Leviticus 11:16

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Leviticus 11:16

16. the owl—It is generally supposed the ostrich is denoted by the original word. the nighthawk—a very small bird, with which, from its nocturnal habits, many superstitious ideas were associated. the cuckoo—Evidently some other bird is meant by the original term, from its being ranged among rapacious birds. DR. SHAW thinks it is the safsaf; but that, being a graminivorous and gregarious bird, is equally objectionable. Others think that the sea mew, or some of the small sea fowl, is intended.... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Leviticus 11:1-23

Distinctions between clean and unclean animals 11:1-23We have here the same threefold division of animals that inhabit the land, sea, and air as the one that appears in the story of creation (Genesis 1:20-23)."It has long been recognized . . . that the order of the purity laws in Leviticus 11 follows that of the creation of animal life in Genesis 1 (Rashi). Moreover, just as in Genesis 1 God distinguished ’good’ and ’evil’ in his new creation, so also in Leviticus 11 God distinguished the... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Leviticus 11:1-47

1. Uncleanness due to contact with certain animals ch. 11"This chapter contains a selected list of creatures that divides each type of creature into various classes of purity. According to the final verse in the chapter, the decisive question was whether a class of animals was unclean or clean. The goal of the distinctions was to determine whether an animal could be eaten. The notion of uncleanness and cleanness is specifically applied in this chapter to the question of holiness. Violating any... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Leviticus 11:13-19

Moses distinguished various kinds of birds in these verses. God prohibited 20 varieties. Again their feeding habits seem to be the key to their uncleanness. The unclean birds ate flesh with the blood in it, something that God also forbade among His people (ch. 17). read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 11:1-34

(Leviticus 11-16) The Law of Clean and UncleanThis section deals with the subject of ceremonial uncleanness and the method of its purification. Four main types of uncleanness are referred to, viz. that of meats (Leviticus 11:1-23), of carcases (Leviticus 11:24), of leprosy (Leviticus 13, 14), and of certain bodily functions and conditions (Leviticus 12, 15). The effect of ceremonial uncleanness is that it disqualifies a person for the worship of God. Its duration varies according to the cause,... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 11:1-47

Law of Clean and Unclean MeatsThe animals whose flesh may or may not be eaten are treated in four classes, viz. large land animals (Leviticus 11:3-8), water animals (Leviticus 11:9-12), birds (Leviticus 11:13-19), winged creeping things (Leviticus 11:20-23).3. Of the large land animals, those are clean which both chew the cud and divide the hoof. Unless they satisfy both these conditions they are unclean and cannot be eaten. The practical effect of this is to exclude all of prey. The flesh of... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Leviticus 11:16

(16) And the owl.—Better, and the ostrich, as the Authorised Version rightly renders it in the margin in three out of the eight passages in which it occurs, viz., Job 30:29, Isaiah 34:13; Isaiah 43:20; literally, the daughter or inhabitant of the desert. The ostrich, which is the largest bird and the swiftest of all cursorial animals, was associated by the Hebrews with the terrors of the wilderness, and was regarded by the ancients as an unnatural hybrid, as a kind of half bird and half... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Leviticus 11:1-47

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS, AND DEFILEMENT BY DEAD BODIESLeviticus 11:1-47WITH chapter 11 begins a new section of this book, extending to the end of chapter 15, of which the subject is the law concerning various bodily defilements, and the rites appointed for their removal.The law is given under four heads, as follows:I. Clean and Unclean Animals, and Defilement by Dead Bodies: Leviticus 11:1-47.II. The Uncleanness of Childbirth: Leviticus 12:1-8.III. The Uncleanness of Leprosy: Leviticus... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Leviticus 11:1-40

III. HOLINESS DEMANDED 1. The Clean and the Unclean CHAPTER 11 1. Concerning the beasts on the earth (Leviticus 11:1-8 ) 2. Concerning things in the water (Leviticus 11:9-12 ) 3. Concerning flying and creeping things (Leviticus 11:13-23 ) 4. Concerning defilement with dead bodies (Leviticus 11:24-40 ) The chapters which form the third section of Leviticus are by some taken to give evidence that not Moses, but another person arranged the material of the book. Even men who do not deny... read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 11:1-47

ANIMALS ALLOWED OR DISALLOWED FOR FOOD (vv. 1-8) Never since the flood has man been commanded to be a vegetarian. After the flood Noah was told, “every moving thing that lives shall be food for you” (Genesis 9:3). Nothing at that time was forbidden, except the eating of blood, a matter that has not changed through the ages. However, under law, and under law only, God put strict limits on what animals, birds or water creatures were permitted to Israel to eat. These laws were never put upon... read more

Group of Brands