LEVITICUS 11:6 DO HARES CHEW THE CUD?

One often-repeated criticism of the Bible is that it mistakenly felt that rock badgers and hares chewed the cud (Leviticus 11:6). As with most so-called errors in Scripture, commentators have no trouble responding. In this particular case, there are at least three responses:

1. Phenomenological language is used throughout the Bible. Thus, natural phenomena are described in terms of their appearance to an observer, not in terms of their ultimate scientific cause. We do the same thing today when we say the sun sets or rises instead of expressing it in terms of the earth's motion instead.

The rock badger and the hare are not ruminants. “But the fact that their jaws are constantly in motion gives the appearance of chewing the cud. This indicates that the description is not intended to be strictly scientific, but simple and practical.” Allis, New Bible Commentary

“Like the rock badger, it [the hare] is not a true ruminant, but the sideward movement of its jaws gives it the appearance of one.” Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16

“Like ruminants...these animals give the appearance of chewing their food for a long time.” Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, p. 327

“Surely there is the appearance of a cud-chewing process in these animals. In fact, so convincing was this appearance that Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), to whom we owe the modern system of biological classification, at first classified the coney and the hare as ruminants.” Kaiser, Hard Sayings of the Bible

This brings up a second point, all biological systems of classification, or taxonomy, are arbitrary and scientists are constantly changing them as we get new tools such as DNA to better group animals according to similar characteristics. This was pointed out earlier in a post about the proper classification of bats.

2. “The Hebrew expression for 'chew the cud' is literally 'raising up what has been swallowed.” “To question his [Moses'] use of a term to which Linnaeus eventually gave a more restrictive meaning is anachronistic argumentation.” (Kaiser)

“It seems clear that this technical definition of chewing the cud is not quite what Hebrew means by the phrase.” Wenham, The Book of Leviticus

3. In fact, the hare does utilize a process of digestion somewhat similar to that of ruminants. This has been explained in two different ways.

Also, hares go through the process of refection which is very similar to chewing the cud. Their first droppings after eating are once again eaten to aid in the complete digestion. “In modern times, the phrase 'chewing the cud' has been given a more restrictive meaning.” Kaiser

Alternatively, Milgrom states that the hare's “habit of regurgitating the food it eats and returning to it later also creates the impression that it is incessantly chewing its food.”