Leviticus 11 – Clean and Unclean Animals: Discernment in Daily Life
In Leviticus 11, God reveals which animals are clean or unclean for His people to eat. More than dietary advice, these laws teach spiritual separation, discernment, and devotion to God in everyday decisions. Holiness is not just in the temple—it’s in the table.
Holiness in What We Consume
God calls His people to be holy, not just in worship, but in all of life—including what they eat. Leviticus 11 introduces clean and unclean animals, not for arbitrary reasons, but to form a people who practice discernment. These dietary distinctions are symbolic of spiritual truths: purity, obedience, and health.
✔ Clean animals chew the cud and have split hooves.
✔ Sea creatures must have fins and scales.
✔ Birds and insects have unique qualifications.
✔ Touching dead carcasses brings defilement.
📖 Key Verse: “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” – Leviticus 11:44
🔎 Holiness includes what we touch, eat, and allow into our lives.
Leviticus Chapter 11 Overview
Leviticus 11:1–8 – Land Animals
📖 Leviticus 11:3 – “Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts… that shall ye eat.”
🔎 Two signs of cleanness:
🔹 Chewing the cud represents meditation and spiritual digestion—the righteous delight in God’s law.
🔹 A split hoof symbolizes a walk of separation, divided from the world’s path.
📖 Leviticus 11:7–8 – “The swine… is unclean… of their flesh shall ye not eat.”
🔎 Even culturally common foods (like pork) were called unclean—not because of tradition, but because of God’s wisdom and command.
➡️ Faith Insight: What we consume affects our body and spirit. God’s laws promote both health and holiness.
Leviticus 11:9–12 – Sea Creatures
📖 Leviticus 11:9 – “Whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters… them shall ye eat.”
🔎 Discernment in the deep:
🔹 Fins and scales represent direction and protection—qualities for clean living.
🔹 Shellfish and scavengers (no scales) were forbidden—often carriers of toxins.
➡️ Spiritual Insight: God’s people must swim upstream—clean living is not the easy or popular path.
Leviticus 11:13–23 – Birds and Insects
📖 Leviticus 11:13 – “These are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls…”
🔎 Avoiding predators and scavengers:
🔹 Birds of prey, blood-feeders, and carrion-eaters were unclean—symbolic of violence, corruption, or unclean spiritual influence.
📖 Leviticus 11:21–22 – “Yet these may ye eat… the locust… the grasshopper…”
🔎 Clean insects were airborne and plant-eating—representing spiritual elevation and harmlessness.
➡️ Symbolic Insight: Even among small creatures, God teaches discernment.
Leviticus 11:24–40 – Touching the Unclean
📖 Leviticus 11:24 – “And for these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase…”
🔎 Defilement by contact:
🔹 Simply touching what is dead or defiled made one unclean—spiritual contamination was a real concern.
🔹 Washing and waiting until evening was required for purification.
➡️ Practical Insight: Guard your associations and environments—contact with sin can defile even the unaware.
Leviticus 11:41–47 – Be Holy in All Things
📖 Leviticus 11:44–45 – “Ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves… and ye shall be holy; for I am holy.”
🔎 Holiness in the mundane:
🔹 The purpose of dietary law was not merely physical—it was to create a lifestyle of awareness and distinction.
🔹 God’s people are marked by what they eat, touch, and allow—even daily choices become spiritual acts.
➡️ Christ Connection: Though ceremonial laws were fulfilled in Christ, the call to discernment and holiness remains (1 Peter 1:15–16).
Leviticus Chapter 11 - Deeper Study
Overview: A Diet of Discernment
🔹 Theme: God calls His people to holiness—even in daily decisions.
🔹 Focus: Clean and unclean animals teach spiritual and physical discernment.
🔹 Outcome: God’s people are separated in body and mind for His glory.
Key Takeaways
🔑 God cares about what we consume—physically and spiritually.
🔑 Discernment in little things reflects faithfulness in greater things.
🔑 Separation from the unclean guards purity.
🔑 Holiness is a lifestyle, not a Sabbath-only principle.
Prophetic Patterns & Dual Fulfillment
🔮 Clean/unclean animals used in prophetic visions (e.g., Peter’s vision in Acts 10)—teaching deeper truths about inclusion and purity.
🔮 God’s dietary laws promote health, which will be essential for endurance in the end times (Daniel 1:8–20).
🔮 Final distinction of God’s people involves what they refuse to partake in (Revelation 18:4).
Historical & Cultural Context
📜 Clean vs. Unclean – These terms shaped Jewish identity, community life, and worship access.
📜 Health Benefits – Modern science confirms that many “unclean” animals carry higher health risks.
📜 Symbolism in Simplicity – Even the smallest choice pointed to obedience and separation.
Final Reflection: Holy in the Small Things
Leviticus 11 teaches us that holiness is not only in the sanctuary—it’s in the kitchen, the workplace, the heart. What you eat, what you touch, and how you live all matter to God. His call is still clear: Be holy, for I am holy.
📌 Are you practicing discernment in your daily choices?
📌 Do you treat your body as a temple—set apart for God?
📌 Are you choosing the clean path when the unclean is easier?
🚀 Holiness begins with awareness. Live clean. Walk set apart.
Clean and Unclean Animals
Lev 11:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them,
Lev 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.
Lev 11:3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.
Lev 11:4 Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
Lev 11:5 And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
Lev 11:6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
Lev 11:7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.
Lev 11:8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.
Lev 11:9 These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.
Lev 11:10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
Lev 11:11 They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.
Lev 11:12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.
Lev 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,
Lev 11:14 And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;
Lev 11:15 Every raven after his kind;
Lev 11:16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,
Lev 11:17 And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
Lev 11:18 And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle,
Lev 11:19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
Lev 11:20 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.
Lev 11:21 Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth;
Lev 11:22 Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.
Lev 11:23 But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.
Lev 11:24 And for these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase of them shall be unclean until the even.
Lev 11:25 And whosoever beareth ought of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.
Lev 11:26 The carcases of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not clovenfooted, nor cheweth the cud, are unclean unto you: every one that toucheth them shall be unclean.
Lev 11:27 And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even.
Lev 11:28 And he that beareth the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: they are unclean unto you.
Lev 11:29 These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind,
Lev 11:30 And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.
Lev 11:31 These are unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even.
Lev 11:32 And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed.
Lev 11:33 And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.
Lev 11:34 Of all meat which may be eaten, that on which such water cometh shall be unclean: and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean.
Lev 11:35 And every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth shall be unclean; whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: for they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you.
Lev 11:36 Nevertheless a fountain or pit, wherein there is plenty of water, shall be clean: but that which toucheth their carcase shall be unclean.
Lev 11:37 And if any part of their carcase fall upon any sowing seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean.
Lev 11:38 But if any water be put upon the seed, and any part of their carcase fall thereon, it shall be unclean unto you.
Lev 11:39 And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even.
Lev 11:40 And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.
Lev 11:41 And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten.
Lev 11:42 Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination.
Lev 11:43 Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby.
Lev 11:44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Lev 11:45 For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
Lev 11:46 This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth:
Lev 11:47 To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.
Date Written
1445–1405 BC
Written By
Moses
Language
Hebrew
Verses
47