Leviticus 11

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:31:57utc

Sanctification of Life ch. 11 - 22

1. Expressed in Pure and Impure Food ch. 11

The message of this chapter can only be understood if we take it in the larger context of the whole Bible. The most important commentary on the subject is found in Peter's vision described in Acts: "About noon the following day ... Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.' 'Surely not, Lord!' Peter replied. 'I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.' The voice spoke to him a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.' This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven."[ 1 ]

The point of this chapter is not a series of dietary prescriptions but an object lesson of sanctification of daily life. This is clear from ch. 11:44,45 where we read: "I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy." The basis for these ordinances is the fact that Israel was a people which God had redeemed from slavery and humiliation. That is why every Israelite had to live the life of a redeemed person. The role model is God Himself, His Person and character. Man should be holy because God, who redeemed him, is holy.

The animals the Israelites were prohibited from eating were, somehow, connected with the fall for which the whole of creation suffered the consequences. Why some animals fall into one category and others in another is not explained. Interestingly, if we place this chapter next to the mythology of the Me tribe in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, we find that they have traditional prohibitions for not eating certain animals. It could be that Israel had a certain mythology and that these commandments regarding kosher and non-kosher food are connected with this.

In a sense, this chapter could be taken as an example of divine predestination. God chooses some animals above others. There is a similarity between this predestination and the Calvinistic doctrine in that it is "unconditional." The problem for us is that we do not know what changes in God's creation were brought about first of all by the fall, of Lucifer and then by the fall of man. There is no doubt that some drastic changes took place. Some animals surely did not have the kind of teeth they have now before death entered the world and one animal started preying on another. We are given no explanation as to why there is such a gap between God's goodness and the present condition of creation. It could be that, as a result of the entrance of sin, some kind of evolution has taken place in the animal world. I have always had the impression that there existed a link between evolution and the devil. We also do not know whether the animals should be held responsible for their own deterioration; the fact that the serpent was punished in Paradise seems to indicate that he had willingly surrendered himself to the devil's use of his body. It could hardly be that this predestination was one hundred percent unconditional.

Another difference between this predestination and Calvin's theology is that it was not an election for salvation. In a sense we wonder if the animals that were not chosen did not get a better deal. It was the clean animals that were destined to be slaughtered. This fact also is an accommodation to the sinful condition of creation. No animal would ever have died, had sin not entered the world. The only positive side for the kosher animals is that they represented, in their being sacrificed, the death of the Savior of the world.

Another strange phenomenon is that the distinction between pure and impure existed long before the nation of Israel came into being. When God brought the flood upon the earth, He said to Noah: "Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth."[ 2 ] This reinforces the impression that the distinction was made immediately after the fall.

There is no doubt that the law regarding clean and unclean animals also takes hygiene and health into consideration. Some of the impure animals were carriers of sicknesses which could be transmitted to man. The stress in this chapter is on human consumption, not on sacrifices. Which animals could be sacrificed was already determined in the laws concerning the various kinds of offerings. The condition of our bodies is determined by what we eat. The little rhyme that C. S. Lewis uses in his book Miracles is applicable here: "It is a funny thing, as funny as can be, what Miss B eats, turns into Miss B." We become what we eat.

Jesus' quotation of Moses is also fitting here: "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " Moses had said: "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."[ 3 ] Eating is an image of our hearing, understanding and obeying God's Word, because the whole of our physical activities is an expression of spiritual life. Our eating and drinking are, after all, transitory occupations. Especially our eating of meat is a temporal accommodation to the condition of sin in the world. The killing and eating of animals could not be done if sin had not entered creation. One of the results of redemption will be that we become vegetarians. I repeatedly told my daughter, Viviane, that there will be no Arby's [ 4 ] in Heaven.

The key-word in the verses 1-22 is "eat." In vs. 23-40 it is "touch" and the end of the chapter, vs. 41-47 give the reason for it all.

The objects in vs. 2-8 is domestic and wild animals. In vs. 9-12 it is fish; in vs. 13-19 birds, and in vs. 20-22 insects.

The criteria for clean animals include that they have split hoofs, such as cattle, goats, and sheep and that they chew their cud. When this combination of both factors is not present, the animal is considered unclean. It seems to me to be pure speculation to draw spiritual lessons from these characteristics

The animals that live in the water are divided into those that have scales and fins and those that do not. In this case, it is not necessarily a combination of two features. One or the other would make the creature pure. Most fish would, consequently, be considered clean, however, most sharks and whales have no scales. Whether this means that Jonah was swallowed by an unclean animal, I do not know.

