Texts in Conversation
Leviticus echoes the language of Genesis in describing creatures that move on their bellies and eat dust, recalling the curse placed on the serpent in Eden. By repeating this imagery, the commands regarding unclean animals are connected with Israel's narrative history.
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Genesis 3:14
Hebrew Bible
13 So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the cattle and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life. 15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Leviticus 11:42
Hebrew Bible
41 Every swarming thing that swarms on the land is detestable; it must not be eaten. 42 You must not eat anything that crawls on its belly or anything that walks on all fours or on any number of legs of all the swarming things that swarm on the land, because they are detestable. 43 Do not make yourselves detestable by any of the swarming things. You must not defile yourselves by them and become unclean by them,
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... This phrase, of course, is another allusion to the Creation story, or rather, to the end of that story in the Garden of Eden, when an enmity between humankind and a representative of the animal kingdom (the serpent) is first introduced ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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