Please explain Leviticus 11, regarding clean and unclean beasts, and the prohibition which says that these should not even be touched. If so, would it not be wrong to even touch a horse or a hog?
I. M.
If our inquirer will read the chapter carefully again, he will see that it is not the living which should not be touched, but the dead ones, “their carcass shall ye not touch,” “ye shall have their carcasses in abomination.” We know of no scriptures which say that we should not touch the horse or ass or any of these beasts that were used commonly as beasts of burden. God prohibited certain beasts as food because they were not good food. If one of them died, of course it would be duty to bury or remove it. Provision was made for that; one who found it necessary to handle dead bodies of unclean beasts was to wash himself and change his garments and be unclean until the evening. All these ceremonial laws were to impress upon that people that they should be a holy people unto the Lord. Read the entire chapter.