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Do
the badger and rabbit chew cud?
Leviticus 11:5-6
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(Lev.
11:5-6) - "‘Likewise, the rock badger, for though it
chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you;
6 the rabbit also, for though it chews cud, it does
not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you."
The problem here is that cud is food that is regurgitated from the
stomach into the mouth so that it can be chewed again and
neither the rock badger or the rabbit regurgitate their food
into their stomachs to chew.
The solution is that these animals were categorized
with other animals who appeared to chew cud because they move
their jaws in the same manner as the other animals listed.
| Lev. 11:3 |
Whatever divides a
hoof, thus making split hoofs, and chews the cud, among
the animals, that you may eat. |
|
Lev. 11:4 |
‘Nevertheless, you
are not to eat of these, among those which chew the cud, or
among those which divide the hoof: the camel, for though it
chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you. |
| Lev. 11:5 |
‘Likewise, the
rock badger, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the
hoof, it is unclean to you; |
| Lev. 11:6 |
the rabbit also,
for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is
unclean to you; |
| Lev. 11:7 |
and the pig, for though it
divides the hoof, thus making a split hoof, it does not chew
cud, it is unclean to you.
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It is known that rabbits practice what is called "refection," in
which indigestible vegetable matter towards certain bacteria and is
passed as droppings and then eaten again. This process enables
the rabbit to better digest it. This process is very similar
to rumination, and it gives the impression of chewing the cud.
So, the Hebrew phrase "chewing the cud" should not be taken in the
modern technical sense, but in the ancient sense of a chewing motion
that includes both rumination and refection in the modern sense.
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1. Geisler, Norman and Howe, Thomas, When Critics Ask;
Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker books, 2002, p. 90.
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