LEVITICUS 11
We come in this chapter to what concerns “the children of Israel” generally. They were to hallow themselves and be holy because Jehovah was holy. “I am Jehovah who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (verses 44, 45). Do we value the privilege of having God — of possessing Him as our God? The instruction of this chapter is given so that nothing may interfere with this. The corresponding passage in Deuteronomy 14 begins by saying, “Ye are sons of Jehovah your God”. Therefore we must be careful not to eat anything, in a moral sense, that would give us a character inconsistent with the place and relationship which we have with God.
If we are not practically holy we cannot enjoy what God is for His people, nor shall we answer to His pleasure. The two things go together: “I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son”. If we have God as our inheritance and portion, it is in view of His having His portion in us. But if we feed on what is unclean we cannot enjoy God, for He is holy; neither can He have pleasure in us.
Our discrimination as to clean and unclean is not to be according to human standards, but according to God’s holiness. This is a very high standard, but the children of God would not wish it to be lowered a hair’s breadth. They would like to be taught to discriminate between clean and unclean, and to refuse everything that does not suit the holiness of God. A worldly standard of clean and unclean might have done for Egypt, but the fact that we have been brought out of Egypt, and are now set in relation to God’s [p. 119] sanctuary, brings in a divinely elevated standard of practical holiness.
The priests were to “put difference between the holy and the unholy, and between unclean and clean”, and they were to teach the children of Israel (chapter 10: 10, 11). We have to hallow ourselves in the light of the instruction of this chapter. It applies to every day of the week, and to every hour of the day, because there are ten thousand things around us here — and in our own flesh — which are unclean, and we have to see that we do not assimilate them, or come into moral contact with them.
Eating would typify the inward appropriation of certain features into our moral being. It would specially apply to what we read or give place to in our minds and thoughts. The world’s literature contains much that is unclean; if we assimilate it, and take character from it, we cannot be hallowed for God. Eating is more serious than touching because the inward constitution is built up by what we feed on. But touching renders unclean, and Paul applies this very scripture when he says, “Wherefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not what is unclean, and I will receive you; and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6: 17, 18).
This chapter is a divine guide-book as to what is clean and unclean. The character of walk is the first test of a clean creature, but it must be accompanied by inward rumination. “Whatever hath cloven hoofs, and feet quite split open, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts — that shall ye eat” (verse 3). The cloven hoof indicates separation from the world and its [p. 120] principles; it speaks of a pious walk. We read of “the truth which is according to piety” (Titus 1: 1); piety becomes a practical test for anything which may be presented to us as the truth. We are entitled to ask, Will it give God a greater place in relation to the practical life and walk of His people? If not, it may be doubted whether it is the truth at all.
But then a separate walk must be accompanied by inward occupation of heart and mind with what is of God. This is chewing the cud. Jeremiah said, “I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor exulted: I sat alone because of thy hand”; this would answer to the cloven hoof. But the preceding verse says, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy words were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart” (Jeremiah 15: 16, 17). This would be chewing the cud. Paul says to Timothy, “Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things”, and he speaks in the same chapter of withdrawing from iniquity, and of separating from vessels to dishonour (2 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 2:19,21). This gives us the same thing in principle.
Meditation is most important. “Mary kept all these things in her mind, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2: 19). We do not get spiritual gain so much by hearing and reading as by meditation. Many read their daily chapter, but get little from it because they do not meditate. But then, on the other hand, some are like the camel that “cheweth the cud, but hath not cloven hoofs”. He represents one occupied with truth, but not exercised to walk according to it. It is possible to take up divine things in a mental way — to be occupied with doctrines and points, without the practical life being affected in the way of separation. Such are unclean.
[p. 121] Then the swine has the right kind of walk — “for it hath cloven hoofs, and feet quite split open” — but there is no inward assimilation of the mind or grace of God; “it cheweth not the cud”. That is like the Pharisee, who is punctilious as to his outward walk, but has not a thought in common with God. The Lord described such as making clean the outside of the cup and the dish while within they are full of rapine and intemperance; and, again, as being “like whited sepulchres, which appear beautiful outwardly, but within are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23: 25 - 33).
