Leviticus 11: 1 – 47
What ---No Escargots?
11 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: 3 Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud—that you may eat. 4 Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 5 the rock hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 6 the hare, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 7 and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8 Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you. 9 ‘These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers—that you may eat. 10 But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. 11 They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. 12 Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales—that shall be an abomination to you. 13 ‘And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, 14 the kite, and the falcon after its kind; 15 every raven after its kind, 16 the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind; 17 the little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl; 18 the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture; 19 the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. 20 ‘All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. 21 Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. 22 These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. 23 But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you. 24 ‘By these you shall become unclean; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until evening; 25 whoever carries part of the carcass of any of them shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening: 26 The carcass of any animal which divides the foot, but is not cloven-hoofed or does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches it shall be unclean. 27 And whatever goes on its paws, among all kinds of animals that go on all fours, those are unclean to you. Whoever touches any such carcass shall be unclean until evening. 28 Whoever carries any such carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. It is unclean to you. 29 ‘These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and the large lizard after its kind; 30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the sand reptile, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. 31 These are unclean to you among all that creep. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening. 32 Anything on which any of them falls, when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is any item of wood or clothing or skin or sack, whatever item it is, in which any work is done, it must be put in water. And it shall be unclean until evening; then it shall be clean. 33 Any earthen vessel into which any of them falls you shall break; and whatever is in it shall be unclean: 34 in such a vessel, any edible food upon which water falls becomes unclean, and any drink that may be drunk from it becomes unclean. 35 And everything on which a part of any such carcass falls shall be unclean; whether it is an oven or cooking stove, it shall be broken down; for they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you. 36 Nevertheless a spring or a cistern, in which there is plenty of water, shall be clean, but whatever touches any such carcass becomes unclean. 37 And if a part of any such carcass falls on any planting seed which is to be sown, it remains clean. 38 But if water is put on the seed, and if a part of any such carcass falls on it, it becomes unclean to you. 39 ‘And if any animal which you may eat dies, he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until evening. 40 He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. He also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. 41 ‘And every creeping thing that creeps on the earth shall be an abomination. It shall not be eaten. 42 Whatever crawls on its belly, whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet among all creeping things that creep on the earth—these you shall not eat, for they are an abomination. 43 You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them. 44 For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 45 For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. 46 ‘This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth, 47 to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.’”
May our Holy God grant some extra blessings upon all the men and women who are missionaries? The apostle Paul who was a good example for all those who would commit their lives in doing similar ministry makes this statement in his 1st letter to the Corinthians in chapter 10 “If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake.”
I have not been called to be a missionary yet I have participated on about 10 separate missionary trips. Paul says that we should eat ‘whatever is set before you.’ In truth, some of the food that was set before me I could not eat. For example in Romania the village that we were staying at served us their homeland delicacy. The placed on the table a steaming bowl of milk and pig parts. Not only did it not look appetizing, it also did not smell so great.
I know that some of you may be thinking, ‘shame on you for not eating their food.’ Well I am sorry I was almost throwing up just with the smell that was emanating three feet away from me.
This is why I am so impressed with those who overcome just this area of cultural difference and blend in so well with the local people.
Now for the life of me I cannot understand that people when they have the opportunity to go out for dinner choose weird food dishes. If I get the opportunity to go out I am not going to experiment on fancy French or Italian delicacies. I go for the good old trusted meals that I know will satisfy my hunger.
So, for you eager food coinsures I want to give you a few various challenging food dishes you might want to try.
The French are known for their adventurous cuisine and for eating most anything that moves as well as every imaginable part of an animal. The following weird foods are adored by the French, yet often detested by everyone else.
. BOUDIN NOIR
When winter rolls around and the first chill wind blows across the mountains of France, it’s time for boudin noir, or black blood sausage. The closer one gets to the end of the year, the more ubiquitous it becomes.
At first sight, there’s nothing to like: its congealed pork blood. As much as this might perturb the French, the original boudin noir reference came down to us not from France, but from Homer’s Odyssey, back in the days of Antiquity.