In the bird-category all birds of prey are considered unclean, that is all that eat fish or meat. Of the insects only those belonging to the locust family could be eaten. The description of insects walking on four legs is incorrect if taken literally. Most insects have six legs and some eight, such as spiders. The two front legs could be considered to be the equivalent of hands. That is probably what is intended here.

Besides the prohibition of eating, there is a warning against touching certain dead animals because the carcass of the animal had started to decompose. Vs. 26 seems to say that one would become unclean by touching of live animals that were unclean, and vs. 27 speaks about the touching of carcasses. The intent of both verses is probably the same.

Every food item touched by a carcass had to be destroyed or, whenever possible, disinfected. Wells, water reservoirs and seed were exempt.

It is remarkable that the Israelites were not forbidden to eat a clean animal that had died. If they did so, they became temporarily unclean, but there was no prohibition as in the case of unclean animals.

The question, of course, is what does this all mean? One of the points made was, undoubtedly, the effect the fall of man had upon the fauna in creation. How this came about is nowhere stated in the Bible. But soon after the fall, we read that a distinction is made between clean animals and unclean ones, and between people who called upon the Name of the Lord and those who did not.[ 5 ]

For Israel the distinction between clean and unclean was made, primarily, as an object lesson in order to make them understand the difference between peoples and their life styles. That is the point made in Peter's vision in Acts.[ 6 ] Peter, correctly, draws the conclusion from the fact that God declared the unclean animals clean that its application is to men. In the house of Cornelius he says: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean."[ 7 ] Here we may quote Paul's rhetorical question: " Is it about oxen that God is concerned?"[ 8 ] He is, of course, but not primarily. For the Israelites who were about to enter Canaan, the commandments were particularly a warning against fraternization with the Canaanites. God had spoken to Abraham about the full measure of the sins of the Amorites.[ 9 ] Abraham had seen a sample of their sins in the condition of Sodom and Gomorrah. Homosexuality and rape were the order of the day. The incest of Lot's daughters was the fruit of their life in Sodom.[ 10 ] The book Deuteronomy shows us that the people of Canaan were wrapped up in spiritism and forms of idolatry that demanded human sacrifices.[ 11 ] The word "detestable" which is used for animals in this chapter is also applied to people there.

So, the point of the chapter is sanctification, as demonstrated in what man eats and produces. God wanted to teach His people that there is a connection between what goes in to man and what comes out of him. In this connection Jesus' words in Mark are interesting. In His argument with the Pharisees He says: "'Nothing outside a man can make him ''unclean'' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 'Are you so dull?' he asked. 'Do not you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ''unclean''? For it does not go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.' (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods 'clean.')" Especially the last sentence: "In saying this, Jesus declared all foods 'clean' "[ 12 ] is very striking. There cannot be any contradiction between Jesus' words and the concept of clean and unclean in this chapter.

The commandment regarding clean and unclean does not pertain to making a man clean. Cleanness and sanctification are presupposed. In a sense this is unrealistic. Jesus takes the impurity of man's heart as His starting point. We understand also from the larger context of the Bible that the intent of the commandments of the Old Testament is to make us conscious of our sin. "By the law is the knowledge of sin."[ 13 ] Inasmuch as the law sets forth the standard of God's holiness, it is not unrealistic. The Israelites were unrealistic in presuming that they would become clean by eating clean animals. Therefore, we should not fall into the same mistake by separating this chapter from the preceding one. Man becomes clean by the blood of the sacrifice. Eating the right kind of food preserves this holiness, it does not cause it.

Finally, we have to observe that most of the animals that are listed as unclean are predators or eaters of garbage. The basis of all these commandments is the holiness of God. God is the reason and the standard for what we eat or do not eat. The essence of it all is given in vs. 44,45 where God says: "I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy." The fact that we acknowledge and worship Him results in changes in our lifestyle. "Be holy" is in the imperative mode. It pertains to our acting and our initiative. "Be holy" expresses the maintaining of an acquired position. Vs. 25 goes deeper into the background of it all in that God mentions the deliverance from slavery in Egypt. It also gives the reason why God brought about this redemption. There are, therefore, in the whole complex of our redemption and regeneration certain tasks that are our responsibility. But the great work of redemption was brought about by God, and His holiness is the measure and standard of it all.

[ 1 ] Acts 10:9-16

[ 2 ] Gen 7:2-3

[ 3 ] Matt. 4:4; Deut 8:3

[ 4 ] A roast beef sandwich

[ 5 ] Gen. 4:26

[ 6 ] See Acts 10:9-16, 28

[ 7 ] Acts 10:28

[ 8 ] I Cor. 9:9

[ 9 ] Gen. 15:16

[ 10 ] Gen. 19:30-38

[ 11 ] See Deut. 18:9-14

[ 12 ] Mark 7:15-19

[ 13 ] Rom 3:20 (KJV)