God would have His people habituated to the distinguishing of good and evil. “Full-grown men, who, on account of habit, have their senses exercised for distinguishing both good and evil” (Hebrews 5: 14). God has given us the perfect exemplification of all that is clean in the life of Jesus, and that is what we are to take character from. It is a daily, hourly, constant exercise.
The first section (verses 1 - 8) of the chapter refers to “all the beasts which are on the earth”. On the earth a careful walk is needed, a walk which is the result of exercise and deliberation and of considering how things stand in relation to God. But it may be noted that the unclean beasts on the earth are not said to be “an abomination”, while those in the waters, and the fowls and the creeping things, are. We might learn from this that there are certain things which we are not to take character from, nor even to touch, that have not quite the character before God of “abomination”. There may be that which is merely natural, which is not the result of consideration in the fear of God, and which does not carry the mark of piety in [p. 122] the walk, which could hardly be looked upon as an abomination. Still it is unclean because it is not the outcome of exercise toward God. We are not to take character from it. In that which is an “abomination” I think elements of positive and active evil will be found. The refusal of it has to be more pronounced and definite.
The next section (verses 9 - 12) refers to “all that are in the waters”. “The waters” represent the world as an element closely surrounding, through which we have to pass. The clean creatures there have “fins and scales”. “Fins” would represent the ability to take a definite course without being at the mercy of the currents and tides which are ever moving this way and that in a world of lawlessness. The blessed Lord passed through all the influences here without being in the smallest degree deflected from His course. “I do always the things that are pleasing to him” (John 8: 29). “I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15: 10). Following Christ gives definiteness to the course, and so does the leading of the Spirit. Those who walk by the Spirit will not be carried by the currents of lawlessness which are all around us. Lot going down to Sodom is an illustration of what it is to be without “fins”. He had “scales” which kept out the corruption of Sodom, for he had a “righteous soul”, and he is called “righteous Lot”, but he suffered greatly from the lack of “fins”. There was nothing definitely for God in his course, though he was a true believer.
“Scales” keep out the surrounding influences. The word is used of Goliath’s coat of mail (1 Samuel 17: 5). They suggest the protective character of the divine nature in the saints. Peter speaks of the saints becoming “partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1: 4). The Lord could say, “The ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing” (John 14: 30). There was nothing there which the enemy could touch at all. But then John says also, “He that has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him” (1 John 5: 18). One can understand the Lord saying, “I am not of the world”. There was nothing in Him in common with the world. All that is in the world is “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2: 16), but in Him there was divine love spending itself for others, divine light shedding forth its holy beams to illuminate the hearts of men, and divine lowliness rebuking the pride of life in man. But how wonderful that He should say of His saints, “They are not of the world, as I am not of the world”! All that which separated Him so completely from the world is true also in the divine nature of which His saints are partakers.
Our stature in the divine nature is measured by our knowledge of God. “In the desert God will teach thee, What the God that thou hast found”. He has brought us out of Egypt, the place of human resource, that we might learn Him, and have Him as our Resource, and as we do so we are formed in the divine nature. It is through the knowledge of God that “the greatest and precious promises” are given to us. We might say that God Himself becomes the great Promise — the Pledge of every good — and it is through the appropriation of all that God is in this way that we “become partakers of the divine nature”. (See 2 Peter 1: 3, 4.) We become well furnished with “scales” to keep out “the corruption that is in the world through lust”. Whatever is of the world morally is not only unclean, but it is “an abomination”.
