272. Dietary Laws, Animal Symbolism, and Figurative Interpretation

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Literal Reasons for Dietary Prohibitions #

• Blood prohibition: Commanded to avoid cruelty and to prevent idolatrous practices where Gentiles offered blood to their gods
• Strangled or suffocated animals: Prohibited because blood was not properly separated from flesh
• Kosher slaughter: Jewish practice involves cutting the throat to drain blood, distinct from strangling
• Fat prohibition: Eaten in honor of pagan gods; also because blood and fat do not generate good nourishment
• Simplicity of life: The Lord wished to reduce the people to a more simple life by prohibiting many animals while permitting plants and produce

Figurative Reasons and Animal Symbolism #

• Principle: Augustine states that while all creatures of God are by nature good, they are by signification either clean or unclean (De contra Faustum)
• Ruminant animals with split hooves: Signify meditation on Scripture and understanding thereof; the hoof signifies distinction between two testaments, Father and Son, or two natures in Christ
• Fish with fins and scales: Fins signify the contemplative life; scales signify the active life; both necessary for spiritual cleanliness
• Rapacious birds:
  • Eagle: Signifies pride (flies highest)
  • Osprey: Signifies those who molest the poor through insidious tricks
  • Vulture/Multure: Signifies those who follow armies to profit from death and seditions
  • Ostrich: Though a bird cannot fly; signifies those fighting God while entangled in secular business
  • Owl: Acute vision at night but blind by day; signifies those astute in temporal things but dull in spiritual things
  • Lark: Flies in air and swims in water; signifies those who wish to contemplate but live in waters of pleasure
  • Cormorant: Serves the powerful; signifies those depriving others
  • Bittern: Seeks food at night but hides by day; signifies the lustful
  • Mergulous: Submerged in water; signifies those who immerse themselves in waters of delight
  • Stork: Bright color with long neck drawing food from water; signifies men who through exterior justice seek earthly things
  • Swan: Of bright color; signifies men seeking earthly things through appearance of justice
  • Ibex: Feeds on serpents; signifies the envious refreshed with evils of others

Goat in Mother’s Milk #

• Literal reason: Though the goat does not sense the manner of cooking, cruelty pertains to the soul of the one cooking it—using the mother’s milk for the son’s consumption
• Alternative literal reason: Gentiles cooked goat flesh this way in solemnities as offering to idols
• Figurative reason: Christ, called a goat and the likeness of sinful flesh, was not to be “cooked” by the Jews in his infancy; or the sinner is not to be consumed/destroyed in maternal nourishment

First Fruits of Trees #

• Literal practice: Fruit of first three years regarded as unclean; fourth year offered to God; fifth year eaten
• Three-year cycle: Most trees produce fruit within three years
• Figurative reason: Prefigures three states of the law: (1) Abraham to David, (2) David to Babylon, (3) Babylon to Christ; after these states Christ offered as fruit of the law
• Spiritual principle: First works should be suspect to us on account of their imperfection

Agricultural and Animal Mixture Prohibitions #

• Ox and ass: Not to be bound together in plowing; signifies not yoking wise with foolish in preaching
• Diverse seeds: Not to be sown in same field; signifies avoiding mixture of Catholic doctrine with heretical doctrine
• Wool and linen: Not to be mixed; signifies avoiding mixture of innocence and subtle malice

Key Arguments #

Why Animals Rather Than Plants Prohibited #

• Animals were immolated to idols in pagan worship; plants were not
• Plants grow spontaneously or with little effort from earth; animals require much work to nourish and capture
• Therefore Lord commanded many restrictions on animals to reduce people to simpler life and avoid idolatrous practices

On Cultivation of Mercy #

• Observance of laws regarding animals cultivates mercy, which disposes one toward mercy to men
• Cruelty to animals can lead to cruelty to men
• External practices shape interior dispositions

Important Definitions #

Clean vs. Unclean (per Augustine) #

• By nature (natura): All creatures of God are good
• By signification (significatio): Some are clean, others unclean
• The distinction is not about intrinsic quality but about what the animal represents or prefigures

Figuration (Figurandum) #

• The animals figure or prefigure spiritual realities and sins through their characteristics
• The characteristics themselves suggest what vice or virtue they represent

Examples & Illustrations #

Contemporary Examples #

• Chick-fil-A: Referenced marketing with cows saying “eat chicken”; noted advertising clever strategy and commercial success despite government opposition
• Kosher slaughter: Discussed practice of cutting throats of animals (chickens, rabbits) while hanging upside down to drain blood
• Deer hunting: Mentioned shooting and cutting throat as practice analogous to proper slaughter

Biblical and Literary Examples #

• Genesis 32: Prohibition on eating sinew that touched Jacob (when angel struck his sciatica)
• Exodus 23: Command not to cook goat in mother’s milk
• Hamlet (Shakespeare): Reference to pelican feeding young with own blood; character speaks of pelican
• **Flight into Egypt (anonymous): Story “Dance in the Desert” depicting animals (lion, unicorn, pelican, dragon) honoring Christ child during flight; pelican appears wounded with blood, dragon alone prostrates fully

Dissection and Biology #

• Discussion of botanists vs. zoologists; botanists can dissect plants while eating lunch; zoologists cannot dissect animals while eating meat
• Roasting frog’s legs after dissection in lab

Questions Addressed #

Why Prohibit Blood? #

• To deter cruelty to animals and instill mercy
• To prevent participation in idolatrous practices where Gentiles offered blood to gods

Why Prohibit Strangled Animals? #

• Blood not properly separated from flesh
• Animals suffer greatly in such death

Why Prohibit Animal Fat? #

• Used in idolatrous offerings to pagan gods
• Does not generate good nourishment

What Do Ruminant Animals Signify? #

• Meditation on Scripture and proper understanding thereof
• The distinction of hooves signifies the distinction between testaments or natures in Christ

Why Restrict Animals More Than Plants? #

• Animals were offered to idols; plants were not
• Plants require less labor to obtain; animals require much work
• Law aimed to reduce people to simpler life and protect against idolatry

Why Cook Goat in Mother’s Milk Prohibited? #

• Signifies not consuming Christ (as the sacrificial goat) in his infancy
• Represents not destroying the sinner through maternal nourishment
• Relates to hidden life of Christ and mystery of infancy

Notable Quotes #

“If one asks about the pig and the lamb, right? Both by nature is clean, right? Because every creature of God is good. But by a certain signifying, right? The lamb is clean, but the pig is unclean.” (Augustine, Contra Faustum)

“The first of our works ought to be suspect to us on account of their imperfection.” (Regarding fruits of trees in first three years)