PARTING THE HOOF AND CHEWING THE CUD
Leviticus 11:2-4
For some people the only exercise they ever get is when they are jumping to conclusions, running off at the mouth, putting their two cents worth in, raising cane, and I don’t mean sugar cane, walking all over someone, lifting themselves up on a pedestal, or strong arming someone else into doing something they don’t want to do.
One way in which we jump to conclusions and start running off at the mouth is when we assume that something is what it isn’t or isn’t what it is and then think that we are the world’s authority on matters that we know almost nothing about.
Take the Law of Moses for example. Most of us just sort of skim over the Laws that are written in the Book of Leviticus without giving them much thought. It all seems like so much double talk meant for a people who lived long ago in a very different society and under a different covenant than what we do today.
Instead of looking into these laws to see if they have any spiritual meaning to us, it is far easier just to say something like:
Well, born again Christians are no longer under the Law, but under Grace. The Law was done away with completely when Jesus died and rose again so why should I even give them a second thought.
Now that’s exactly the kind of attitude that many people in the church have but it just proves my point that we really don’t always know what we are talking about.
Jesus Christ did not do away with the Law; he fulfilled it. In other words he paid the penalty of every broken law that all men would break for all time.
But the Law is still active. It is still a living Law that condemns those who break its restrictions and who will still be condemned by its judgment for sin.
Every man, woman and child, over the age of accountability, will face the Righteous Judge at the Great White Throne Judgment one day, and will give account of every Law of God that they have ever broken. Then they will hear those inevitable words, “depart from me. I never knew you.”
Oh how sad it will be in that day for those who thought that the Law was not in effect any longer! Too late they will realize that the Law still condemns and that the sentence for breaking the Law of God is eternal death.
I praise the Lord that I am no longer condemned by the Law! I praise God that Jesus came down, shed his blood for me, died and rose again, and that by his death, burial and resurrection, he paid my debt in full. Everyone who accepts Jesus’ sacrifice and confesses him as Lord of their lives will be saved by grace, through faith in Him. He has fulfilled the law in us by his own precious blood and we are no longer guilty of breaking his law.
But tonight I want us to look back at a small portion of the Book of Leviticus because I believe that there is more to the Laws of God in that book than meets the eye. Our God is a wise God and He quite often uses types and shadows throughout the Old Testament to teach us by example, those things that we need to learn and to know.
Leviticus 11:2-4, "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you."
Now, as you read this scripture portion and this law concerning what God considers as an unclean animal that should not be eaten and a clean animal that may be used as food, you would likely think that this has nothing to do with us right now. But let’s take a closer look and see it really has something to say to us.
God laid down a lot of the Laws of the Old Testament with some specific ideas in mind. I don’t believe that God just randomly made up laws just to have laws. They all have a specific purpose and since God’s Word is eternal and alive, it surely must have some application in our own lives.
When God set down the Laws that pertained to the food and meat that the Israelites were permitted to eat, God knew what type of flesh would be tolerated by the body and what type of flesh could be potentially deadly if not preserved in a correct manner.
But I have seen, in these same scriptures that there is a deeper; more subtle meaning, that directly effects you and I in a very spiritual sense as we walk this life.
Take a moment with me to consider what I believe that God has shown to me concerning the parted, cloven hooves and the chewing of the cud.
First of all, God says that we are to partake only of those beasts that meet the right criteria. They had to have a parted, or divided hoof, and it had to be totally separated, not just open on one end and connected at the other end.
Secondly, we could partake of those beasts who not only had the cloven, parted hooves, but that they must also chew a cud.
In order to be considered as useful in the building up and strengthening of the Body of Christ we have to be like those clean beasts of Leviticus; we must be cloven footed, with parted hooves.
Those cloven, or divided, hooves stand for two things in the life of a Christian.
Firstly I am reminded that God says that we are to be a separated people, holy and acceptable unto him, and that is our reasonable service. It’s what is expected of us. Just as the hooves are separated down the middle there must be a division that separates God’s people from people of the world.
Secondly, those cloven hooves represent the lifelong walk of a Christian in dedicated and committed service to the Lord and to the Body of Christ, and indeed, to all of our fellowmen.
That walk includes all of the good works that we do but just walking morally and uprightly isn’t enough because there was another qualification to be considered as “clean” for use in God’s economy.
