1. Leviticus 11:2 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Is this instruction from the LORD the first time a distinction is made between clean and unclean animals?

Leviticus 11:2 (ESV)

2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.

The concept of clean and unclean animals was not new from the biblical perspective. As far back as the account of the flood (Genesis 7:2), there is a distinction made between the clean or unclean animals that were to go into the ark.