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This speech is structured as follows: (1) introduction (vv.1-2a), (2) list of clean and unclean animals (vv.2b-23), (3) instructions on uncleanness due to contact with unclean animals (vv.24-40), and (4) exhortation to holiness (vv.41-45).
1. The introduction differs from preceding ones in that Aaron is included with Moses in God’s address. The inclusion of Aaron here is in keeping with the role of the priests in instructing the people on ritual points (cf. 10:10-11).
2. Animals are classified in vv.2b-23 as those that are clean and may be eaten and those that are unclean and forbidden as food. Four categories distinguish life spheres of the respective animals: (1) animals living on land (vv.2b-8), (2) fish living in water (vv.9-12), (3) birds that fly in the air (vv.13-19), and (4) insects that inhabit land and air (vv.20-23). The author cites a principle as the basis for cleanness or uncleanness in each case except with regard to birds. Land animals that are clean are those with a completely divided hoof and that chew the cud. Fish are clean if they have fins and scales, and clean insects are those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. Land animals, fish, and insects lacking the cited characteristics are unclean and forbidden as food. While no principle is given for distinguishing clean and unclean birds, it may be noted that the list of twenty birds forbidden as food (vv.13b-19) is primarily composed of birds of prey and feeders on carrion.
3. Lev 11:24-40 gives instructions concerning uncleanness due to contact with unclean animals. As a parallel to the previous list the author treats first uncleanness from contact with large land animals (vv.26-28). The next unit lists a group of unclean varmints and lizards and defines uncleanness through contact with their carcasses (vv.29-38). Uncleanness occurs through direct contact with a carcass or through contact with an object that the unclean animal has touched.
4. In vv.41-45 the writer presents a prohibition against eating any kind of crawling animal and an exhortation to be holy by avoiding contact with unclean animals. The command “I am the Lord your God, consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy” (v.44) is the key to the interpretation of the entire section in that it sets forth the fundamental purpose for regulations on ritual purity. These regulations are given for the practice of obeying the holy God at every meal.