So, if we are going to be cloven footed that means that we are going to have a different walk in life than that of the world around us. The footsteps of a Christian should not go into the ways of sin, but they should go where the Spirit of the Lord leads.
Some animals have a divided foot but the hoof is still connected on one end. Those types of animals were still considered unclean for Israel to consume.
How can God accept our lives as a sacrifice unto Him if there is no full division between us and the world? We can’t hang out on the fence of hell and expect God to use us for his glory. That just doesn’t work.
Another qualification that God placed upon those animals who could be useful was that they also had to “chew the cud”. Chewing the cud represents those who profess and speak of Christ and the ways of Righteousness. It isn’t enough just to speak it; we have to live it too. It isn’t enough to walk morally and uprightly; we have to profess and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as well.
Either way, if we don’t walk the walk, and talk the talk, we are no more than hypocrites. God wouldn’t accept any animal for food or sacrifice that didn’t meet both criteria. Neither will he accept those people who aren’t real in their walk and in their talk.
What does it take to “chew the cud” in a spiritual sense? What does that mean to you and I in the modern day church, who live under grace and not under Law?
Deuteronomy 30:14, "But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it."
Isaiah 51:16, "And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people."
Romans 10:8-10, "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
“Chewing the cud,” means that we are constantly digesting, meditating upon, and re-examining the Word of God all the time.
Just as surely as a cattle are known for having no upper teeth and cannot thoroughly chew their food at once. They must bring it up again out of their stomachs into their mouths and chew it over again, that it may be better prepared for digestion in the stomach, and so yield better nourishment; and this makes the flesh of such creatures more fit for food: and these creatures have more stomachs than one; in fact there are four; the first is the paunch, which has been known to hold as much as 50 pounds of food. The second stomach is the honeycomb, the third the tripe, the fourth the honey tripe, each one doing its part in the digestion process.
That’s the kind of action that must be a part of every Christian’s life as he/she is constantly devouring the Word of the Lord, yet does not get the fullness of its meaning, so that it must be digested, chewed upon, meditated upon, time and again to get the meaning of it more clearly in our hearts. It’s a good thing that we don’t have to have a literal stomach to complete each step of this process or we would have to have an endless line of stomachs, stretching into infinity.
The Word of God is beyond our full comprehension and the more I study it, the less I know of it. Who can understand all that God says even in one simple verse? I am convinced that the mind of man, in this present state of corruption in a sinful world, can never fully grasp all that God has put into his Word for us.
The problem is that we have a lot of people who seem to have a cloven hoof. They don’t hang out with the world’s crowd. They are separated and they attempt to live holy lives but they are still not fully acceptable because they really don’t chew the cud.
They rarely read, digest and meditate upon the Word of God except on Wednesday and Sunday when the message goes forth. Then, when they do hear the Word preached and taught, it just passes right through their mind and out the other side.
If you don’t believe that’s true then try remembering what the sermon was about last Sunday morning. If we really “chewed the cud” and brought that Word back again and again into our heart and mind, we wouldn’t have any trouble remembering what the message was all about.
We can’t just be “cloven hoofed”, separated people unto the Lord, but we must also “chew the cud” to be the kind of people that are truly acceptable unto the Lord.
Likewise there are many who seem to “chew the cud” but they aren’t really “cloven hoofed” at all.
What do I mean? It’s very simple. They talk a lot about Jesus. They talk a lot about the Word of God. They talk about church. They talk about ministry. The problem is that all they do is talk. There is no action to their words. They keep bringing up the “cud” and chewing it time and again but it never really seems to be digested.
They aren’t “cloven footed” or separated from the world at all. These folks belief that all it takes is belief in God and his Word to be acceptable. They won’t commit themselves to God but they love to dabble in worldly pleasures. They forget that even Satan believes in the Word of God and he believes that Jesus is real, but belief alone isn’t enough. It takes an acceptance of his sacrifice and obedience to the plan of salvation.
How many people have you seen whose lifestyle is just as worldly as the sinners that they live around? Have you seen people who come to church, hear the messages, and claim to know the Bible as good as anyone else, yet they are never changed from their old life?
These folks are “chewing the cud” but they aren’t “cloven footed”.
I am convinced that if we are going to be truly acceptable as profitable servants to our God, we must meet the conditions of being clean. Part of those requirements are that we are “cloven hoofed”, separated unto God; and “chew the cud”, or learn and obey the Word of God.
