Joel M Bradshaw

46This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, 47to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.–Leviticus 11

I don’t know why God regulated the diet the way He did and why some others were considered ‘clean’ and others ‘unclean’. In today’s world certifying agencies officially stamp and label foods to be kosher. My wife and I have Jewish friends that look for those labels every single time they shop for food and depend on them to feel confident in their eating.

As Christians, we don’t have to eat according to Leviticus 11, but it is not bad if you do so. My dear friend Terry has done so all his adult life and he is in his 80s. He does so to honor God and for health reasons.

“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) (Jesus in Mark 7:18-19, emphasized)

The point to take from Leviticus 11 is that God had regulations for their lives even to the point of what they ate. From what we can tell, this would have made Israel set apart and distinguishably different from all the neighboring people groups. This is what ‘holy’ means, to be unique and different.

God’s regulating eating called for radical and thorough obedience. God limiting food options meant that Israel had to trust that God would provide enough approved food. The self-denial (Luke 9:23) and love for enemies (Luke 6:35) commands of Jesus are even more radical and counter-cultural than what you ate! Trust and obey God, friends.–JMB