Basically, when the pig is killed the blood is conserved, mixed (usually with vinegar) to keep it from setting, and then combined with various ingredients until it congeals.
This isn’t such an unusual food, since it’s often found outside France. In the UK, black pudding tends to be eaten at breakfast; in Germany it’s known as Blutwurst; in Belgium it is bloedworst; and Spain has a variation called morcilla.
. ESCARGOTS DE BOURGOGNE
It’s almost a rite of passage when visiting France, the tasting of at least one escargot (or snail).
Many foreigners pale at the thought of digging a rubbery creature out from a shell and feeling it slide down their throat. In France escargots tend to be eaten with healthy amounts of butter, garlic and parsley. The escargot often seems like an afterthought– a mere vessel used to carry the sauce while you mop up with a crunchy bit of baguette.
. OURSINS
I am not talking about a variety of raisins. Oursins is a fancy name for sea urchins, like oysters, people are often put off by the sea urchins texture. The strong seaside smell, which is a bit like salt and rotten algae rolled into one, can be repulsive.
Oursins are also difficult to eat. First they have to be cut open with special shears, but you’ll need a tough glove, as they’re full of spikes that can rip your hands apart. If you have a choice, eat them at a restaurant and have an expert cut them open, especially since broken bits can find their way into the cavity if you’re not skilled.
These few examples that I have just shared with you may not be to everyone’s tastes, but the following foods, considered weird and bizarre, or even dangerous to outsiders, and are considered delicacies in their countries. Although eating these foods might seem like a form of ‘extreme dining’ to some adventurous dinners they’re tasty everyday or special occasion fare for the people who eat them.
. Birds Nest Soup, China
You wouldn’t necessarily think a birds nest would be edible, but the Chinese use Swifts’ nests to make this soup, known as the ‘Caviar of the East’. Right now you’re probably imagining a nest made out of twigs and leaves, but Swiftlets make their nests predominantly out of saliva.
It’s something in the saliva of the bird that makes it have this unique gelatinous, rubbery texture and it’s one of the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. It’s expensive because the swiftlets build the nests during breeding season over a period of 35 days and nests can only be harvested around three times a year. The nests are typically built in coastal caves and collecting them is a treacherous process involving nimble climbing skills, which adds to the hefty price tag.
With an increase in demand for birds nest soup, manmade nesting sites have become common. Hong Kong and the US are the largest importers of birds’ nests and a bowl of the soup can cost from $30 to $100 per bowl, whereas a kilo of nests can cost between $2,000 and $10,000. A tradition for centuries, the soup’s believed to have aphrodisiac qualities in addition to its nutritious protein content.
. Fried tarantulas, Cambodia
The eensy weensy spider climbed up the water spout…however this spider isn’t eensy weensy. If you suffer from arachnophobia you probably don’t want to try eating these eight-legged monsters. They’re not tiny little house spiders, they’re great big tarantulas and you can buy them from street vendors in Skuon, Cambodia.
They’re fried whole – legs, fangs and all. They were first discovered to be edible by starving Cambodians in the bloody, brutal days of the Khmer Rouge rule and have gone from being the vital sustenance of these people to a delicacy tourists come from far and wide to try.
The black hairy arachnids, found in the jungle around the market town of Skuon, have become a source of fame and fortune for the region as busloads of people stop to try them on their way to other places. For only a few cents, they taste delicious plucked straight from the burrow and pan fried with a bit of garlic and salt. They’re crispy on the outside with a gooey body on the inside with a flavor resembling cricket or chicken.
. Puffer fish
You’ve got to be careful with this delicacy or you might end up in the morgue. The deadly Puffer fish, or fugu, is the ultimate delicacy in Japan even though its skin and insides contain the poisonous toxin tetrodotoxin, which is 1,250 times stronger than cyanide.
That’s why in Japan only expert chefs in licensed restaurants are allowed to prepare it. Only try this at licensed restaurants, otherwise, you could end up paralyzed and eventually die from asphyxiation because there is no known antidote.
