Deuteronomy - Lesson 22

We’re moving from chapter 13 to chapter 14 in this session. Another one of these texts that many of us do not know how to handle. What shall a Christian do with these passages? And so, we refer to these kinds of texts, Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, which are the parallel texts here, as the food laws of ancient Israel. Well, I hope by the time we’re done, you have a different label for this. I certainly do. I call this text a brilliant passage on Feasting at Yahweh’s Table: The Grace of Fellowship. 

Just a quick synopsis: in contrast to other people’s whose worship is concerned primarily with satisfying the gods, Yahweh the God of Israel, delights in fellowship with His people. Providing them with satisfaction, He invites them to feast and celebrate in His presence. We’ll look at the festivals in the next session, but this is feasting more generally.

When we come to a text like Deuteronomy 14, we need to know, have a few hooks, hermeneutical keys, to how shall we handle texts like this. I mean, we begin with, “You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourself, nor shave your heads for the sake of the dead. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. You shall not eat anything detestable. These are the animals which you may eat: the ox and whatever else…the pig which divides its hoof…” And you say, “What in the world am I supposed to do with all of this?” What do we do? Well, I have a few suggestions here on how to interpret this passage.

First, we need to interpret this passage in the light of Ancient Near Eastern perceptions. This text didn’t drop in out of the blue. It doesn’t introduce new concepts to the Ancient Israelites. This is all over the world. In chapter 4:6-8, we heard, “And what great nation is that has statutes and rules so righteous as this whole Torah that I set before you?” And that extends here. 

You remember the prayer to every god? And I’m taking now a little excerpt out of that prayer: 

“May the fury of my lord’s heart be quieted toward me. 
May the god who is not known be quieted toward me; 
May the goddess whom I know or do not know be quieted toward me. 
May the heart of my god be quieted toward me; 
In ignorance I have eaten that forbidden by my god.” 

There it is. 

“In ignorance, I’ve set foot on that prohibited by my goddess. 
O lord, my transgressions are many; great are my sins.” 

How should I know what is prohibited and what is not? So, this notion of prohibited food is ubiquitous in the Ancient Near East. They assumed that the gods had the right and authority to determine every aspect of life and set the boundaries. And they assumed that the gods had boundaries on acceptable diet for their people, the devotees. This text addresses that issue. But how would you know what your gods approve and what they don’t? Unless, of course, they talk. And guess what? On this matter, which is common throughout that world, our God has spoken. 

Second, we need to recognize the center of gravity in the passage. Verse 4, “These are the animals you may eat.” And then he gives a long list of acceptable fare. I see some of them out there right now. The deer, they’re there. That’s good stuff. Thank you, Lord, for giving and proving that for us. “These are the animals that you may eat.” 

But of course, we’re like Adam and Eve in the garden. God gave them the whole garden full of fruit. “You can eat of everything. Enjoy, eat, feast! Except one.” What happens? We get fixated on that one, and God is holding something back with it, and we get angry with Him. “Well, these are what you may eat.” 

Well, verse 9, “These are what you make of all that are in the waters.” And then he gives you a long list. “These, all clean birds you may eat.” And then verse 20, “All clean flying things.” And I think now he’s going to another category in the taxonomy of creatures, it’s flying insects. We don’t know that here from the text itself, but if you look at the parallel in Leviticus 11, it’s at that point he introduces the edible flying insects. 

But recognize the center of gravity, and when I notice that I don’t feel one bit sorry for the Israelites for not being permitted to eat crow. I mean, the kind of stuff that is forbidden, if you look more closely, is the kind of stuff I don’t even want to eat. This is not a hardship. This is not a hardship. It’s brilliant that God has revealed to them and liberated them to enjoy all that He has created. There’s so much good stuff. 

Third, we need to eat [recte interpret] this chapter in the light of all the other references to eating in the book of Deuteronomy, and this book is full of eating. That’s why we had that table out there the whole time we were here, because friends fellowship together around food. And God knows that. In fact, He invites us. 

If you look at this whole set of texts, chapter 12, verses 5 to 14, we talked about this text yesterday, eating in the presence of Yahweh. 

