John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 11:31
These are unclean to you of all that creep ,.... Unfit for food, and not to be touched, at least when dead, as in the next clause, that is, these eight sorts of creeping things before mentioned, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, and these only, as Maimonides says F18 : whosoever doth touch them when they are dead shall be unclean until the even ; for touching them while alive did not defile, only when dead; and this the Jews interpret, while they are in the case in which they... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 11:20-42
Here is the law, 1. Concerning flying insects, as flies, wasps, bees, etc.; these they might not eat (Lev. 11:20), nor indeed are they fit to be eaten; but there were several sorts of locusts which in those countries were very good meat, and much used: John Baptist lived upon them in the desert, and they are here allowed them, Lev. 11:21, 22. 2. Concerning the creeping things on the earth; these were all forbidden (Lev. 11:29, 30, and again, Lev. 11:41, 42); for it was the curse of the serpent... read more