call to be holy. They were not freed just to live like everyone else, but to live as a people marked off by his ways, even in matters like food and cleanliness. These laws made them different from the nations they had left and the nations around them. Remembering Egypt would remind them that the God who saved them also had the right to order their daily life, and that their obedience showed they truly belonged to him.

Question 8

How should believers today think about these food and uncleanness laws?

Accepted Answer

This passage was first given to Israel as part of their ritual law, and followers of Jesus are not bound to keep these food rules in the same way. But the reason behind them still matters. God used these commands to train his people to care about purity and to make a clear difference between what pleases him and what does not. Today the focus is on inner holiness rather than on certain animals or pots, but the lesson is similar. God still calls his people to be set apart, to watch what they take into their lives, and to avoid what he calls unclean in heart and conduct.

Question 9

Why does this passage spend so much time on small details like seeds, pits, and fountains?

Accepted Answer

The passage explains what happens if a dead unclean animal falls into a pit or fountain of water, onto dry seed or wet seed, or into different kinds of containers. Dry seed that would later be sown could remain clean, while water that had touched the carcass was unclean. These fine points show that God was training Israel to think carefully about purity in real situations, not just in theory. By working through all these cases, he kept the idea of clean and unclean in front of them all day long. It taught them that holiness is not only for worship times, but reaches into every corner of ordinary life.

Leviticus 11:13

¶ And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

Clean and Unclean Animals

Avoid the Unclean

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Leviticus 11:13

¶ And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

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Clean and Unclean Animals

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