Epistle of Barnabas 10

1But forasmuch as Moses said, “You shall not eat seine [sic] nor eagle nor falcon nor crow nor any fish that has no scale upon it,” he received in his understanding three ordinances. Yes, and further he says to them in Deuteronomy, “And I will lay as a covenant upon this people my ordinances.” So then it is not a commandment of God that they should not bite with their teeth, but Moses spoke it in spirit. Accordingly, he mentioned the swine with this intent: “You shall not cleave,” he says, “to such people as are like swine.” That is, when they are in luxury they forget the Lord, but when they are in want they recognize the Lord, just as the swine, when it eats, does not know its lord; but when it is hungry it cries out, and when it has received food again it is silent. “Neither shall you eat eagle nor falcon nor kite nor crow.” “You shall not,” he says, “cleave to, or be likened to, such people as do not know how to provide food for themselves by toil and sweat, but in their lawlessness seize what belongs to others; and, as if walking in guilelessness, watch and search about for someone to rob in their rapacity.” Just as these birds alone do not provide food for themselves, but sit idle and seek how they may eat the meat that belongs to others, being pestilent in their evil-doings. “And you shall not eat,” he says, “lamprey nor polypus nor cuttlefish.” He means, “You shall not become like such people as are desperately wicked and already condemned to death,” just as these fishes alone are accursed and swim in the depths, not swimming on the surface like the rest, but dwelling on the ground beneath the deep sea. Moreover, “You shall not eat the hare.” Why so? “You shall not be found a corrupter of boys, nor shall you become like such persons”; for the hare gains one passage in the body every year, and according to the number of years it lives it has just so many orifices. Again, “Neither shall you eat the hyena.” “You shall not,” he says, “become an adulterer or a fornicator, neither shall you resemble such persons.” Why so? Because this animal changes its nature year by year, becoming at one time male and at another female. Moreover, he has hated the weasel also, and with good reason. “You shall not,” he says, “become such as those people of whom we hear as working iniquity with their mouth for uncleanness, neither shall you cleave to impure women who work iniquity with their mouth.” For this animal conceives with its mouth. Concerning meats, then, Moses received three decrees to this effect and uttered them in a spiritual sense; but they accepted them according to the lust of the flesh, as though they referred to eating. And David also receives knowledge of the same three decrees, and says, “Blessed is the man who has not gone in the counsel of the ungodly”—even as the fishes go in darkness into the depths—“and has not stood in the path of sinners”—just as those who pretend to fear the Lord sin like swine—“and has not sat on the seat of the destroyers”—as the birds that are seated for prey. You now have the complete lesson concerning eating. Again Moses says, “You shall [eat] everything that divides the hoof and chews the cud.” What does he mean? He who receives the food knows him who gives him the food and, being refreshed, appears to rejoice in him. Well said he, having regard to the commandment. What then does he mean? Cleave to those who fear the Lord: to those who meditate in their heart on the distinction of the word which they have received; to those who tell of the ordinances of the Lord and keep them; and to those who know that meditation is a work of gladness and who chew the cud of the word of the Lord. But why that which divides the hoof? Because the righteous person both walks in this world and at the same time looks for the holy world to come. You see how wise a lawgiver Moses was. But whence should they perceive or understand these things? Howbeit, we, having justly perceived the commandments, tell them as the Lord willed. To this end he circumcised our ears and hearts, that we might understand these things.