The first part in this series can be found here.
Leviticus 11:6 tells us that hares chew the cud. They do not. Animals that chew the cud are called ruminants. When they eat plant matter, it goes to their first stomach to soften, and then it’s regurgitated to their mouth. They spend time re-chewing it, and then it is swallowed and fully digested. Ruminants (cows, sheep, goats, etc.) are recognizable because their chewing of the cud is very obvious. Hares (rabbits) don’t chew the cud; however, their mouths do move frequently, so it’s possible to see why some people may have assumed that they do chew the cud. Of course, God would know they didn’t, and this is why the passage is problematic.
There have been some good attempts at explaining this. First of all, it has been suggested that even though God knew hares didn’t chew the cud, the Israelites probably didn’t. Since they would have seen the chewing motion of hares and assumed that they were cud-chewers, God simply used language that they would understand.
I actually think this explanation has some merit. However, God also knew that the Bible would be used by all people in all times. Therefore, he would have known that this passage could be problematic for modern people. So I don’t see why he couldn’t have said “appear to chew the cud,” or something like that in order to clarify things for both groups. Also, he could have taken it as an opportunity to educate them on the fact that hares don’t actually chew the cud, regardless of what their mouths look like.
Another explanation has been to point out that while rabbits aren’t ruminants, they do re-digest some of their food through the process of coprophagia. This process sounds pretty disgusting. Basically, it’s eating feces to gain additional nutrients. Hares don’t do this with their regular droppings, but with a special type of pellet that essentially consists of partially digested plant matter.
A problem with this theory is that hares don’t actually chew these pellets, they swallow them whole. Also, pigs are known to practice coprophagia as well, yet Leviticus 11:7 says, “And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you” (emphasis mine). So it would appear that “chew the cud” does not include coprophagia.
Bottom line: the Bible claims that hares chew the cud, but we know they do not.
We’ll look at another contradiction in the next post.
Finding Truth 
William – I’ve read articles on the translation of “Sabbaton” to week in the past. The problem is the Sabbath has always been about a day; more specifically the seventh day. I can’t remember the article; its been a long time. But one linguist found in an early manuscript in Luke 18: 11 -12 where the Pharisee indicated he fasted twice a week, and that “Sabbaton” was used. The article I read on this indicated that the phrase was better rendered ” I fast twice between the sabbaths”. The point is that “Sabbaton” is always Sabbath and refers to the day, and shouldn’t be rendered week.
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William, Nate — Thanks for the time spent hashing over these things. I appreciate the civil conversation. I have been spending way too much time on this and need to focus back on my work. If anyone is interested on further study on the Hebraic perspective in scripture I would recommend 119 ministries website. There is a lot of good information out there. http://www.119ministries.com/ Take care and God bless.
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@tom
I did a post recently on just exactly how LITTLE we know regarding the oceans of the world. Less than 5% and that is being generous. I’m thinking more like 001. Anyway, it has been found that there are fountains and springs at the BOTTOM of the oceans @ 10k meters, and like the rising of the tides, brings an entire reality check to what has always been known:
When the fountains of the great deep were opened…………in tandem with the windows of heaven, 40 days and 40 nights of torrential water, it’s rather easy to understand that yes, there was a flood, a great flood. People who say ‘it never happened,’ are proud elitists who toss God out from his own creation.
Massive rocks at waters edge, the Grand Canyon, the rivers and streams of the world, all contribute to the understanding that the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
So yes, it is obvious, if men lived over 900 years, it was certainly a different world, a world which we cannot know entirely, but then again, Noah could not have conceived jet travel, but boy could he build a ship, which dimensions by the way, have been borrowed by modern shipbuilders for years.
And as an aside, gilgamesh is testament that the scriptural account is accurate. It was common knowledge that a ‘great flood ‘ occurred. Heck, it was in the daily papers………………..
But then again, if people do not believe that Joshua, Solomon, David, and Christ Himself lived…………it’s no surprise that folks would have a hard time digesting that the baptist ate locusts and wild honey too, or that Daniel interpreted dreams correctly.
(All this from a hare?)