Chapter 12:15 to 27 eating in your towns. And then you have the next section, chapter 13, staying true to Yahweh, no other gods. Then, 14:1 to 21, this is about eating in your towns, what’s on your table at home. And then he concludes this section with eating in the presence of Yahweh again, 14:22 to 29. 

It’s all about food in this whole section. Look at chapter 12:7, “There you may eat before Yahweh your God, and you may rejoice.” No, I should have changed that again – celebrate. We don’t use rejoice anymore. “Celebrate, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you.” Eat. 

12:18, “But you may eat them (that is your offerings and your tithes of grain and the flocks that you bring) eat them before Yahweh your God in the place that Yahweh your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant, female servant, the Levite. And you will celebrate before Yahweh your God in all that you undertake.” 

14:23, “Before Yahweh your God, in the place that He will choose, to make His name dwell there, you may eat the tithe of your grain, and of your wine, and your oil and the firstborn of your herd and the flock, that you may learn to fear Yahweh your God.” So, you bring your offering to the Lord and He says, “Sit down, let me serve you.” And He gives you the feast in His presence, which is the joy.

12:20-22, but “When Yahweh your God enlarges your territory as He has promised you, and you say, ‘You know, I would like to eat meat,’ because you crave, you have an appetite for meat.” This text doesn’t go down well today with lots of people here in Washington. “You may eat meat whenever you desire, whenever!” “If the place that Yahweh your God will choose to put His name is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which Yahweh has given you, as I’ve commanded you.” Go ahead, eat. You don’t have to take it to the temple to sanctify the food. Everything is sacred. And the word for slaughter in this chapter is the word for sacrifice - zāḇaḥ, sacrifice. “And you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so…” Go ahead, eat it in your towns. “The unclean and alike may eat of it. Have your neighbors in, your pagan neighbors in, the alien in your midst, have them in, enjoy the food.” Well, interpret this in the light of all the references to eating in Deuteronomy and it turns out to be a magnificent gospel. 

Four, interpret the dietary boundaries in light of the literary boundaries of this text. Here you have it. It starts out with the first part is what you have at the beginning, and the second part is what you have at the end, 14:1-3, “Sons you are to Yahweh your God.” That’s the way the Hebrew reads here. “Sons you are to Yahweh your God. You shall not gash yourselves or make your foreheads bald for the dead. For you are a holy people belonging to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. You shall not eat any abominable thing.” And that becomes the thesis statement of the distinction between abominable and clean or acceptable. 

And then the last verse, Deuteronomy 14:21, “You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns that he may eat it.” You can even sell it. Make money. Don’t waste it. Something that has died naturally. Go ahead. It’s okay. Which tells us that in principle, just because the blood has not been drained, doesn’t mean that the food in principle is taboo to God. For God’s people, it is taboo. But just because it’s taboo for God’s people doesn’t mean it’s universally taboo, which is very interesting. 

And what’s the rationale? The basis? “For you are a holy people.” That’s why. It is about presenting Israel as a distinct people in the context of the nations; you can tell an Israelite a mile away. And you can tell by the food they eat. Not because it’s morally wrong to eat other kinds of food, but because they are His set apart people. 

And then he ends with instead of you shall not eat any abominable thing, “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk,” whatever that means. We probably won’t have time to talk about that. 

So, what I want to do now is ask: who is invited to this feast? And it is a feast. And of course, we can answer that question in two ways. First, we can answer it on the basis of the internal spiritual markers. “You are the sons of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead.” Well, I suppose the first thing we should notice here. Well, yeah, and then verse two, let’s read them all. “For you are a people holy to Yahweh your God, Yahweh has chosen you to be His treasured people (sĕgullâ) out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” 

So, what can we say about the people who are invited to this table? It’s not, “Y’all come.” It’s a particular invitation. They are all hand-picked by God. “You are chosen. Come. Eat at this table.” 

Second, they are adopted children of God. This is a family meal. “Sons you are to the Lord your God.” 

I once heard a sermon based on Romans 8, where Paul talks about sonship, the spirit of adoption, and all the rest of it. And the preacher was making the note. This is what’s new in the New Testament. Well, I’ve got news for you – I find it everywhere in the First Testament. 

