February 14
We’re finishing up Exodus and Matthew and moving into Leviticus and the Gospel of Mark this week. [The exact readings through February 20? Exodus 38:1-Leviticus 10:20; Matthew 28:1-Mark 5:20; Psalm 34:11-37:40; Proverbs 9:9-10:7]
Leviticus gives us job descriptions (and qualifications) for the Levites and priests of Israel, also instructions for carrying out Israel’s five main offerings, and celebrating its seven annual feasts.
As you read Leviticus, remember the principle of “repetition” in studying and interpreting the Bible, which basically says if we see a word used over and over, God is making a point.
In Leviticus, the word “holy” is found 91 times. Words associated with “cleansing” occur 71 times. References to uncleanness? 128 mentions. Are you getting the picture? God’s a holy God, and he calls his people to “be holy, as I am holy.”
Reading about Bezalel (February 13-14), and his amazing, God-given skills in all kinds of artistic endeavors, I thought of people at CCC like Britton Kilpatrick and Dean Kirby (there are others I know, but these guys always amaze me). I really do think there is a spiritual gift of “craftsmanship.” It’s not found in the “gifts lists” in Rom 12, 1 Cor 12, Eph 4, and 1 Pet 4, but I’m not convinced those were meant to be exhaustive lists of EVERY conceivable spiritual gift.
Thoughts?
I guess this should technically go on the upcoming post because it’s concerning Lev. 11, but needed to ask before I forget. If God created everything, and it was “good,” why are some animals considered unclean?
OK, Meredith. Here’s a completely unoriginal thought (of mine!) that I found. It’s pretty good.
“This chapter explains which creatures were considered clean and which were considered unclean. The rationale of why a creature is placed in one category vs. the other has puzzled commentators throughout the ages, and there is still no consensus of opinion. Typical explanations include a concern for hygiene or a “death” motif (i.e., unclean animals were somehow more associated with death in the Israelite mind. More recently, it has been argued that a creature is unclean when it does not conform to established norms (e.g., an Israelite’s established norm for a four-legged creature would be a cow or a goat, since these were their herd and flock animals; a pig is thus unclean because, even though it has four legs, it is unlike the norm in that it does not chew the cud). In evaluating the above approaches, it is probably fair to say that no single one of them can provide a rationale that works for all the animals in this chapter. As a result, there might be a number of different reasons why an animal was considered clean or unclean.
While the rationale of the classifications is still debated, the purpose of these laws is clear. They were to help Israel, as the Lord’s holy people, to make distinctions between ritual cleanness and ritual uncleanness. Significantly, making these distinctions in the ritual realm would no doubt serve as a constant reminder to the people of their need for making the parallel distinctions in the moral realm as well. Further, adherence to these food laws expresses Israel’s devotion to the Lord: just as he separated the Israelites from the other nations, so they must separate clean from unclean foods (20:24–26). This is why the restrictions can be removed in Acts 10:9–28, when the Jew vs. Gentile distinction is no longer relevant in defining the people of God. For Israel to obey these dietary restrictions also shows that the people honor the Creator, who has the right to decide how his creatures may be used. A “clean” animal is one “permitted” for food (Lev. 11:2). It is clear that classifying an animal as “unclean” is not the same as declaring that animal “evil”: God cares for all beasts, clean and unclean alike (Ps. 104:17–18; 147:9). Leviticus employs a simple and practical classification system for edible animals, based on readily observable features. It is geared to the kind of life that Israel will live in the land of Canaan, and it is not always easy to apply it to animals that Israelites did not normally encounter (for instance, the sturgeon, which modern rabbis consider to have the wrong kind of scales, is not included here).
Clean and unclean animals are separated to illustrate the separation of Israel from other nations (14:2). The distinctions are not related to hygiene, nor are unclean animals hateful to God (cf. Ps. 104:17–18; 147:9 for God’s care for them). When the gospel breaks down the separation between Israel and the Gentiles, all foods are declared clean.”