Глава 11

1–32. Difference between clean and unclean animals. 33–47. Cases of desecration of a person by them. Lev.11:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them: Lev.11:2. Tell the children of Israel, “These are the animals that you may eat, of all the livestock on the earth: Before Israel, God's chosen society of Jehovah, began to live a new theocratic life according to the Sinai law, it had to be protected from various kinds of unclean things (Lev. 15.31), such as: 1) from eating unclean animals (Lev. 11); 2) from uncleanness associated with human sexual life (Lev. 12 and 15); 3) from the uncleanness of leprosy (Lev. 13–14). The laws on all these subjects are given to Moses together with Aaron (Lev.11:1, 13:3, Lev.15:11), since it was the priests who were obliged to teach the children of Israel all of them, especially in distinguishing the sacred from the unholy, clean from unclean (Lev.10.10–11). As for the reason or basis for recognizing, in particular, a whole group of animals as unclean, here, first of all, as with respect to other types of ancient Jewish ritual uncleanness, there is an instinctive, organic aversion or aversion of a person to certain breeds of animals and birds, namely to carnivorous and carrion-eating breeds; That is why the division of animals into clean and unclean is not only found in biblical antiquity long before the Law of Sinai - in the history of Noah (Gen. 7:2, 8:20), but also existed among other peoples of antiquity - Egyptians, Arabs, Persians, Hindus, of course, with peculiar modifications in particulars. Then, physical impurity naturally served as an image of moral impurity; Jehovah, the holy God of Israel, demanding holiness from His people, forbids them to eat and even come into contact with unclean food and in general with ritually unclean objects (cf. Lev. 11.34–35; Ex. 22.30; Deut. 14.21; Num. 5.3; Deut. 23.15). These kinds of decrees were supposed to distinguish the people of God from among other nations, instilling in them special vigilance and remembrance of the will of Jehovah and sensitive caution to possible defilements. Indeed, according to Tacitus, the Jewish laws on clean and unclean food erected a great mediastinum between the Jews (“separati epulis, discreti cubilibus”, Hist. V, p. 5) and other peoples of antiquity. In modern times, at the initiative of G. Spencer and others, in the Biblical concepts of “pure” and “unclean” they recognize (Nowack, Benzinger, Baentsch and others) the later differentiation of the ancient primitive concept of “taboo” (still preserved among the Australians and other savages), which meant both the holy and the unclean; later, with the development of religious consciousness in Israel, everything pure and holy was confined to the cult of Jehovah, and everything unclean - to the cult of demons and totems. This theory has some probability, but in general it cannot be accepted as introducing the law of pure natural evolution into the development of the Old Testament Kingdom of God. Private motives for prohibiting certain animals are more implied than directly stated. Lev.11:3. Every cattle that has cloven hooves and a deep cut in the hoof, and chews the cud, you shall eat; Lev.11:4. Only these you shall not eat from those that chew the cud and have cloven hooves: a camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, it is unclean to you; Lev.11:5. and the jerboa, because it chews the cud, but its hooves are not cloven, it is unclean for you, Lev.11:6. and a hare, because it chews the cud, but its hooves are not cloven, it is unclean for you; Lev.11:7. and a pig, because its hooves are cloven and there is a deep cut in its hooves, but it does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you; Lev.11:8. Do not eat their meat and do not touch their corpses; they are unclean for you. Clean and unclean animals are four-legged mammals. For them, two signs of purity and suitability for consumption are indicated (Lev. 11 et c.): 1) complete separate hooves - the presence on the animal’s hooves of a “deep cut” (Deut. 14.6) and 2) the animal’s rumination. In the parallel chapter under consideration, the book. Lev.chapter Deuteronomy 14.4–5, 10 breeds of animals are named that satisfy both requirements and are therefore clean and used for food, but, of course, many other breeds of four-legged mammals also fit the indicated characteristics and were therefore eaten. Regurgitation of cud is a property of herbivores only, trace. carnivores were excluded by this feature; the sign of cloven-hoofedness limited the range of herbivores themselves. The absence of any of these two characteristics made the animal unclean. The first sign is lacking, for example, in a camel - it has a cut on its hooves, but it is shallow, and its hoof is a paw-shaped cushion; also - jerboa or mountain mouse (Hebrew schaphan, Greek χοιρογρύλλἰ᾿ος cf. Ps 103.18; Proverbs 30.26) and