Leviticus 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._ These shall ye eat ... whatsoever hath fins and scales. 'The fins and scales are the means by which the excrescences of fish are carried off, the same as in animals by perspiration. I have never known an instance of disease produced by eating such fish; but those that have no fins and scales cause, in hot climates, the most malignant disorders when eaten: in many cases they prove a mortal poison' (Whitelaw)....

9_These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters. _Here, also, some who know little of religion, plausibly contend that God is acting the physician’s part, and distinguishing wholesome from unwholesome food. But although their opinion is sufficiently refuted by medical men themselves, yet, even if I should admit what they desire, they reason badly. For the purpose of God was other than to provide for the people’s health; and, because He had to do with a rude people, He chose common marks, being admonished by which they might gradually ascend to higher things. It would be useless to follow the allegories which Isychius has invented (44) and I would willingly bury in oblivion these triflings, except that many have such a leaning to subtleties, that sober views would scarcely please them, until the folly of these allegories shall have been convicted. I will say nothing of the scales and f...

Verse Leviticus 11:9. _WHATSOEVER HATH FINS AND SCALES_] Because these, of all the fish tribe, are the most nourishing; the others which are without _scales_, or whose bodies are covered with a thick glutinous matter, being in general very difficult of digestion....

Any fish, either from salt water or fresh, might be eaten if it had both scales and fins. but no other creature that lives in the waters. Shellfish of all kinds, whether mollusks or crustaceans, and cetaceous animals, were therefore prohibited, as well as fish which appear to have no scales, like the eel; probably because they were considered unwholesome, and (under certain circumstances) found to be so....

PART III UNCLEANNESS, CEREMONIAL AND MORAL: ITS REMOVAL OR ITS PUNISHMENT SECTION I EXPOSITION THE two preceding parts having made manifest the way of approach to God by means of sacrifice and the appointed priesthood of mediation, there follows a part having for its subject that which keeps man apart from God, namely, uncleanness, whether ceremonial uncleanness, which may be removed by ceremonial observances, or moral uncleanness, that is, unrighteousness, which, so far as it is a ceremonial offense, may be also dealt with ceremonially, but in respect to its moral character demands punishment. This part consists of four sections. The _first _section, comprising chapters 11-15, treats of ceremonial uncleanness, caused...

THESE SHALL YE EAT OF ALL THAT [ARE] IN THE WATERS,.... In the waters of the sea, or in rivers, pools, and ponds; meaning fishes; for though some persons abstain from eating them entirely, as the Egyptian priests, as Herodotus m relates; and it was a part of religion and holiness, not with the Egyptians only, but with the Syrians and Greeks, to forbear eating them n; and Julian o gives two reasons why men should abstain from fishes; the one because what is not sacrificed to the gods ought not to be used for food; and the other is, because these being immersed in the deep waters, look not up to heaven; but God gave the people of Israel liberty of eating them, under certain limitations: WHATSOEVER HATH FINS AND SCALES, IN THE WATERS, IN THE SEAS, AND IN THE RIVERS, THEM SHALL YE EAT; some render it disjunctively, "fins or scales" p; but as Maimonides q observes, whatsoever has scales has...

III. HOLINESS DEMANDED 1. The Clean and the Unclean CHAPTER 11 _ 1. Concerning the beasts on the earth (Leviticus 11:1)_ 2. Concerning things in the water (Leviticus 11:9) 3. Concerning flying and creeping things (Leviticus 11:13) 4. Concerning defilement with dead bodies (Leviticus 11:24) The Chapter s 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 the inspiration of the book claim that the hand of a redactor is here discovered. In their opi

FIRST PROHIBITION. Animals, etc., not allowed for food. The test is, Is it cloven-footed, and does it chew the cud? For fishes, Has it fins and scales? No test of this nature can be given for birds; leaping insects are clean, insects which only fly, unclean. The tests, especially the first, are clearly artificial and not original; _e.g._ in the case of swine. Undoubtedly, in primitive thought, each species, allowed or banned, is classed on its merits; but later legislators would naturally be puzzled by the apparent caprice, and desire to find some principle. Leviticus 11:5. Coney, as RVm (Proverbs 30:26 *). Leviticus 11:13. Eagle denotes the majestic and abundant carrion vulture, t

THE LAWS OF PURIFICATION These laws suitably follow chs. 8 10 which record the consecration of the priests. As sacrifice was the principal element in that consecration, the laws of sacrifice (chs. 1 7) appropriately _precede_the account of the inauguration of the worship in chs. 8 10. One of the chief duties of the priests was -to put difference between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean" (Leviticus 10:10); instructions for putting this difference appropriately _follow_the account in chs. 8 10. These laws may be divided into two groups: (1) those in ch. 11, which relate to food and contact with the carcases of animals; (2) those in chs. 12 15, concerning the uncleanness of persons, garments, furniture, and houses....

(2) SEAFOOD 11:9-12 TEXT 11:9-12 9 These may ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that may ye eat. 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 all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination unto you, 11 and they shall be an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses ye shall have in abomination. 12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that is an abomination unto you. THOUGHT QUESTIONS 11:9-12 205. Why not eat cat fish? 206. Wouldn-'t this limit their choice? 207. How could this apply to those who lived inland? PARAPHRASE 11:9-12 As to fish, you may eat whatever has fins and scales, whether taken from rivers or from the sea; but all other water