Week 28 Prayer Requests

1.  Tamzen's grandmother is recovering from a stroke and may need toes and/or foot amputated.

2.  Jacob Owens is dealing with a lot of middle school stuff.

3.  Samantha from KNO is back in school.

4.  Kristine (friend of the Howell's) broke her back sledding.  She has a two year-old child.

Week 28 The Food Laws

Introduction

-  I am approaching this topic with a fair amount of trepidation.  Why does God institute these food laws when we no longer follow them anymore.  Why were these laws so important at one time, but not now?  Typically the issue is ignored.  When explanations are given I have found them unsatisfying.

-  The key is our approach at looking at the Bible as a story.  In a story, events change things and actions appropriate at certain points in the story become inappropriate or unnecessary as the story changes.  

Food Laws

-  Why were there clean and unclean foods?  What is the rationale?

1.  Hygeine

-  In a pre-scientific society like Israel, God could not exactly explain things like germ theory and parasites so certain animals that carried diseases were regarded as off limits to improve the health of the Israelites.  

-  For example, pigs carried trichinosis, so prohibiting the consumption of pork would prohibit the spread of trichinosis.

-  The Seventh Day Adventists follow this logic and have developed updated food laws to promote healthy eating among their members.  

-  There are several problems with this theory.  In the case of pork, trichinosis is rare and is easily remedied by cooking pork.  The Israelites were not dumb, they knew that had to properly cook meat.

-  Other animals also carry disease.  For example, almost all birds other than scavengers and birds of prey are allowed and the chance of salmonella in undercooked birds is pretty high.  Also it is much easier to undercook poultry than pork.

Some animals that are not allowed are relatively disease free, for example camel meat.

-  Also if it was about hygiene it would be more effective to order clean living conditions for the animal and clean butchering techniques.  Also simply ordering proper methods of cooking would make a big difference.

-  Jesus will abolish the food laws and Israel is still a pre-scientific society.

2.  Pagan Practices

-  Pork and other forbidden animals were used in pagan rituals and therefore should be avoided by the Israelites.

-  While we do have evidence that pigs were involved in pagan rituals we do not have any evidence for many of the animals forbidden by the food laws.

-  Also goats, sheep, and bulls were suitable for consumption and sacrifices and are commonly used in pagan religious ceremonies.

-  We have plenty of examples of fish gods in the ancient world but not crustacean or shellfish deities.

4.  Douglas/Wenham

-  Old Testament scholar Gordon Wenham has developed a theory of the food laws based on the anthropologist Mary Douglas work with tribal African cultures who also observe food taboos.  

-  Holiness is an attribute that God possessed.  Things that are not holy are things that are not like God. We learned in Genesis that God is a creator and bringer of life.  Things that deviate from life and creation are unholy.

-  Birds that eat carrion are specifically forbidden.  God is life and an animals that eat dead things does not exhibit the qualities of God.  

-  This is also the rationale for avoiding animal carcasses.  

-  God is also a God of order.  In creation, God separated the land from the water and the land from the sky.

-  The creation account in Genesis divided the world into three realms: the land, the water, and the air.  

-  We see the same division in Leviticus 11.  The chapter starts by distinguishing clean and unclean animals that live on land, then moves to those in the water, and finally the animals that fly in the air.

-  Let me try to explain the logic with the animals of the sea first because they are the easiest.

-  Fish are the typical animal found in the water.  They have fish and scales and swim.  This is what animals in the water are supposed to do.  The fish is the standard pure type of water animal.  

-  Animals in the water that transgress this pattern are considered unclean.  Lobsters crawl, which is what animals in the water are not supposed to do.  Shellfish do not have finds and scales.  They transgress the boundaries and God is a God of order.

-  Animals in the air are supposed to have wings and fly.  Birds, other than the ones who eat dead things, are acceptable.  Insects that have wings and crawl are not acceptable because they are not acting like they should.  Insects designed for walking, like those with joints are acceptable.

-  Land animals that have cloven hoofs and chew their cud are the ideal land animal.  Those that depart from that standard like those with cloven who do not chew the cud, like pigs, or those that chew the cud but do not have cloven hoofs are a departure - so no rock badgers.  

-  Land animals that walk on all fours should have hoofs.  This is how land animals should work.  Animals with paws are like hands.  They should not walk on all fours.  They are a deviation from the norm.

-  The chapter ends with those animals with indeterminate modes of movement because they do not fit in any category.  These animals are those that swarm or those that crawl like snakes and lizards.

Interpretation

-  All of these animals that are unclean bring disorder to the classifications.  They bring disorder to the taxonomy.  God is a God of life and order.  The very diet of the Israelites would communicate to the Israelites that God is life and order.

-  Looking at it from the other side, living outside the stands that God has set leads to disorder and death.  The prohibition against the animals that do not fit into the disordered taxonomies and animals that are associated with death reinforce that death and disorder are to be separated from God’s people.

-  The problem is that disorder and death are part of humanity and I think that is the point.  The food law were a mirror showing God does not tolerate disorder and death and yet accepts Israel.  The prohibition against bacon shows the need for grace.

-  Animals that are clean are still not holy.  Holy animals are those that are without blemish and acceptable for sacrifice.

Sacred Space/Sacred People

-  The division of the food laws parallels other divisions.  The gentiles were unclean, Israel was clean, priests were holy.

-  The world was unclean, Israel was clean, the temple was holy.

-  The food laws reinforced to Israel that they were distinct and holy.  Israel set themselves apart from the nations by their diet because God had set them apart as a special people. 

-  You may find the food law arbitrary.  God also says the selection of Israel was arbitrary (Deuteronomy 7:7-9).

Abolition of Food Laws

-  So why do we not observe the food laws anymore.  Why is cool now to eat rock badgers or shrimp scampi?

-  First, Jesus declared the food law abolished.  Mark 7:19 is very clear.

-  We also have Peter’s vision before witnessing to the Roman centurion Cornelius.  Peter is given a vision of all kinds of animals, reptiles, birds and told to rise, kill, and eat.  When Peter protests because he does not eat unclean animals, the voice tells him, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”

-  So God changes His mind and God can do what He wants.  Do we leave it at that?  

-  This is where reading the Bible as a story helps us understand better what is going on.  Let me explain it in Star Wars.  Luke Skywalker thinks Princess Leia is hot and so it is appropriate to make out with her.  However, the story changes and he finds out Leia is Luke’s sister, now because the story has changed that action is inappropriate.  

-  As Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites were chosen to be God’s special representatives on Earth.  They were a holy people, set aside and the food laws were a a way to make this point to Israel.

-  Israel was holy and kingdom of Priests but this was not the end goal.  They were set aside specifically so they could be priests to the nations.  Abraham was told that all nations would be blessed in him.

-  The prophets looked forward to the time when all the nations would be included as God’s people and the separation between Israel and the gentiles would end.

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach the end of the earth.”

Isaiah 49:6

-  Israel failed at their task, but Jesus as Israel’s representative succeeded.  Now that Israel’s task is complete, there is no need for Israel’s separation.  Israel’s purpose in election has stood.

-  The story has moved on because of Jesus and the food laws no longer make sense and are inappropriate because the story has changed.