the hare (Lev.11:4–6; Deut. 14.7); the second sign was absent, for example, in the pig, which was considered by the Jews to be the most unclean and defiling animal (according to the rabbis, 9 10 of all uncleanness in the world comes from the pig, see Lexic. Buxtorfii under the word chazir), both because of its uncleanliness (it was also considered the source of leprosy), and because of its use in pagan sacrifices (the name “pork-eating” was synonymous with idolater, Isa. 65:4, 66:17, cf. 2 Mac 6:18, 7ff.). The non-eating of pork by Jews, both in ancient times and in modern times, was considered one of the characteristic features of this nation (Juvenal ridiculed the Jews for this in satire 14). The moral or allegorical meaning of the specified rule about distinguishing four-legged animals, according to the blessed. Theodoret (question 11), is as follows: “the cloven hoof means distinguishing between good deeds and those opposite to them, and beyond this, life is not only in the present age, but also in the future, and providing one age with only what is necessary, and the other with everything, that is, the soul and the body, and those related to the body. And regurgitating chewing means teaching in divine words.” Lev.11:9. Of all the animals that are in the water, eat these: those that have feathers and scales in the water, whether in the seas or rivers, eat them; Lev.11:10. and all those who do not have feathers and scales, whether in the seas or rivers, of all those who swim in the waters and of all those living in the waters, are unclean to you; Lev.11:11. they shall be unclean to you: you shall not eat their flesh, nor shall you abhor their corpses; Lev.11:12. all animals that do not have feathers and scales in the water are unclean to you. The law about fish, which in the history of the creation of peace are named (Gen. 1.21) earlier than birds. The signs of fish that are clean or allowed to be eaten are indicated with certainty - these fish must have: 1) swimming feathers and 2) scales (according to the Mishnah, Hullin, 3:7, the presence of only the last sign was sufficient, since the first sign is necessarily assumed if the second sign is present). Based on this law, Jews even now do not eat, for example, sturgeon (as do Shiite Persians). Lev.11:13. Of these birds you must abhor [you must not eat them, they are unclean]: the eagle, the vulture, and the sea eagle, Lev.11:14. the kite and the falcon with its kind, Lev.11:15. every raven with his kind, Lev.11:16. ostrich, owl, seagull and hawk with their kind, Lev.11:17. eagle owl, fisherman and ibis, Lev.11:18. swan, pelican and vulture, Lev.11:19. herons, zooya with his breed, hoopoe and bat. Birds, haoph, are the name given to all creatures capable of flight, including bats and winged insects. The law counts 19 (according to Lev.11.13–19) or 20 (according to Deut. 14.13–20) breeds of unclean flying ones, with the repeated addition: with their breed, that is, with all varieties of a given breed. The Bible does not indicate general signs of uncleanness of these birds: the zoology of the Talmud is already trying to do this. The Mishnah (Chullin 3:6) gives the following rules in this regard: “every bird that tears is unclean,” “every bird that divides its legs is unclean,” “if, when sitting on a rope, it separates two fingers forward and two back, then it is unclean”; “a bird that lives among the unclean and resembles the unclean is unclean”; a clean bird has a prominent crop, an extra finger, and an easily torn off stomach. Named in the Bible i.e. birds are mostly those that feed on meat, carrion, worms, insects or objects disgusting to humans. Blazh. Theodoret says: “Of the birds, Moses calls the birds of prey unclean, those that feed on dead bodies and love darkness, thereby teaching us to abstain from covetousness, to deny the foul-smelling food of sin and to hate darkness.” The identification of Hebrew names with existing breeds is in many cases difficult, especially since the translation of LXX (especially in Lev. 11:15–18) introduces here, instead of explanation, even greater confusion (cf., however, Vlastova, Holy Chronicles 2:154–157). Bat, Heb. atalleph - the bat is classified as a bird in appearance. Lev.11:20. All animals that creep, winged, and walk on four legs are unclean to you; Lev.11:21. Of all the winged reptiles that walk on four legs, eat only those that have legs higher than their feet, so that they can jump on the ground; Lev.11:22. of these you shall eat: locusts with their kind, solam with their kind, hargol with their kind, and chagab with their kind. Lev.11:23. Any other reptile, winged, or having four legs, is bad for you; Small four-legged and many-legged living creatures, reptiles on the ground, and insects that have wings for flight are all considered unclean, with the exception of 4 breeds of locusts, “which have legs higher than their feet” (Lev. 11:21; Vulg.: