XI PECULIAR CONTROVERSIAL METHODS 399 



Isaiah's writings form no part of the "Law of 

 Moses " ; and, in the second place, the people 

 denounced by the prophet in this passage are 

 neither the possessors of pigs, nor swineherds, but 

 these " which eat swine's flesh and broth of 

 abominable things is in their vessels." And when, 

 in despair, I turned to the provisions of the Law 

 itself, my difficulty was not cleared up. Leviticus 

 xi. 8 (Revised Version) says, in reference to the 

 pig and other unclean animals : " Of their flesh ye 

 shall not eat, and their carcasses ye shall not 

 touch." In the revised version of Deuteronomy, 

 xiv. 8, the words of the prohibition are identical, 

 and a skilful refiner might possibly satisfy himself, 

 even if he satisfied nobody else, that " carcase " 

 means the body of a live animal as well as a dead 

 one ; and that, since swineherds could hardly avoid 

 contact with their charges, their calling was im- 

 plicitly forbidden. 1 Unfortunately, the authorised 

 version expressly says " dead carcase " ; and thus 

 the most rabbinically minded of reconcilers might 

 find his casuistry foiled by that great source of 

 surprises, the "original Hebrew.'' That such 

 check is at any rate possible, is clear from the fact 

 that the legal uncleanness of some animals, as 

 food, did not interfere with their being lawfully 

 possessed, cared for, and sold by Jews. The 



1 Even Leviticus xi. 26, cited without reference to the con- 

 text, will not serve the purpose; because the swine is " cloven- 

 footed " (Lev. xi. 7). 

 141 



