Why, non-existence happened to them of course! : P

The New American Bible translation reads: The various winged insects that walk on all fours are loathsome for you. But of the various winged insects that walk on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs for leaping on the ground (Leviticus 11:20-21) This is why John the Baptist's "food was locusts and wild honey." (Matthew 3:4) With love in Christ.

This is one of the few times in the Bible where translators have real trouble with nouns. Animal names and the names of jewels are two of the more difficult things to translate, believe it or not. As a linguist, however, I can see why. I work in four languages, and some basic concepts cannot always be translated exactly from one language to another. Colours are another. To Austronesian peoples (including the speakers of Indonesian Balinese, Javanese and the Polynesian languages), there was no "brown". Instead it was a variant of red. In this case, we must go back to the original Hebrew and see what word was used for what, in English bibles, is translated "insects". It was, in fact, the word sherets, which CAN, indeed, be translated "insect", but has the general meaning of "swarming thing". Here is a quote from an expert site I found, which explains it: The word really refers to crawling or swimming creatures that tend to swarm together. For example, in Genesis, sherets refers to swarming sea creatures,27 in the flood account (Genesis 7) sherets refers to rodents,28 and in Leviticus, sherets refers to crustaceans,29 insects,30 rodents,31 and reptiles.32 The term sherets was never intended as a biological classification system, so to say that it specifically refers to "insects" is deceptive. What is common among all the creatures mentioned is that they have short legs and often travel together in groups. In fact, the Bible defines sherets as "crawling on its belly" and "whatever walks on all fours."33 What is common in this group of crustaceans, insects, rodents, and reptiles is that they all crawl on "all four" legs. Some from this group actually have more than four legs. However, the Hebrew idiom "on all fours" refers to any creature that crawls low to the ground on at least four legs. Were the writers of the Bible unaware that insects have six legs? This statement would seem rather silly, but atheists actually make this claim. However, one of the verses clearly indicates that these "four-legged" insects have six legs: 'Yet these you may eat among all the winged insects [sherets] which walk on all fours: those which have above their feet jointed legs with which to jump on the earth. (Leviticus 11:21) The key part of the verse is the phrase "above their feet jointed legs." The Hebrew uses two different words to describe the "feet" (regel) and "legs" (kera). What the verse says is that these insects walk on four "feet" (their anterior four short legs), with an additional two "legs" that are used for jumping. Therefore, all six appendages are described. http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/false.html Hope this helps.

I recommend taking a look at a picture of or finding a Monarch Butterfly.

Science has come to recognize that dinosaurs and birds are close relatives. Obviously, we have fossil evidence for dinosaurs, which can therefore be considered as four legged birds.

Here's the answer to your question...for some reason I cannot get this to post under comments: Sorry I referenced my NIV Bible which uses the word "insect" rather than "fowl." Which version were you referencing? Anyway, yes I'm aware that monarchs have 6 legs, however I have one in my posession this moment and cannot see it's forelegs no matter how hard I try. I'm not saying they aren't there, but God was speaking to people who existed before scientific classification of insects, so I'm sure they would have been ignorant of the monarch's forelegs and God recognized that. Had you not had google or a public library, you may have overlooked them also, as would I. By appearances alone (what the Isrealites would have depended on), monarchs have 4 legs and are in fact poisonous, so they are not good for consumption. I think God gave some good advice!