What does the Lord mean when He says "clean and UN-clean animals" in Genesis?
Thank you, Kurt in Michigan.
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Kurt,
Great question! For our readers, please take a look at Genesis 7:2. The distinction between “clean and unclean” animals was only revealed to Israel during the Exodus. How then are we to understand the mention of this in the Genesis account of the flood?
As I mentioned in my lecture on Tuesday, the text of Genesis is traditionally attributed to Moses. One of the first principles of Catholic biblical interpretation is that the text is written using the talents and experience of the author. In other words, God uses the inspired author to communicate what He wills, but He uses him in such a way that the human author is an authentic cooperator in the work. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words” (CCC, 109).
In all likelihood, the oral tradition about the flood that had been passed down from Noah to Moses included the listing of particular clean animals here such as goats, sheep, etc. without noting that they were "clean" animals. However, when Moses received the tradition which included this list and the law from God about what was clean and what was not, he simply interpreted the tradition according to the law.
Hope that helps!
Deacon Sabatino
