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**Jacob** · 01-10-2008, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shaun

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacob

An instruction from God, related in Leviticus 11:6, tells people not to eat rabbits because rabbits chew their cud. In reality, rabbits do not chew their cud. You'd think the almighty creator would have known that. In any case, the Israelites of the day pesumably obeyed this statute because authority told them to.

Ah, one of the most popular objections.

First off, let's quote the verse:

Lev. 11:6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

Firstly, rabbits do do something called refection, where they pass pellets of partially digested food, which they chew on (along with the waste material) to allow their stomach to try again at getting more nutrients.

This, however, is not "rumination" - the process cows do and that most English-speakers refer to as "chewing the cud". In rumination, cows regurgitate the food, rather than pass it as in refection.

So, why is the idiomatic term "chewing the cud" used here at all? Well, it's not like that in the Hebrew - the English translation says that. If you look at the Hebrew, the word for "cud" used here means any partially digested food.

So, yes - the rabbit actually is "chewing partially digested food," when rendered transliterally. We just get caught in the idiomatic expression.

If you are right, then it seems to me that the translators of biblical scripture were hardly divinely inspired. In any case, the post was meant to point out the lies that authority often expects others to believe.

Jacob