No clean fowls are mentioned either here or in Deuteronomy 14. The latter Scripture speaks of “all clean birds” and “all clean fowls”, but they are not specified. The chief intent seems to be to warn against the unclean and the abominable. It would appear that the unclean fowls represent spiritual influences of evil. The Lord spoke of the fowls as catching away the good seed, and as roosting in the branches of the mustard tree (Matthew 13). Some of these birds are high-fliers, but they are nearly all destructive and birds of prey. They represent higher critics, religious infidels, teachers of every kind of false doctrine. People who deny the fall of man, and talk about the universal Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man, who question in various ways the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, who set aside the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the atoning value of His sufferings and death, who say that the punishment of the lost will not be eternal, and so on. Some of them pass as being very fine birds, but they are destructive; they are soul-destroyers.
The world is full of destructive spiritual influences, and all such influences are to be “an abomination” to us. A christian spoke to me of a religious teacher who denied the Deity of Christ as “a very good man”. I asked him if he could call a man “good” who robbed him of his Saviour? Such men are evil-doers, whatever may be their pretensions (see 2 John 10, 11), and their teachings are to be held in abomination. One would make a difference between those who are misled and those who are active agents of evil. If one [p. 125] has been deceived by evil teaching it would be right to feel compassion for him, and seek his deliverance from the snare of the devil. But if people do not judge these evil influences, and keep wholly apart from them, they fall under their power. No false charity or mistaken kindness should lead us to regard evil teaching as other than abominable.
Then winged crawling things are in general an abomination. But if they have “legs above their feet with which to leap upon the earth” they may be eaten. These represent those who are of a lowly order, but who have power to “leap”. They may appear pretty much like other crawling things, but when you look at them particularly you see something quite different. They have a God-given power to leave crawling and to leap. It suggests how God has given to those who would naturally be crawlers a power to leap. It speaks of an energy of life by which the soul can rise superior to the earth, and to all that would naturally hold it here. The impotent man in Acts 3 got the ability by divine power to leap up, and to walk and leap and praise God. He appeared in an entirely new character in the power of God’s salvation. That is a great indication of moral cleanness; we may safely take character from that kind of thing. “These shall ye eat”.
Then “whatever goeth on its paws, among all manner of beasts that go upon all four, those are unclean unto you” (verse 27). They are marked by a soft tread, but a destructive purpose. “Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And it is not wonderful, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. It is no great thing, therefore, if his ministers also transform [p. 126] themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11: 13 - 15). Jude speaks of men who “crept in unawares”; they came in with a sly, soft tread, but with an evil intent.
There is much about crawling things in this chapter, and no doubt there are many things that answer to that description morally. Then it speaks of “whatever goeth on the belly” (verse 42). Those whose God is their belly and who mind earthly things (Philippians 3) are crawling things. The Apostle warns us with tears not to take character from such, but to be imitators of him, and of those who have their commonwealth in the heavens.
Moles and field-mice do great harm to growing crops. They suggest influences that would check the prosperity of the people of God viewed as His husbandry under divine tillage. There are many things which check the prosperity and growth of the saints. Moles work underground and disturb the soil about the roots, and the field-mice nibble at the very vitals of tender plants. We all remember the warning about the foxes — little foxes — which spoil the grapes! But moles and mice are equally dangerous, and more difficult to catch, for they work underground. If there is not spiritual prosperity and vigour it is well to look for the moles and mice!
Then the lizard in all his different kinds is unclean. The lizard is not very destructive, so far as I know, but the different characteristics mentioned would lead one to think of various ways in which men delight to call attention to themselves. “The groaning lizard” might represent one who is morbidly occupied with his own badness, or his trials, or who reveals his self-importance by complaining of how badly other people treat him. “The great red lizard” would give the idea of a person given to self-display. “The climbing lizard” would suggest the desire to get into an elevated position — loving “the chief place in feasts, and the first seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market-places, and to be called of men. Rabbi, Rabbi”. “The chameleon” changes its colour, like the man who is one thing with the brethren, and quite another when he is with worldly people.