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@Tom
I have asked three times for you to address the issues of iron in the soft tissue found in the T Rex bone. You have avoided each request.
Neither have you had the decency to address the Paluxy hoax.
That you refuse to engage these topics is one thing, that many of your YEC chums, and you apparently, still preach these things as fact when it is plainly obvious they are nothing but spurious garbage speaks volumes to your complete lack of integrity.
It is one of the reasons that the garbage of YEC is not taught in public schools and why people like you shouold not have access to children and are an embarrassment even to people such as Unklee.
As comedian Lewis Black once noted, you people watch the Flintstones as if it were a documentary.
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sorry, but still thinking about “first day of the week,” or “first of the sabbaths.”
http://torahtimes.org/First_of_Sabbaths_vs_First_of_Week.html
definition: the sabbath, a week. But Tom’s point makes me wonder whether the ancint (or koine) greek word was really “sabbath” and not something else. So far I’m having trouble locating a greek word for week or for the days of the week during the first century. Why would the greeks use “sabbath” a hebrew word for hebrew holy days, to mean a typical, insignificant week?
http://biblehub.com/greek/4521.htm
but this was pretty interesting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_days_of_the_week#Days_named_after_planets
I’d like to hear anyone else’s thoughts on the subject.
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Hi Tom,
I understand if you decide to stop commenting for a while — I get how time-consuming this kind of thing can be. But just in case you’re still following along, I wanted to reply to a few of your points:
How do you know they occurred? The fact is, the questions I raised are more than just “details.” That’s like saying Santa Claus is definitely real, and the questions how does he get to each house in a single night, how do his reindeer fly, how does he magically know if children are behaving, why doesn’t he want to be seen, why don’t parents notice gifts under the tree that they didn’t purchase, why doesn’t he visit the houses of children who follow a different culture are all irrelevant details. In reality, such questions show how illogical such a belief is, and it’s no different with Noah’s ark.
Like what? I’m aware that there’s tons of evidence for localized floods all over the world, which is exactly what we’d expect. And there’s evidence of a major flood in the Middle East that may have been the basis for the Babylonian and Hebrew flood myths. But there are all kinds of problems with the idea that a literal world-wide flood that covered the highest mountain peaks actually happened. And it’s not hard to find all the reasons why such an event is so improbable.
Then why would God have wanted Noah to save them in the ark? Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense…
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The Sunday/Saturday thing is interesting, but I don’t have a strong opinion about it. That TorahTimes article (I didn’t read the whole thing) is pretty aggressive about tearing down the majority of modern scholarship. Such approaches always make me a bit nervous — perhaps they’re right, but such left-of-mainstream positions rarely are.
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agreed. I don’t know if the wikipedia article was correct or not, but despite the tone of the other article, I can’t help but wonder why the greeks would use a hebrew term to describe weeks and days when they evidently had their own words for the days of the week.
It was also interesting to hear that the romans used an 8 day cycle instead of a week until sometime between the 1st and 2nd centuries.
It’s just odd, all of it.
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Yep
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CS, ““For God’s sake chief, I work in the medical field.”
I have a former neighbor who works in the medical field too ! He sells hospital beds to hospitals. That doesn’t mean he knows anything about medicine. Get real CS. You’re making yourself look very silly here.
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That’s nice chief. It was you however who asserted carelessness as if I had no need, or appreciation for the benevolence of hospitals, etc.
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CS:, “That’s nice chief. It was you however who asserted carelessness as if I had no need, or appreciation for the benevolence of hospitals, etc.”
I haven’t a clue what you just said. You were the one trying to strengthen your credentials as a “hare expert” by saying you worked in the medical field. My comment was a response to that. It had nothing to do with appreciation or benevolence of hospitals.
Do you ever think things through before you respond ?
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@KC
Obviously, we all realise you were being rhetorical here, Ken.
Genuine critical thought results in theists becoming atheists or at least agnostic.
Furthermore, religion and critical thought are not only a contradiction of terms they may well be considered as an oxymoron … or in Colorstorm’s case, very little oxy but an awful lot of moron,
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I couldn’t agree with you more Ark ! I think we have all given him more than enough rope.
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