Word of the Day - 6/27/2008

Bifid

Bifid means separated or cleft into two equal parts or lobes.

In the Levitical laws, animals with bifid hooves and that were ruminants (chewed the cud) were designated as “clean”. This meant that they were edible.

“Whatever divides a hoof, thus making split hoofs, and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat.” (Leviticus 11:3, NASB)

Deuteronomy 14:4-5 lists several animals that apply: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer (pictured), the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.