. because he touched the sinew of"
Jacob's "thigh and it shrank."

The figurative reason for these things is that all these animals
signified certain sins, in token of which those animals were
prohibited. Hence Augustine says (Contra Faustum iv, 7): "If the
swine and lamb be called in question, both are clean by nature,
because all God's creatures are good: yet the lamb is clean, and the
pig is unclean in a certain signification. Thus if you speak of a
foolish, and of a wise man, each of these expressions is clean
considered in the nature of the sound, letters and syllables of which
it is composed: but in signification, the one is clean, the other
unclean." The animal that chews the cud and has a divided hoof, is
clean in signification. Because division of the hoof is a figure of
the two Testaments: or of the Father and Son: or of the two natures
in Christ: of the distinction of good and evil. While chewing the cud
signifies meditation on the Scriptures and a sound understanding
thereof; and whoever lacks either of these is spiritually unclean. In
like manner those fish that have scales and fins are clean in
signification. Because fins signify the heavenly or contemplative
life; while scales signify a life of trials, each of which is
required for spiritual cleanness. Of birds certain kinds were
forbidden. In the eagle which flies at a great height, pride is
forbidden: in the griffon which is hostile to horses and men, cruelty
of powerful men is prohibited. The osprey, which feeds on very small
birds, signifies those who oppress the poor. The kite, which is full
of cunning, denotes those who are fraudulent in their dealings. The
vulture, which follows an army, expecting to feed on the carcases of
the slain, signifies those who like others to die or to fight among
themselves that they may gain thereby. Birds of the raven kind
signify those who are blackened by their lusts; or those who lack
kindly feelings, for the raven did not return when once it had been
let loose from the ark. The ostrich which, though a bird, cannot fly,
and is always on the ground, signifies those who fight for God's
cause, and at the same time are taken up with worldly business. The
owl, which sees clearly at night, but cannot see in the daytime,
denotes those who are clever in temporal affairs, but dull in
spiritual matters. The gull, which both flies in the air and swims in
the water, signifies those who are partial both to Circumcision and
to