Young European Brown Hare
The Hebrew word is arnebeth, and the Arabic name for hare is ernebah; the LXX also translates it as the hare. There can be little doubt therefore that this is the right signification. A difficulty thereupon arises in its being forbidden as unclean, because it chewed the cud but did not divide the hoof (Lev. 11:66And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. (Leviticus 11:6); Deut. 14:77Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you. (Deuteronomy 14:7)). It is now a well-known fact that the hare does not chew the cud, its teeth and stomach not being suited for such a process. Various suggestions have been made in explanation, the most probable is that as the animal appears to chew the cud it is classed with those who did so. Scripture usually speaks of things in nature as they appear to the senses of man, and not according to strict science.
The hare is almost constantly moving its jaws as if it were a ruminant. The poet Cowper kept some young hares in his house, and he says of one, “I, made it my custom to carry him always after breakfast into the garden, where he hid himself generally under the leaves of a cucumber vine, sleeping, or chewing the cud, till evening.” The two principal species in Palestine are the Lepus syriacus and the Lepus egyptiacus.