{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">Now, wherefore did Moses say, “Thou shalt not eat the\r\nswine, nor the eagle, nor the hawk, nor the raven, nor any\r\nfish which is not possessed of scales?”<a id=\"r588\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f588\"><sup>[588]</sup></a> He embraced three\r\ndoctrines in his mind [in doing so]. Moreover, the Lord\r\nsaith to them in Deuteronomy, “And I will establish my\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_118\">118</span>ordinances among this people.”<a id=\"r589\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f589\"><sup>[589]</sup></a> Is there then not a command\r\nof God that they should not eat [these things]? There\r\nis, but Moses spoke with a spiritual reference.<a id=\"r590\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f590\"><sup>[590]</sup></a> For this\r\nreason he named the swine, as much as to say, “Thou shalt\r\nnot join thyself to men who resemble swine.” For when they\r\nlive in pleasure, they forget their Lord; but when they come\r\nto want, they acknowledge the Lord. And [in like manner]\r\nthe swine, when it has eaten, does not recognise its master;\r\nbut when hungry it cries out, and on receiving food is quiet\r\nagain. “Neither shalt thou eat,” says he, “the eagle, nor\r\nthe hawk, nor the kite, nor the raven.” “Thou shalt not\r\njoin thyself,” he means, “to such men as know not how to\r\nprocure food for themselves by labour and sweat, but seize\r\non that of others in their iniquity, and although wearing an\r\naspect of simplicity, are on the watch to plunder others.”<a id=\"r591\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f591\"><sup>[591]</sup></a>\r\nSo these birds, while they sit idle, inquire how they may devour\r\nthe flesh of others, proving themselves pests [to all] by\r\ntheir wickedness. “And thou shalt not eat,” he says, “the\r\nlamprey, or the polypus, or the cuttle-fish.” He means,\r\n“Thou shalt not join thyself or be like to such men as are\r\nungodly to the end, and are condemned<a id=\"r592\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f592\"><sup>[592]</sup></a> to death.” In like\r\nmanner as those fishes, above accursed, float in the deep, not\r\nswimming [on the surface] like the rest, but make their\r\nabode in the mud which lies at the bottom. Moreover,\r\n“Thou shalt not,” he says, “eat the hare.” Wherefore?\r\n“Thou shalt not be a corrupter of boys, nor like unto such.”<a id=\"r593\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f593\"><sup>[593]</sup></a>\r\nBecause the hare multiplies, year by year, the places of\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_119\">119</span>its conception; for as many years as it lives so many<a id=\"r594\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f594\"><sup>[594]</sup></a> it\r\nhas. Moreover, “Thou shalt not eat the hyena.” He\r\nmeans, “Thou shalt not be an adulterer, nor a corrupter, nor\r\nbe like to them that are such.” Wherefore? Because that\r\nanimal annually changes its sex, and is at one time male,\r\nand at another female. Moreover, he has rightly detested\r\nthe weasel. For he means, “Thou shalt not be like to those\r\nwhom we hear of as committing wickedness with the mouth,<a id=\"r595\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f595\"><sup>[595]</sup></a>\r\non account of their uncleanness; nor shalt thou be joined to\r\nthose impure women who commit iniquity with the mouth.\r\nFor this animal conceives by the mouth.” Moses then issued<a id=\"r596\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f596\"><sup>[596]</sup></a>\r\nthree doctrines concerning meats with a spiritual significance;\r\nbut they received them according to fleshly desire, as if he\r\nhad merely spoken of [literal] meats. David, however, comprehends\r\nthe knowledge of the three doctrines, and speaks\r\nin like manner: “Blessed is the man who hath not walked in\r\nthe counsel of the ungodly,”<a id=\"r597\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f597\"><sup>[597]</sup></a> even as the fishes [referred to]\r\ngo in darkness to the depths [of the sea]; “and hath not\r\nstood in the way of sinners,” even as those who profess to\r\nfear the Lord, but go astray like swine; “and hath not sat in\r\nthe seat of the scorners,”<a id=\"r598\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f598\"><sup>[598]</sup></a> even as those birds that lie in wait for\r\nprey. Take a full and firm grasp of this spiritual<a id=\"r599\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f599\"><sup>[599]</sup></a> knowledge.\r\nBut Moses says still further, “Ye shall eat every animal\r\nthat is cloven-footed and ruminant.” What does he mean?\r\n[The ruminant animal denotes him] who, on receiving food,\r\nrecognises Him that nourishes him, and being satisfied by\r\nHim,<a id=\"r600\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f600\"><sup>[600]</sup></a> is visibly made glad. Well spake [Moses], having\r\nrespect to the commandment. What, then, does he mean?\r\nThat we ought to join ourselves to those that fear the Lord,\r\nthose who meditate in their heart on the commandment which\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_120\">120</span>they have received, those who both utter the judgments of\r\nthe Lord and observe them, those who know that meditation\r\nis a work of gladness, and who ruminate<a id=\"r601\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f601\"><sup>[601]</sup></a> upon the word of\r\nthe Lord. But what means the cloven-footed? That the\r\nrighteous man also walks in this world, yet looks forward to\r\nthe holy state<a id=\"r602\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f602\"><sup>[602]</sup></a> [to come]. Behold how well Moses legislated.\r\nBut how was it possible for them to understand or comprehend\r\nthese things? We then, rightly understanding his\r\ncommandments,<a id=\"r603\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f603\"><sup>[603]</sup></a> explain them as the Lord intended. For\r\nthis purpose He circumcised our ears and our hearts, that we\r\nmight understand these things.</p>","headings":["The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers","THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS.","THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS.","Chap. x.—Spiritual significance of the precepts of Moses respecting different kinds of food."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg77576-paragraph-175"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"c77d6560a584f172eaac9c79e7ac18cb58493fab91976da6915de87761c12c41","edition_title":"The writings of the Apostolic Fathers","edition_translators":["Alexander Roberts","James Donaldson","Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1870,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg77576-f593","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Historical 1870 English edition; electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f593","source_ebook":77576,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f593\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r593\">593</a>. </span>Dressel has a note upon this passage, in which he refers the words\r\nwe have rendered “corrupters of boys,” to those who by their dissolute\r\nlives waste their fortunes, and so entail destruction on their children;\r\nbut this does not appear satisfactory. Comp. Clem. Alex. <i>Pædag.</i>\n<abbr title=\"two\">ii.</abbr> 10.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"5cef11d737d7f5d65aa99f44ca2d8e967d725f3bed872960330e88c0905597a9","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/77576/pg77576-images.html#f593","text_sha256":"d979d133efd7c972e466f120cbe8966d3fa52fdaa6b2f3eb9aab15fe3f2e13ca","verified":false,"work_id":null}