Leviticus 11 uses the matter of eating to signify the contacting of people by God’s people, that is, whom they may contact and whom they may not contact (Acts 10:11-16). Those whom they may contact are clean; those whom they may not contact are unclean. If we, as God’s people, intend to live a holy life as required by our holy God, we need to be careful about our contact with people. The animals, both clean and unclean, are divided into five categories: first, beasts, including cattle; second, aquatic animals, animals in the water; third, birds, animals in the air; fourth, insects; and fifth, creeping things. All the creeping things are unclean, but in the other four categories some animals are clean, and others are unclean. Let us consider the four categories of living creatures that are clean with respect to diet, signifying persons whom we may contact.
Beasts that divide the hoof and chew the cud are clean for eating (Lev. 11:2-3). This signifies that we may contact persons who have discernment in their activities and who receive the word of God with much reconsideration. A divided hoof signifies discernment, having the power, the strength, to discern the things that are of God and the things that are of Satan, the things that are heavenly and the things that are earthly, the things that are spiritual and the things that are fleshly. Chewing the cud signifies receiving the word of God with much consideration and reconsideration, like a cow chewing its cud. By reconsidering what we receive from God’s word, we receive nourishment.
We need to have a walk that is full of discernment, and we also need to chew the cud, eating the word of God by chewing it again and again. We should not contact those who do not have divided hooves and do not chew the cud. We need to avoid such people, lest they affect and influence us.
Aquatic animals that have fins and scales (v. 9) signify persons who can move and act freely in the world but resist its influence. Fins help fish move in water according to their wishes. Fish can even swim against the current because they have fins. Scales protect the fish and keep the fish that live in salt water from being salted. Fins strengthen the fish to move, and scales protect them from being salted.
In the Bible the sea signifies the fallen, corrupted world. People who live in the sea of the world should have fins and scales in order to act freely in the world and resist its influence. On the one hand, we should have fins and scales. On the other hand, we should be careful in contacting those who do not have fins and scales so that we will not be influenced by the corrupted world.
Birds that have wings for flying and that eat seeds of life as their food supply (cf. vv. 13-19) signify persons who can live and move in a life that is away from and above the world and who take the things of life as their supply of life. Clean birds have wings for flying, enabling them to fly away from and above the world. Clean birds also eat seeds of life as their food supply. The unclean birds in verses 13 through 19, however, do not feed on seeds but on carcasses.
Christians should be like birds that have wings and that feed on the seeds of life. We should live and move in a life that is away from and above the world, and we should take the things of life as our supply. When we contact others, even other believers, we need to discern whether they are clean birds that feed on seeds or unclean birds that like to live on the things of death. If we have contact with unclean birds, we will be influenced by their taste and become an unclean bird. For this reason, we must be careful in contacting those who feed on the things of death.