“Sons you are to the Lord your God.” And it’s an emphatic construction here. You are not slaves. You’re not aliens to this world. This is a family meal. They are adopted children of God. Israelites aren’t naturally the children of God. We are the children of wrath. But He has made us children of God. This is what happened through the adoption process at Sinai to the original generation, and this is what has been happening to this group of people in the underlying rituals of this book. Chapter 27:9-10, “Today you have become the people of Yahweh your God.” That is who is invited. 

Third, they are the saints of God. We don’t often use that word with reference to God’s people in the First Testament. But here you have it. “You are a holy people to Yahweh your God.” That label on the medallion of the High Priest is democratized to all Israel. This is a holy meal, a holy gathering. It is for the saints of God. Israel as God’s holy people celebrating. 

Fourth, they are the special treasure of God. Again, I remind you of the previous lesson we had in which we outlined, unpacked, what this means to be the ʿam sĕgullâ, a treasured people. You are the Lord’s crown jewels. You are His diamonds. “That you might show the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 

This is what makes the world say, “Wow, what a privilege people you are to have a God so near that you can eat in His presence and who has revealed His will so clearly as it is in this text.” This is a very special treasure. 

Well, those are the internal spiritual. This is not a “Y’all come” invitation. And I think there’s a lesson here in how we understand worship. The worship of God’s people is not open to everybody. Not everybody can worship God acceptably. This is a family event. Yes, we want to welcome all, but people who are outsiders to the family of God should never feel at home. Did you hear that? They should feel welcome, but not at home. This is strange. And when we have unbelievers singing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me,” and we sing it at the funerals all the time of people who have lived the most violent and evil life, but Amazing Grace. No, no, no, no, no, no. That’s fundamentally incongruous. That’s our song, not theirs. And just singing it doesn’t make it theirs. So, this is a family meal.

But what about the external invitees? Well, they’re extinguished [recte distinguished] by their appearance. Did you notice this? “You shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the dead.” You’re not welcome here. You’re not invited. But of course, I mean, there is a theology behind haircuts and hairstyles, and what you do with your body; everything has theological significance for us. And in our cultural context, it’s very important for us to remember that. And when we walk around with certain kinds of hairstyles, styles, whatever, people ask, “Why do you do that?” There’s always a reason for it, and it’s often idolatrous. 

When our kids were young, we learned very quickly that there are some mountains not worth fighting over, especially while they’re in an unregenerate state. And we tried to be very sensitive about not making them, forcing them, to look like Christians when they weren’t. Something fundamentally wrong. This is not just about… 

On the other hand, what you do with your body is a sacred issue. It is the temple of, we are the temple of, God. And so, we should be proclaiming the grace of God to everybody in everything about us, and that’s dress, it’s haircuts or whatever else. But in this case, it has a particular significance. 

In the ancient world, I mentioned earlier that worship of the ancestors is pervasive everywhere. It’s not part of Israel’s worship in the temple, but at home, domestic worship typically in the ancient world was ancestor worship. It is the assumption that the spirits of the ancestors continue to live in this house. And we have to keep those ancestors’ spirits happy. Canaanite religion is all about this. Yes, the people gather in assemblies out there for fertility, religious purposes and whatever. But at home, you’d have urns and things with the remains of your parents, or incense to the spirits, to be sure that they are blessing you rather than cursing you. 

Which is why in the Decalogue, “Honor your father and your mother,” written to an adult. It could well be that his parents are already gone. It says, “Honor father and mother,” yes, but doesn’t say worship them. You don’t serve them. You don’t burn incense to them. These are rites associated with identification, with illicit religious allegiances. That’s the problem. They’re distinguished by their appearance. You shall not cut yourselves or make baldness on your foreheads for them. 

Leviticus 19:27, “You shall not round off a hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves. I am Yahweh.” “Well, it’s because I can decide all the boundaries of right and wrong, on the one hand. But if you are related to me, you will exhibit a lifestyle in all of its aspects that is distinctive.” And of course, this is something we always need to be asking in every generation, “What’s the significance of what we are doing?” 