Fifteen people died in Thailand when the fish was declared illegal and people started dying it pink and passing it off as salmon.
. Maggot Cheese, Sardinia
This Sardinian cheese is riddled with insect larvae. “Casu Marzu” means ‘rotten cheese’ and is most commonly referred to as ‘maggot cheese.’ It’s now been banned for health reasons but can still be found for sale on the black market in Sardinia and other parts of Italy.
This sheep’s milk cheese is basically Pecorino, which has had the larvae of the cheese fly, Piophila casei, introduced into it. Fermentation occurs as the larvae digest the cheese fats, and the texture becomes very soft with some liquid seeping out. The cheese has to be eaten when the maggots are still alive because when they are dead it is considered to be toxic.
Since the larvae can jump if they are disturbed, diners have to shield their eyes. Health issues have arisen in relation to Casu Marzu, including reports of allergic reactions and the danger of consuming cheese that has advanced to a toxic state. There’s also the risk of intestinal larval infection to consider,
. Surstromming, Sweden
Surstomming is fermented Baltic herring and can be found on supermarket shelves all over Sweden, although you probably won’t see it next to the Ikea meatballs.
The herring is caught in spring when it is just about to spawn and is fermented in barrels for one to two months before it is tinned where the fermentation continues for several months. The cans often bulge during shipping and storage because of the continued fermentation process.
Certain airlines have in fact banned these cans from being taken on flights, as they consider the pressurized cans to be potentially dangerous, like fireworks and explosives. When the can is opened the smell is usually what will get to you first as the fermented fish has a really strong odor. It’s usually eaten with a type of flat crispy bread and boiled potatoes. Sometimes people drink milk or water with it, but beer’s the best way to wash it down.
Live Octopus,
Sannakji is a raw dish consisting of live octopus typical in Korea. Live octopus is cut into pieces, lightly seasoned with sesame oil and served immediately, the tentacles still squirming on the plate.
Eating live octopus is a serious challenge. Beyond the mental challenge of trying to get your head round eating something that’s still alive, but there’s the physical difficulty of fighting with your food, as the tentacles stick to any surface they touch.
The first hurdle is to get the tentacles off your chopsticks, and once the octopus is in your mouth it will suction to your teeth, the roof of your mouth and your tongue essentially trying to preserve its own life. Some locals consider it a “party in your mouth” as the tentacles wriggles while you chew. Special care should be taken to chew thoroughly.
. Excrement Coffee, Indonesia
You might want to think twice if someone offers you a cup of this coffee when you pop round to their house in Indonesia, or maybe not. Kopi Luwak is the rarest, most expensive gourmet coffee in the world. Sounds divine right? It’s actually made from the excrements of an Indonesian cat-like creature called the Luwak.
The Luwak eats only the ripest coffee cherries but its stomach can’t digest beans inside them, so they come out whole. The coffee that results from this process is said to be like no other, and the stomach acids and enzymes that perform the fermentation of the beans give the coffee a special aroma.
This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago. With an expensive price tag of anywhere between US$120 – $300 per pound, you might want to start saving now if you want to try this gourmet coffee.
. Snake Wine, Vietnam
Fancy a different sort of wine? A bouquet of reptile with some notes of venom perhaps? Snake wine is rice wine bottled with a venomous snake. It has a slightly pink color like a nice rose because of the snake blood in there. It’s believed to have medicinal purposes’, but is probably more useful as a conversation piece than anything else.
The snake is left to steep in the rice wine for many months to let the poison dissolve in the wine. Ethanol neutralizes the venom so it’s not dangerous. This wine originated in Vietnam, where snakes are thought to possess medicinal qualities, but has spread to other parts of South East Asia and Southern China.
Now that I have whet your appetite for exotic foods, today we are going to look at the things our Holy God has listed as unclean and clean.
The priesthood having been informed of their responsibility to discern between what was ritually clean and what was ritually unclean, five chapters now deal with the question in order to provide them with guidance. The question of clean and unclean brings out Israel’s world view, and stresses the difference between walking with God, and enjoying life and enjoying what is pure, in other words what is ‘clean’, and groveling in what is ‘unclean’, with its connections with impurity and death, urging men to the former away from the latter.