per quae salit super terram - something like a grasshopper). Lev.11:24. from them you will be unclean: whoever touches their corpse will be unclean until the evening; Lev.11:25. and whoever takes their corpse must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. If touching a living animal, even an unclean one, did not make one unclean, then the corpse of a dead animal certainly desecrated the one who touched it, and this uncleanness, which lasted until the evening, was removed by washing. Lev.11:26. Every cattle whose hoof is cloven, but not deeply cut, and which does not chew the cud, is unclean to you: whoever touches it will be unclean [until the evening]. Lev.11:27. Of all four-legged animals, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you: whoever touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening; Lev.11:28. whoever takes their corpse must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening: they are unclean for you. The ruling on unclean quadrupeds (“walking on their hands,” that is, on their paws) complements what is given in Lev. 11:3–7, with the addition of a note about the uncleanness of their corpses. Lev.11:29. This is what is unclean for you among the animals that move on the earth: the mole, the mouse, the lizard and its kind, Lev.11:30. anaka, chameleon, letaa, homet and tinshemet, - Lev.11:31. These are unclean to you among all the creeping things: whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean until the evening. Lev.11:32. And everything on which any of them falls dead, every wooden vessel, or clothing, or skin, or bag, and every thing that is used for work, will be unclean: you must put them in water, and they will be unclean until the evening, then they will be clean; and Lev.11:41–43 complete the indication (in Lev.11:20–23) of prohibited reptiles, such as all snakes, shellfish, worms, snails, toads, moles, frogs, etc. Lev.11:33. If any of them falls into any earthen vessel, then what is in it will be unclean, and break the [vessel] itself. Lev.11:34. Any food that is eaten that has had water in it from such a vessel will be unclean [for you], and any drink that is drunk in any such vessel will be unclean. Lev.11:35. Anything on which anything from their corpse falls will be unclean: the stove and hearth must be broken, they are unclean; and they shall be unclean to you; Lev.11:36. only the source and the well containing the water remain clean; and whoever touches their corpse is unclean. Lev.11:37. And if anything from their corpse falls on any seed that is sown, then it is clean; Lev.11:38. If then, as water is poured on the seed, anything from their corpse falls on it, then it is unclean for you. Lev.11:39. And when any livestock that you eat dies, whoever touches its carcass will be unclean until the evening; Lev.11:40. and whoever eats its carrion must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; and the one who carries his corpse must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. Determination of the presence of uncleanness or defilement in various cases of contact between the person himself, his clothing, food and other items of use with unclean animals or their corpses (cf. Blessed Theodore, questions 12 and 13 on Lev.). Lev.11:41. Every animal that moves on the earth is bad for you; you must not eat it; Lev.11:42. You shall not eat anything that crawls on its belly, or anything that walks on four legs, or multi-legged animals that move on the ground, for they are unclean. Lev.11:43. Do not defile your souls with any reptiles, and do not make yourselves unclean through them, so that you may be unclean through them, fulfill the instruction (in Lev. 11:20–23) forbidden reptiles, such as: all snakes, shellfish, worms, snails, toads, moles, frogs, etc. Lev.11:44. for I am the Lord your God: sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I [the Lord your God] am holy; and do not defile your souls with any animal that crawls on the earth, Lev.11:45. for I am the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. So be holy, for I am holy. Lev.11:46. This is the law for the cattle, for the birds, for all the animals that live in the waters, and for all the animals that move on the earth, Lev.11:47. to distinguish unclean from clean, and animals that can be eaten from animals that should not be eaten. In the final remarks on the laws regarding clean and unclean animals, Jehovah points out the selection of Israel from among other nations and the special holiness and purity that this requires. By blessed Theodoret (question 11 on Lev.), “by dividing animals into clean and unclean, Moses, moreover, convinces not to recognize any of them as God. For who among the sane will call God either something unclean, which he abhors with hatred, or something that is sacrificed, and that which is eaten by those who offer it themselves.” You might be interested in: