Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 outline the dietary laws, clarifying which animals are allowed to be eaten. Beyond merely not eating the flesh of the listed unclean animals or others in their categories, a set of commands that is never opposed or revoked in the New Testament [1] because there would be no reason for it to be (Matthew 5:17-19, Malachi 3:6, and so on), God does specifically say in Mosaic Law to never touch the carcasses of these animals. This instruction about interaction with dead unclean creatures is included in Deuteronomy 14's briefer summary of the dietary laws and associated obligations, but it is Leviticus 11 that more exhaustively brings attention to the limitations on handling various animal corpses.
Leviticus 11:1-3, 7-8--"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 'Say to the Israelites: "Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud . . . And a pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you."'"
Deuteronomy 14:7-8--"However, of those that chew the cud or that have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses."
Those who did happen to touch the carcasses were to wash their clothes (Leviticus 11:23-28). With unclean lizards (11:29-31), the breaking of pots they fall into while dead is prescribed (11:33), though this might require some degree of physical contact to dismantle the object since the lizard is still inside. Even then, becoming unclean because of such creatures in any other context is condemned (Leviticus 11:41-44, Leviticus 5:2, 5). Such things would by extension apply to the dead bodies of octopuses, sharks, dolphins, starfish, sea slugs, and other macroscopic aquatic organisms:
Leviticus 11:10-11--"'"But all creatures is the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales--whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water--you are to regard as unclean. And since you are to regard them as unclean, you must not eat their meat; you must regard their carcasses as unclean."'"
If touching a living unclean creature was condemned, then touching its corpse would certainly be prohibited, since human corpses are presented as unclean in themselves (Numbers 5:1-4, 6:6-7). If touching the lifeless bodies of humans, who are made in God's image (Genesis 1:26-27, 5:1-2) makes someone ceremonially unclean, then certainly touching the body of a creature that is by default itself unclean for humans would also make someone unclean after it dies. An obligation to never touch the carcass of an unclean animal, on the contrary, does not require that touching a living unclean animal is also sinful, and this is aside from how the Torah teaches as a vital doctrine to not add to its commands (Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32).
Touching an unclean animal's corpse, though, is a form of contracting uncleanness that is actually condemned outright, whereas contact with the uncleanness of human bodies is prohibited only under special circumstances, like if a person is a Levitical high priest (Leviticus 21:10-12) or if they are a man or woman under the Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:1-8). An ordinary Levitical priest is also to never make himself unclean for the human dead except for his parents, children, and siblings (Leviticus 21:1-4)--all immediate family members.
Leviticus 5:2 and 5 together also touch on how physical contact with the dead body of an unclean animal is sinful, even if a person engages in this without realizing it, yet verse 2 specifies that this applies whether the animal is wild or domestic. Like how touching a living unclean animal is not condemned, keeping unclean animals on one's property is not condemned. It really is just directly touching the carcass that is sinful beyond eating the meat. This makes the Biblical morality of touching unclean animal corpses yet another example of a matter that could be severely misunderstood by legalists, albeit one of massively lesser importance than many other issues that could be or have been distorted by fools.
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