11 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them,
Once more we have confirmation that these are the words of Yahweh to Moses and are therefore to be treated as of the utmost importance. Here, however, Aaron is with him.
2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘these are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: 3 Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud—that you may eat.
The definition of what of animals can be eaten is simple and clear and could be followed by any Israelite. The ‘perfect’ edible animal intended by God as man’s food is the one that parts the hoof, is cloven-footed and chews the cud. These therefore may be eaten. This is indeed the kind that God intended to be eaten, for He created them as such (Genesis 1.24-25). They are wholesome and can fully satisfy all Israel’s need. For these attributes will determine largely what the animals themselves eat and where they tend to roam. They eat grass and vegetation, and walk and feed in places less likely to be ‘unclean’ or to be infected by parasites and death. They keep their proper place.
4 Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 5 the rock hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 6 the hare, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 7 and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8 Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.
Thus they are not to eat the flesh of, or touch the dead carcasses of, the camel, the rock badger, the hare, and the pig. These are all ‘unclean’. They are lacking in one way or the other. They are blemished. And their very adaptation results in their going into unclean places, partaking of unclean things, scrabbling in the dust of death, and thus being generally unclean. They must therefore be avoided.
These then are ‘unclean’. God was undoubtedly concerned to maintain the health and wellbeing of his people by enabling them to avoid contact, not only with ‘death’ (their carcasses you shall not touch), but also with the dirt and dust of unclean places, and with any resulting diseases. But the main point is that each of these animals is lacking in one or other of the essential virtues for an edible animal, virtues that tended to cleanness, and therefore they are ‘blemished’ and not true ‘cattle’, and eat and wander in places which are unclean. Their adaptation has therefore rendered them unfit for food for God’s holy people. They are not of‘perfection’ suitable for the people of God.
Christians are not called on to avoid these unclean foods, although there might be wisdom in considering it, but we should learn from this that if we too would be clean we must ensure that we abstain from all that God has forbidden us morally, and that we feed our minds properly and walk in clean paths. We should walk in our proper sphere. For those who do otherwise tend to uncleanness.
9 ‘These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers—that you may eat.
Once again the principle is the same. Fish intended to be eaten have fins and scales. This is seen as the ‘perfect’ edible fish. They swim and eat in the clear waters, in parts that are ‘clean’, in their proper sphere, not wallowing in the mud. They are solely of the sea or river. Anything less than that is a ‘sea creature especially those that cling to the bottom or to rocks, and not an edible fish. For those with fins and scales are again less likely to have absorbed anything parasitic or harmful. They were created to be eaten.
10 But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. 11 They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. 12 Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales—that shall be an abomination to you.
On the other hand all other sea and river creatures are not to be eaten. They are to be seen as blemished for they do not have the attributes of the ‘perfect’ fish. They lack scales or they lack fins. They are not designed for the pure waters. They take their food where they find it, among what is ‘unclean’. This would include all shellfish which tend to eat decaying matter. Indeed these are all ‘an abomination’, that is, especially unclean and to be avoided.
If we would serve Christ Jesus our Lord fully, we too must swim in clear waters, and not be constantly delving in the mud. The principle still applies that what God has created for man’s good lives and eats cleanly, and is thus ‘perfect’ and without blemish and does not render unclean. These sources of food are not forbidden to us, (as long as we are careful), but being like them is.
13 ‘And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, 14 the kite, and the falcon after its kind; 15 every raven after its kind, 16 the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind; 17 the little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl; 18 the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture; 19 the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.
In the case of birds it is the negative that is emphasized, the ones to be especially avoided. On the whole the ones mentioned tend to be birds of prey. They do not keep to the proper sphere of birds by flying in the air and eating what is in the air, and seeds. They are mainly death-dealers. They descend into the dust and eat carrion. They descend to the sphere of, and eat, beasts and creeping things. The thought may also be that they eat flesh with the blood like wild beasts. Thus those who take life in this way and who eat in this way must be unclean, for death is unclean and decaying flesh is unclean, and rodents are unclean. It is contrary to what they should be, and contrary to what Yahweh is as the living God.
