Clean and Unclean Insects
A. A. Bonar. Leviticus 11:2-47 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which you shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.… All insects are unclean except four classes; for it is insects that are here meant by "the creatures that both fly and creep," using feet in the manner of quadrupeds. All reptiles, worms, and insects, e.g., flies and bees, are thus pronounced unclean — except only the four classes that have springing legs, in addition to the legs used in creeping. The sight of insects without number in their groves, on the leaves of their fig-trees, or the vine-leaves that shaded them — the innumerable hosts that thickened the air at sunset, or that played on the waters, and from time to time alighted on the head of the solemn Jew who marked the sight — could not fail to remind the soul that it was encompassed with unholy things. I remember (while in Palestine in 1839) the vast number of such insects, some of them very beautiful and rare, which we saw one afternoon by the lake of Galilee, near Magdala; and, also, on a previous day at the pools of Solomon, near Bethlehem. They skimmed along the waters, or flew gaily through the air, or kept their seat upon a sappy leaf — and the eye could not but be attracted by them. Now an Israelite would feel in these insects a memorial of sin, however fair the external form appeared. No retirement into quiet seats and bowers could give freedom from the presence of what was unclean. The dragon-fly that wafted itself past their eye, and the many magnificent insects, though fed amid the fragrance of Lebanon and the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, were all made to speak of God having set a mark on this earth as no longer a paradise. These creatures on the wing were like messengers sent to admonish the saints of God that the sweetest spots of earth were polluted, and, therefore, they must watch and keep their garments. The only clean insects were the locusts — the insects so often used by God to punish a guilty land and an unclean people. (A. A. Bonar.). Parallel Verses KJV: Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. WEB: "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.