What's For Dinner - Part 6 of 7

THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND THE DIETARY LAWS

“'Who eat swine's flesh, detestable things and mice, Will come to an end altogether,' declares the LORD.” (Isa 66:17)

Faithful adherence to the dietary laws is important for the preservation of the nation of Israel. For this reason, many Jews have historically maintained kashrut to the point of endangering their lives, as in the days of Antiochus IV (145 BCE)(II Macc. 6:18). The question is why the LORD would prohibit for the Jewish people what He deemed permissible for the Gentile people? The words of Moses do not provide a specific reason, although several passages closely associate the dietary laws with the concept of “holiness.”

 

“You shall be holy men to Me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.” (Ex 22:31)

 

“For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. 45 For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.” (Lev 11:44-45)

 

“You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.” (Deut 14:21)

 

To be “holy” means “to be set apart” for the LORD, as it is written, “You are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine,” (Lev 20:26). The LORD called the people of Israel to be a separate and distinct people. He then gave the Law through Moses to teach the people about His nature and to keep the people from assimilating into the rest of the nations. Through the Law, the Jewish people remain as the only ancient people who can trace their ancestry back to its origin. The Encyclopaedia Judaica concluded that when the people of abandoned the Law, “A decline in traditional Jewish practice, including kashrut, accompanied the breakdown of traditional culture (shtetl), growing urbanization in Eastern Europe, and the dislocations caused by immigration to American and other havens.”

The Law calls the Jewish people to be unique through their observance of the Sabbath, the annual festivals, offerings at the temple, the laws of clean and unclean, and the dietary laws. Whereas the festivals create an annual separation and the Sabbath creates a weekly separation, the dietary laws distinguish the Jew from the Gentile three times each day. By separating the Hebrew people from the other nations, the LORD protected the nation from the unrighteous and idol worshiping people so they did not adopt the practices of the pagan world. The preservation of the nation, was, and remains, essential to God’s plan because the Messiah would come through the nation, (Gal 3:19).

 

Abraham Cohen provides two applicable quotes related to this matter. “History is largely a record of the melting of minorities into majorities, it records no instance of the survival of a group not segregated in space or not protected by a burning faith as by a frontier of fire (Zangwill).” In relation to the Jewish people, “The separateness of the Jews was one of the prime causes of the animosity towards them, especially in the miscellaneous fusion of peoples and syncretism of righteous in the Hellenistic kingdoms and the Roman world; but it accomplished its end in the survival of Judaism, and therein history has vindicated it (G.F. Moore).”

 

One of the great dangers facing the present day church is the failure of believers to live in a manner that sets the church apart from the rest of the world. Gentile believers are commanded to be holy just as the Jewish people (1 Pet 1:16), but how does that commandment translate into practical behavior that set us apart from the world? Most non-believers do not murder, do not steal, give to those less fortunate, and love their parents. Non-believers may have a high rate of infidelity and divorce, but statistics indicate that the church may be worse. Frankly, believers love participating in this world too much, acting in a way contrary to the warning of John,

 

“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not form the Father, but is from the world,” (1 John 2:15-16).

 

Jewish people are often accused of being unsociable and standoffish. In reality, it is the word of God that commanded them to be this way and has protected them from assimilating into the nations of the world. The Christian church needs to learn this lesson before the greater body dissolves into the environment around us. To be part of the remnant that the LORD has promised to preserve, we need to “Be Holy, For I Am Holy.”

(to be continued - Scott)