All these examples bring out the lesson that what we are revealed by how we behave, and we are not to follow their example. We must remain in our own sphere. And the sphere of Israel is the covenant, and obedience to the Law. The sphere of Israel is to be holiness.
20 ‘All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you.
Such creatures sought food in unclean places, and on dead carcasses and dead matter. These are the flying things that have more than two legs - ‘On four.’
21 Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. 22 These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. 23 But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you.
There were, however, some larger insects which were exceptions and could be eaten, and they are outlined here. They are distinguished by the fact that they are ‘leapers’, not those that groveled in the dust. They are also all such as appeared to eat vegetation and grain. They were therefore clean. The Bedouin are known to have eaten certain types of locust, as did John the Baptist (Matthew 3.4), and they appear to have been a delicacy at king’s tables. It is clear from the description that the Israelites also enjoyed them.
The general idea behind these food laws would appear therefore to be to distinguish those which ate what was ‘clean’ and which went where it was relatively ‘clean’, and lived in their own spheres, and were not obviously involved in death-dealing (consider how death-dealing animals have not even been dealt with, their uncleanness is assumed) in contrast with those whose habits were such that they would continually have contact with dead and decaying and rotting and infested matter, and with what was ‘unclean’, going out of their own spheres and lurking and scrabbling in the dust. Only the ‘clean’ were fit for God’s holy people. The constant recognition of this fact would bring home to Israel God’s holiness, the holiness that was required of them, and a sense of being God’s people as witnessed by what they ate. They would be a constant reminder that they should stay within their own sphere. They certainly helped to prevent disease, and were good aids to hygiene. The rules had to be straight and simple. They were not naturalists. There was no question of arguing individual cases.
We now move on to dead carcasses. These are necessarily outside their proper sphere. They are always unclean apart from when offered when still alive, and then slain in sacrifice (when they are in their proper, God-given sphere) to God. This provision is now not a question of whether we can eat them, but of what should not even be touched and handled.
24 ‘By these you shall become unclean; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until evening; 25 whoever carries part of the carcass of any of them shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening: 26 The carcass of any animal which divides the foot, but is not cloven-hoofed or does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches it shall be unclean. 27 And whatever goes on its paws, among all kinds of animals that go on all fours, those are unclean to you. Whoever touches any such carcass shall be unclean until evening. 28 Whoever carries any such carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. It is unclean to you.
The list of unclean animals is now extended to include those that have paws. All these unclean animals and birds were not to be eaten; all their dead carcasses were to be strictly avoided. They would bring the taint of death, and the taint of death should not be transferred to the people of God. Thus any of the people who themselves did have contact with such must immediately afterwards (until the evening) avoid the tabernacle. They would not be fit to approach God until they were clean. They must not go directly to the tabernacle while unclean. Nor must they eat of holy meat. They have temporarily gone outside their sphere, the sphere of life. The taint of death must not be brought into contact with the holy. But it was only mild uncleanness, lasting until the evening. This would enable the ‘uncleanness’ to wear off and give the opportunity to see if there were any ill effects. For avoiding the touching of carcasses was also hygienically wise. They could easily pass on disease.
29 ‘These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and the large lizard after its kind; 30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the sand reptile, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. 31 These are unclean to you among all that creep. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening.
The same principle applied to all small rodents and reptiles. They were unclean and must not be eaten, nor must their dead bodies be touched. If they were touched then the person was again unclean until the evening. They were defiled. They must not go to the tabernacle or eat of holy meat.
If faithfully observed, these rules would have saved the Israelites from much disease, and we cannot really doubt now that ideas of defilement and disease were seen together as uncleanness. They could hardly avoid noticing cases where contact with such dead creatures sometimes resulted in various forms of disease, even if they did think of it as a judgment for touching what was unclean. But from the point of view of the Israelites, by avoiding these things they were pleasing Yahweh and doing His will, and showing themselves to be His people. They were avoiding what was unseemly.
