Continuing with the Cleanliness Rules God Gives the Israelites.

More Creatures to Stay Away From

Leviticus 11:29-38

²⁹ ‘Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole, and the mouse, and the great lizard in its kinds, ³⁰ and the gecko, and the crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand reptile, and the chameleon. ³¹ These are to you the unclean among all the swarming things; whoever touches them when they are dead becomes unclean until evening. ³² Also anything on which one of them may fall when they are dead becomes unclean, including any wooden article, or clothing, or a skin, or a sack—any article of which use is made—it shall be put in the water and be unclean until evening, then it becomes clean. ³³ As for any earthenware vessel into which one of them may fall, whatever is in it becomes unclean and you shall break the vessel. ³⁴ Any of the food which may be eaten, on which water comes, shall become unclean, and any liquid which may be drunk in every vessel shall become unclean.³⁵ Everything, moreover, on which part of their carcass may fall becomes unclean; an oven or a stove shall be smashed; they are unclean and shall continue as unclean to you. ³⁶ Nevertheless a spring or a cistern collecting water shall be clean, though the one who touches their carcass shall be unclean. ³⁷ If a part of their carcass falls on any seed for sowing which is to be sown, it is clean.³⁸ Though if water is put on the seed and a part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.

Thoughts on the Passage

Verses 29 to 31 continue listing swarming things that God considers unclean – the mole, the mouse, lizards, geckos, crocodiles, sand-reptiles, and chameleons. (Robert Jamieson also translates one of these as a snail.) If someone touches a dead one of these creatures, he/she is deemed to be unclean until evening.  Please note that “swarming” here is also translated “creeping”. While we associate swarming with bees, for example, the reference here is to creatures that creep on the ground.

Verse 32 tells us that if a dead one of these creatures falls on something (wooden article, clothing, skin, or sack – or anything that has a use), it needs to be put into water, and it is deemed unclean until evening.

But if one of these creatures (presumably dead, but could also mean dead or alive) falls into an earthen vessel or jar, the vessel is deemed unclean forever and it is to be broken into pieces. (vs. 33)

Verse 34 is interesting in that it says any food that becomes wet, becomes unclean; any liquid to be drunk that has some water fall on it becomes unclean (I’ll leave it to others to explain this one especially in light of verse 36).

Anything that comes into contact with even part of the carcass of one of these unclean creatures becomes unclean (including stoves) and it needs to be smashed.

However, it is okay for a spring or cistern to collect water – it is clean.  Finally, if a part of the carcass falls on any seed meant for future sowing, it remains clean – but if it is already sown and water falls on it, it becomes unclean.    Wow. Let’s look more closely at these verses.

David Guzik says, “From a hygienic standpoint, these laws were very important. They required, for example, that if a rodent crawled inside a bowl, the bowl had to be broken. Therefore, any disease the rodent carried (such as bubonic plague) could not be passed on to the one who would use the bowl.” He adds, “These laws also promoted a general state of cleanliness inside the Hebrew home. This certainly promoted the health and the welfare of the family.” God has His reasons for all that He prescribes for us under certain conditions of the times.

Robert Jamieson has an interesting perspective on these sudden states of uncleanliness as he writes:

“These regulations must have often caused annoyance by suddenly requiring the exclusion of people from society, as well as the ordinances of religion. Nevertheless, they were extremely useful and salutary, especially as enforcing attention to cleanliness. This is a matter of essential importance in the East, where venomous reptiles often creep into houses and are found lurking in boxes, vessels, or holes in the wall; and the carcass of one of them, or a dead mouse, mole, lizard, or other unclean animal, might be inadvertently touched by the hand, or fall on clothes, skin, bottles, or any article of common domestic use. By connecting, therefore, the touch of such creatures with ceremonial defilement, which required immediately to be removed, an effectual means was taken to prevent the bad effects of venom and all unclean or noxious matter.”

Jamieson seems to be attributing the need to many of these regulations to the living conditions in the East. 

Lastly, we consider some of the thoughts of commentator Matthew Henry.  He ties the forbidding of creeping things to God’s view of the serpent in Genesis 3:15 when He relegates the serpent to a curse of spending his time on his belly, and thus creating enmity between the serpent and man.  This law here in Leviticus simply preserves that state. Henry writes, “Dust is the meat of the creeping things, and therefore, they are not fit to be man’s meat.”

The Israelites were being taught to carefully avoid everything that was a pollutant. Clearly, many advocates of the Green movement today would approve.  And these rules applied not only in the temple but in every Jewish home.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.