When I look at the pictures of my grandparents who came from Russia, I see that all of them had beards. They all had beards. And now we’re in COVID times, we’re back there. My brothers, we did a family Zoom. We’ve done family Zooms since COVID started. But in any case, the first time we were on Zoom, family of the five or six brothers that were on that Zoom, only one didn’t have the beard. I hadn’t seen the others with a beard before, but we all decided, we’re not going out in public, let’s try this. Ellen wasn’t too impressed at first, but she got over it. It’s okay. 

But beards have different significances. When I was in university, Christians absolutely didn’t have beards. My cousin went off to university and at Christmas time he came home, he had a long beard. And we all thought, “What’s happening to him?” And it is true it was symptomatic of what was happening to him. It was a sign of rebellion. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s an absolute sign. You’ve got to test the context. Understanding Scripture, understanding the world, exegeting both. 

Now we are Mennonites. I could never figure this out, but Mennonite women often wore large brooches, but you wouldn’t dare wear earrings. I’ll never forget my parents and my older two brothers and my sister came back from a wedding in southern Saskatchewan of a cousin of mine, and the talk for weeks was, “She was wearing earrings.” Never happened. My sister never wore earrings when she was home. Never. 

Well, one day, one of my sisters-in-law (and I had a dozen or so - they could all have asked this question). One day, one of them, after my mother was 80 years old, came to Mom and asked, “If Dad would buy you earrings, would you wear them? And she says, “Sure.” Now, I know my dad would never buy her earrings, but the significance of this has changed. The significance of long hair has changed, the significance of short hair changes. And we need always to be asking, “Are people being idolatrous: ‘Look at me.’?” Of course, in our Mennonite tradition, that in itself is wrong. We should never dress in a way that people notice us. No, it’s a community. And if you want to set yourself apart by the way you dress, that borders on idolatry. Appropriate, but not outlandish or whatever. They’re distinct. 

So, I don’t make any fast rules about these things. All I do is plead with people to understand the Scriptures. Everything about you is holy, should declare, holiness, godliness, humility, compassion. It’s not drawing attention to yourself. We must point, like the Holy Spirit Himself does, to Jesus. It’s not about us. Unfortunately, dress these days is all about us. 

They are distinguished by their diet. And of course, that is the point here. They avoid abominable food. “You shall not eat anything abominable.” I said yesterday, this is the most disgusting thing to God. It’s the sharpest word for that. But we need to ask what makes food abominable? Our text gives us a few clues. And to understand this passage, we need to understand biblical zoological taxonomy. 

So, I took a look at this text at one point, in honor of a good friend of mine, Elmer Martens, and we published it in his festschrift, in his honor. And you can see in that diagram how the Bible divides the species of animals. You notice at the top, land animals is the big category, and among land animals, it’s ruminants and non-ruminants: those that chew the cud and those that don’t. Those are the two big categories in our text: ruminants and non.

And then you have aquatic. The species, the big categories are phenomenologically determined - where do they live? What’s their environment? 

So, aquatic. These are animals, finned and non-finned. 

Aerial animals clean and unclean. That’s the only category we have. He doesn’t actually explain why you don’t eat crow or pelican or whatever. 

And then winged insects. You have swarming insects and clean insects, which are jumping insects. They don’t live in the dirt. You don’t find maggots of these in, we used to call them “cow pies.” They don’t. But these are the differences. Well, these are the categories. 

What makes animals abominable? And by the time you get to the clean animals, split hooves that chew the cud. I mean, that’s all the meat I need. I don’t need to eat dog. And the same is as true of the other categories.

I’ll never forget when I was down in Memphis for a conference, and for a noon meal before I was back off to the plane, they took me to their favorite fish place. And it wasn’t finned. Well, it was finned fish, but it wasn’t scaled fish. “I’m sorry, I don’t eat ground feeders. I don’t need to eat ground feeders.” I grew up in Saskatchewan where when you go fishing, you find pickerel. Now that’s fish, and you find pike, you know, jack fish and whatever else. I don’t need to eat sturgeon, monster ground feeders, or other kinds of. So, to me, they’re no luxury. Now, I don’t care. You go ahead, eat it if you want. But my wife and my mother have never cooked that kind of fish. We don’t have to. 

