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4.7 KiB
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<p>Here is the law, 1. Concerning flying insects, as flies, wasps, bees, etc.; these they might not eat (<a class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.20" href="/passage/?search=Lev.11.20">Lev. 11:20</a>), 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, <a class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.21,Lev.11.22" href="/passage/?search=Lev.11.21,Lev.11.22"><span class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.21">Lev. 11:21</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.22">22</span></a>. 2. Concerning the creeping things on the earth; these were all forbidden (<a class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.29,Lev.11.30" href="/passage/?search=Lev.11.29,Lev.11.30"><span class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.29">Lev. 11:29</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.30">30</span></a>, and again, <a class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.41,Lev.11.42" href="/passage/?search=Lev.11.41,Lev.11.42"><span class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.41">Lev. 11:41</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.42">42</span></a>); for it was the curse of the serpent that <i>upon his belly he should go</i>, and therefore between him and man there was an enmity put (<a class="bibleref" title="Gen.3.15" href="/passage/?search=Gen.3.15">Gen. 3:15</a>), which was preserved by this law. Dust is the meat of the creeping things, and therefore they are not fit to be man’s meat. 3. Concerning the dead carcasses of all these unclean animals. (1.) Every one that touched them was to be unclean until the evening, <a class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.24-Lev.11.28" href="/passage/?search=Lev.11.24-Lev.11.28">Lev. 11:24-28</a>. This law is often repeated, to possess them with a dread of every thing that was prohibited, though no particular reason for the prohibition did appear, but only the will of the Law-maker. Not that they were to be looked upon as defiling to the conscience, or that it was a sin against God to touch them, unless done in contempt of the law: in many cases, somebody must of necessity touch them, to remove them; but it was a <i>ceremonial</i> uncleanness they contracted, which for the time forbade them to come into the tabernacle, or to eat of any of the holy things, or so much as to converse familiarly with their neighbours. But the uncleanness continued only till the evening, to signify that all ceremonial pollutions were to come to an end by the death of Christ in the evening of the world. And we must learn, by daily renewing our repentance every night for the sins of the day, to cleanse ourselves from the pollution we contract by them, that we may not lie down in our uncleanness. Even unclean animals they might touch while they were alive without contracting any ceremonial uncleanness by it, as horses and dogs, because they were allowed to use them for service; but they might not touch them when they were dead, because they might not eat their flesh; and what must not be eaten must not be touched, <a class="bibleref" title="Gen.3.3" href="/passage/?search=Gen.3.3">Gen. 3:3</a>. (2.) Even the vessels, or other things they fell upon, were thereby made unclean until the evening (<a class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.32" href="/passage/?search=Lev.11.32">Lev. 11:32</a>), and if they were earthen vessels they must be broken, <a class="bibleref" title="Lev.11.33" href="/passage/?search=Lev.11.33">Lev. 11:33</a>. This taught them carefully to avoid every thing that was polluting, even in their common actions. Not only the vessels of the sanctuary, but every pot in Jerusalem and Judah, must be <i>holiness to the Lord</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Zech.14.20,Zech.14.21" href="/passage/?search=Zech.14.20,Zech.14.21"><span class="bibleref" title="Zech.14.20">Zech. 14:20</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Zech.14.21">21</span></a>. The laws in these cases are very critical, and the observance of them would be difficult, we should think, if every thing that a dead mouse or rat, for instance, falls upon must be unclean; and if it were an oven, or ranges for
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