Reference: Clean
Easton
The various forms of uncleanness according to the Mosaic law are enumerated in Le 11-15; Nu 19. The division of animals into clean and unclean was probably founded on the practice of sacrifice. It existed before the Flood (Ge 7:2). The regulations regarding such animals are recorded in Le 11 and De 14:1-21.
The Hebrews were prohibited from using as food certain animal substances, such as (1) blood; (2) the fat covering the intestines, termed the caul; (3) the fat on the intestines, called the mesentery; (4) the fat of the kidneys; and (5) the fat tail of certain sheep (Ex 29:13,22; Le 3:4-9; 9:19; 17:10; 19:26).
The chief design of these regulations seems to have been to establish a system of regimen which would distinguish the Jews from all other nations. Regarding the design and the abolition of these regulations the reader will find all the details in Le 20:24-26; Ac 10:9-16; 11:1-10; Heb 9:9-14.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Of every clean animal thou shalt take to thee seven pairs, the male and his female; but of animals that are not clean, two, the male and his female.
And thou shalt take all the fat that covers the intestines and the caul that is above the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them and burn them upon the altar.
Then thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the tail and the fat that covers the intestines and the caul above the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them and the right shoulder, for it is a ram of consecrations,
and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks and with the kidneys; he shall take away the caul above the liver. And Aaron's sons shall incense it on the altar with the burnt sacrifice, which shall be upon the wood that is on the fire; and this shall be an offering on fire, of a very acceptable aroma unto the LORD. read more. And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace unto the LORD is of the sheep, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. If he offers a lamb for his offering, he shall offer it before the LORD; and he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering and then kill it before the tabernacle of the testimony; and Aaron's sons shall sprinkle its blood round about upon the altar. And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace an offering on fire unto the LORD: its fat and the whole tail, which he shall take off from the backbone and the fat that covers the intestines and all the fat that is upon the inwards,
and the fat of the bullock and of the ram, the tail and that which covers the inwards and the kidneys and the caul above the liver;
And any man of the house of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn among you that eats any blood at all, I will set my face against that person that eats blood and will cut them off from among his people.
Ye shall not eat any thing with blood. Ye shall not be fortunetellers, nor diviners.
But I have said unto you, Ye shall possess their land, and I will give it unto you in possession of inheritance, a land that flows with milk and honey. I AM your God, who have separated you from the other peoples. Therefore, ye shall differentiate between clean animals and unclean and between unclean fowls and clean; and ye shall not defile your persons by animals or by fowl or by any manner of living thing that moves on the ground which I have separated from you as unclean. read more. Ye must, therefore, be holy unto me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the other peoples, that ye should be mine.
Ye are the sons of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness over your eyes for the dead. For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD has chosen thee to be a unique people unto himself from among all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth. read more. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. These are the animals which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, the hart and the roebuck and the buffalo and the wild goat and the unicorn (rhinoceros) and the wild ox and the mountain goat, and every animal that parts the hoof and cleaves the cleft into two claws and chews the cud among the beasts that ye shall eat. Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud or of those that divide the cloven hoof: the camel and the hare and the coney, for they chew the cud, but do not divide the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you; and the swine, because it divides the hoof, yet does not chew the cud, it is unclean unto you. Ye shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their dead carcase. These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat, but whatever does not have fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you. Of all clean birds ye shall eat. But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle and the ossifrage and the ospray and the glede and the kite and the vulture after his kind and every raven after his kind and the owl and the night hawk and the cuckow and the hawk after his kind the little owl and the great owl and the swan and the pelican and the gier eagle and the cormorant and the stork and the heron after her kind and the lapwing and the bat. And every serpent that flies shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten. But of all clean fowls ye may eat. Ye shall not eat of any thing that died of itself; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates that he may eat it, or thou may sell it unto an alien; for thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not cook a kid in his mother's milk.
On the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew near unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour; and he became very hungry and would have eaten; but while they made ready, he fell into a rapture of understanding read more. and saw the heaven opened and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth, in which were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth and wild beasts and reptiles and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spoke unto him again the second time, That which God has cleansed, do not call common. This was done three times, and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. When Peter was come up to Jerusalem, those that were of the circumcision contended with him, read more. saying, Why didst thou go in to men uncircumcised and eat with them? But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a rapture of understanding I saw a vision: A certain vessel descended like a great sheet let down from heaven by the four corners, and it came unto me, upon which when I had fastened my eyes, I considered and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth and wild beasts and reptiles and fowls of the air. And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter, slay and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God has cleansed, do not call common. And this was done three times, and it was all drawn up again into heaven.
Which was a figure of that time present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience, but in foods and drinks and different washings and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of correction. read more. But Christ being now come, high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the sanctuary designed for eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of the Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from the works of death to serve the living God?