And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
Ye shall be holy men unto me. Since you are a people separated to my service (see the note at Exodus 19:6), so you must keep yourselves free from all impurity, both moral and spiritual.
Neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field. The reasons for this prohibition were partly moral and partly ceremonial-
(1) To create a disgust at everything which bore the marks of cruelty;
(2) To preserve ceremonial distinctions, as the clean beast or fowl was polluted by the contact of the unclean beast of prey; and
(3) To prevent the eating of blood, which could not be wholly drained from the mangled carcass (see further the notes at Leviticus 7:15; also Genesis 9:4).
Ye shall cast it to the dogs - in allusion to the undomesticated dogs that followed the camp of Israel, and hung on its skirts.