32 Anything on which any of them falls, when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is any item of wood or clothing or skin or sack, whatever item it is, in which any work is done, it must be put in water. And it shall be unclean until evening; then it shall be clean. 33 Any earthen vessel into which any of them falls you shall break; and whatever is in it shall be unclean:
Contact with dead rodents and reptiles rendered containers ‘unclean’. They have left their proper use. They must therefore be ‘put in water’ or destroyed. This was especially important for earthen vessels, which must be destroyed because by their nature they could absorb things that were harmful. Whatever our view it is clear that such uncleanness was seen as having a harmful effect realistically and not just religiously, although the overall idea is undoubtedly that God’s people must separate themselves from all that is unclean, from all that comes short of God’s perfection, for it is then short of the best.
34 in such a vessel, any edible food upon which water falls becomes unclean, and any drink that may be drunk from it becomes unclean. 35 And everything on which a part of any such carcass falls shall be unclean; whether it is an oven or cooking stove, it shall be broken down; for they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you.
Anything to be eaten or drunk which has been affected by water and is in a container where a dead rodent or reptile has fallen becomes unclean and must not be eaten or drunk. It has left its sphere of purity. The water has clearly spread the ‘uncleanness’. Again it is emphasized that earthenware ovens and earthenware pots must be destroyed if a dead rodent or reptile falls in them. They have left their proper sphere. They are unclean. These distinctions must surely arise from recognition of health dangers seen in terms of uncleanness, as well as emphasizing the avoidance of the unseemly. The uncleanness of creeping things which creep in the dust must not be passed on to Israel in Israel’s own possessions, for they are God’s holy people and above the curse.
36 Nevertheless a spring or a cistern, in which there is plenty of water, shall be clean, but whatever touches any such carcass becomes unclean.
Uncleanness does not apply to all the water in a spring or cistern, only to what is actually known to have touched the carcass. This probably meant that they must ladle out the dead rodent or reptile with the surrounding water. It would hardly have been practical in the course of life if every cistern in which a dead rodent or reptile fell had to be treated as permanently unclean in totality until emptied and refilled. Water was too scarce. And the thought was there that the quantity of water would dilute any uncleanness. Wherever people stopped for a length of time cisterns of kinds would be built for storing and catching water and they were vital for making the best use of water. They would later be an essential for living in the hill country in Canaan.
37 And if a part of any such carcass falls on any planting seed which is to be sown, it remains clean.
However, seed set aside for sowing is not affected by dead creeping things falling on them. It does not make such ‘unclean’ or unhygienic. It will not affect what grows from it. The people would be carrying stores of grain for when they arrived in their new land, and would in fact almost certainly use it when they established themselves at Kadesh.
38 But if water is put on the seed, and if a part of any such carcass falls on it, it becomes unclean to you.
It is a different matter, however, if the seed is mixed with water at the time, presumably in order to use it for food. The water conveys uncleanness into the mixture. It is thus rendered unclean.
39 And if any animal which you may eat dies, he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until evening. 40 He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. He also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.
Even the carcasses of clean animals that have died are unclean. Death makes them unclean. For death is finally at the root of all uncleanness. Elsewhere the differing kinds of death are mentioned.
The dead animal might well be dead because of disease, or may have had time to begin to decay, or may already have been attacked by scavengers and vermin, this was clearly a wise provision. But such carcasses could be sold for food to non-Israelites who were not affected by the regulations for ritual uncleanness. They were not bound by the Law. These would not like to see them being wasted and might well beg to be allowed to eat them. Eating meat was a comparatively rare treat, and they would get them on the cheap. But the stipulation clearly expects that even some Israelites will remove these dead carcasses, and eat them, although it is to be seen as not worthy of one who belongs to God. The truly pure in Israel would not do so. The penalty is a short period of uncleanness which would not concern the less devout, although if disease was there the ‘penalty’ might turn out to be greater. It is different with ‘abominations’. They are not to be touched at all.