These different unclean creatures set forth moral features which once characterized us all. It might well be said, “Such were some of you”. But in the great sheet which Peter saw, “in which were all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth, and the fowls of the heaven”, they were all seen as cleansed by God. Divine cleansing having come in, and hearts being purified by faith, God’s people no longer take character from what is unclean. We have to see to it that as a holy people we exercise watchfulness to keep ourselves apart from the moral features set forth in these unclean creatures.
To touch the carcases of these things renders one “unclean until the even”. There is a beautiful touch of grace about that, for it seems to suggest that every such defilement will be taken up and cleansed from the heart and conscience the same day that it is contracted. There is the same principle in “Let not the sun set upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4: 26). You are not to carry an angry feeling over to another day. Our individual path is made up of days, and God would have every question of anger or defilement settled before “even”. How often we let defilement cling to us for days, weeks, months, perhaps sometimes years! But God’s way is to have the moral stain removed at “the even” of the day in which it was contracted. It is well that there should be a self-review in holy exercise at the close of each day, and a judging of every touch of what is unclean — that is, every contact with what is of the flesh. In judging it with God there is moral cleansing from it. Each day’s accounts are to be settled at “even”, not carried over to another day. If things have been had out with God you can lay your head on your pillow without guile. Get under the fig-tree and lay all bare before God, so that there is nothing in reserve, and the Lord can then say of you, “Behold one truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile” (John 1: 47). Then there are sometimes differences between brothers and sisters which leave a stain of uncleanness on the spirit. Would it not be good to settle them before “even”? The longer things are allowed to run on the more difficult it is to face them.
There is another side to this. If one has touched what is unclean the evil effect cannot be thrown off at once. It abides “until the even”. It leaves its mark for the whole of that day. It would have been a serious thing for the unclean Israelite to eat a peace-offering that day as if nothing had happened (chapter 7: 20, 21). This serves to emphasize the necessity for jealous care as to touching what is unclean. I have no doubt that a great deal of time is lost spiritually through unwatchfulness as to this. That is, believers lose much happiness with God which they might otherwise enjoy.
“All vessels of wood ... every vessel wherewith work is done” (verse 32) is defiled by an unclean creature falling on it, and has to be “put into water, and be unclean until the even; then shall it be clean”.
[p. 129] I understand such vessels to represent believers as vessels of service. If that which is unclean gets place with such, they have to come under the exercising power of the word which brings the death of Christ to bear upon them, and the result of this is that at even they are clean. But “every earthen vessel into which any of them falleth — whatever is in it shall be unclean and ye shall break it” (verse 33). The “earthen vessel” represents what we are naturally. Contaminating influences find place with us because of what we are naturally, and all that in our nature which leaves us open to these defilements has to be corrected by discipline, which is really the breaking of the earthen vessel. The result of the breaking of the earthen vessel is that the “vessel wherewith work is done” becomes more holy and serviceable. The believer as a vessel of service is helped by the discipline which breaks the earthen vessel. The “vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Timothy 2: 21) is one who has kept himself in holy separateness from all that is dishonouring and defiling.
The provision of verse 36 is very sweet. “A spring or a well, a quantity of water, shall be clean”. The only way to keep free from defilement in a world like this is to be in the energy of the Spirit. “A spring” suggests the energy of the Spirit in the individual giving direction to the exercises and affections of the soul. “The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life” (John 4: 14). “A well” is a source of supply from which saints can draw; it would speak of the ministry of Christ in the power of the Spirit. While “a quantity of water” would be realized in the [p. 130] assembly, where the Spirit can distribute gifts, and bring things out in a fulness that goes beyond what is individual.
The secret of immunity from defilement lies in the presence and living activities of the Spirit of God. There is a vital and divine power in the Spirit which enables saints to repel and throw off every defiling influence. “They shall take up serpents; and if they should drink any deadly thing it shall not injure them”. Paul shook off the viper that fastened on his hand, and felt no harm. This supposes such an energy of life by the Spirit that unclean things cannot affect us or leave any trace of their influence. “If, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8: 13). “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall no way fulfil flesh’s lust” (Galatians 5: 16).