Having seen examples of what cannot be eaten because of contact with what is unclean we now return to what cannot be eaten. The ban on creeping things is universal. To eat such things is not only not worthy of God, it is an abomination to Him. They grovel among the dirt outside man’s sphere. That is the sphere of the snake.
41 ‘And every creeping thing that creeps on the earth shall be an abomination. It shall not be eaten. 42 Whatever crawls on its belly, whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet among all creeping things that creep on the earth—these you shall not eat, for they are an abomination.
Every creeping thing is to be an abomination as far as eating is concerned, including snakes and centipedes (having many feet). The question is not whether some of them are edible, but that they eat and live among the dirt and dust. They share the snake’s environment. They are an abomination.
The stress in all these cases is on the need to develop purity and cleanness, and to avoid what is unclean by means of connection with death, degradation, dust and dirt. By these means they would be kept from harm and contact with death and remain pure in God’s eyes. The positive side is that God’s people should ever be taken up with what is pure and true and of good report (Philippians 4.8).
43 You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them.
To partake of any of these unclean ‘creeping things that creep’ would be to make them both abominable and unclean. It would be to share their environment. It would doubly defile them. It is an absolute ban, not just something that could easily be remedied. They were not there for man to eat. The thought is abhorrent. And they were closely connected with idolatry (Ezekiel 8.10).
Please take note the distinction that has been maintained. Eating unclean animals, rodents and lizards is forbidden, but eating unclean sea creatures, birds, and insects is an abomination. The prohibition for the latter is thus much stronger, and may well relate to the curse on the snake, and the sphere in which they live. What is common for all these creatures are that they belong to the unclean world, and live from and lurk among either what dies or what is of the dust. They are thus not fitted for God’s holy people, because God’s people are superior to such things, and not to be connected with anything connected with death or uncleanness.
Now God states His purpose. It is that they might be holy as He Is Holy. That meant avoiding all that was looked on as unclean or loathsome, and all that was connected with dirt, dust and death. It meant seeking their true sphere, the holiness of God.
44 For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
Let them consider with Whom they have to do. He Is ‘Yahweh their God’. This is their covenant God speaking. Thus they are to sanctify themselves, to ‘make themselves holy’ by separating themselves to God. As His people they are to set themselves apart to God and His service and not be scrabbling among the unpleasant things of this world. His desire is that their thoughts may be positive and pleasant and not negative.
45 For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
This is a clear reference to the covenant. He has brought them out of Egypt that they might be His holy people, they are therefore to be holy as He Is Holy, and that involves maintaining their proper sphere and shunning all that might lead to uncleanness, to degradation, to disease, or to death. It was the attitude of heart that was of the most importance. It is this that lies behind all the teaching on cleanness and uncleanness, that His people might be holy as He Is Holy.
46 ‘This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth, 47 to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.’”
The questions it dealt with were His people’s attitude towards His creation. They are to distinguish between what can rightly be eaten, and what should not be eaten, what is positive and what is negative, what is desirable and what is not desirable, what is tainting and what is not tainting, what is honoring to God before men, and what is not honoring to God, between cleanliness and uncleanness, between life and death.
The final message that it leaves with us is the question as to what should be our attitude to life? Each of us is called to choose the way we walk and what shall be important to us, and whether we will avoid what is sinful and degrading, or not. We each have to choose our road, just as the Israelites did in the light of this teaching. We are called upon to keep to our proper way of life as our Lord has determined.
That is the message of holiness, and lesser holiness, and ungodliness, of clean and unclean, and abominable. The question is this. On what will we set our aim? Are we to set our minds on things above, where Christ Jesus our King Is seated at the right hand of God, recognizing that we and all our sin are dead, and our lives are hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3.1-3). Are we to recognize that it is not we who live, but Christ Who lives in us (Galatians 2.20). Or will we join the creeping things in the dirt and dust, letting them into our lives and revealing ourselves as simply like them in all our ways? Or will we just wander in the middle so that no one really knows which we are - The clean or the unclean. The choice is ours.