It’s very interesting. It’s a decade ago now, I guess. I was in Hong Kong, and they asked me to preach in church on Sunday morning, 48 hours after I arrived, so I hope I was awake. This is Hong Kong and I announced in the bulletin it was this text, Feasting in the Presence of God. And all these Chinese people, they were really stressed. Because everything they eat is unclean. Anything that moves, they cook, and you go to their restaurant, you’ve got the octopus looking up at you. Doesn’t fit anywhere in these categories, and squid, and stuff like that. So, they were stressed. “What’s he going to say? We’re eating all the wrong things.” Hey, I don’t care. I’m—we’re beyond that. But in any case, this is where… 

But here’s it’s a colorful array of animals that he gives us: ibex, gazelle, fallow deer. I show you this picture only because it’s Mount Gerizim on the left and Ebal on the right, and on the right, there’s a massive altar that was used in the 13th century BC for a massive gathering. And when archeologists discover stuff like this, they’re trying to figure out, find clues for whose altar is this, who was here in 13th century BC, or as was it 14th? I’ve forgotten, but it’s in that range. And they discovered there are no pig bones here, no donkey bones, but there are sheep and goat and cattle and deer. They were offering them here. So, who did this? Of course, they didn’t sign their names, but my hunch is this was a place where the Israelites had gathered for celebration. So anyhow. 

Camel, why don’t we eat camel? I used to think that camels, well, they chewed the cud but they have split hooves. But they don’t. If you look closeup at a camel’s foot, it’s not split hooves. They are two big toes. 

So, the rock badger, they chew the cud. No, they don’t. But again, the definition of “chewing the cud” is watching animals eat. They don’t eat stuff whole. But you’ll see them. 

Rabbits, to them they chew the cud; phenomenologically they don’t literally, but they’re not edible because they don’t have slit hooves.

Pig. Well, that’s obvious.

Jackal. 

Fish, catfish. Israelites don’t eat catfish. I don’t need to eat. I did go to the restaurant, and I tried to enjoy the catfish. But of course, by the time you’ve put all the pastry around it and you forget; you can even make gator meat taste like chicken. Well, in any case. 

And as for the birds, these are the ones on the list. Would you like to eat that? Anybody want this? This? This? Outside my hotel down there, I don’t know if it’s an osprey or is it an eagle? He had a white head. Do osprey have white heads? 

Student: It’s probably an eagle. 

Dr. Block: But he’s on top of the power pole. I saw him there yesterday. But this morning, as I drove away, I saw there are bunch of sticks on that pole. He’s building a nest up there. I don’t need to eat eagle. 

Black kite. Falcons. Raven. These eat carrion. Night hawks. Would you like to eat gull? I mean, these are all on that list. Pelican. I mean, they’re kind of pretty to watch. Very awkward. But on the other hand, when you see the white ones, but the bustard and cormorants and storks and white storks, they eat all the dirt at the bottom of the of the slough. 

Here’s the hoopoe. You’ve always wondered what the hoopoe was. That’s the state bird of Israel. It’s a beautiful bird, actually, that’s a beautiful bird, but it’s taboo because of its diet. 

Bats. Bats are birds. They are because the Israelite definition/word for bird is “flying thing.” We don’t eat bats. Thankfully, I don’t have to eat that. 

But now you get to locusts and grasshoppers. He doesn’t list these particularly, but Leviticus does. 

Why are locusts and grasshoppers and others in that family edible? Crickets because they jump and they eat green plants; they’re vegetarian, they don’t eat dirt, they eat plants and things like that. 

The interesting thing is what’s missing in this list? There are no doves. We know there are lots of references to turtledove offerings and whatever else. Yeah. So, they’re all there. They are, actually, this list is not exhaustive. There are no chickens. 

Have you ever noticed that chickens are never mentioned in the First Testament? The first reference to a chicken is Jesus’ words, “As a hen gathers her chicks,” and then the crowing rooster when Peter denies the Lord three times; first references in the Bible to poultry of that sort. No peacocks here, you know. Why are they out of here? Oh, but we do know they had chickens. 

Here is a seal from the seventh century BC, a gemstone inscribed with the guy’s name, “Jehoahaz: servant of the king.” I’m doing this for two reasons. We’re illustrating what the Hebrew word servant means. Low slaves don’t have seals. ʿEḇeḏ hammeleḵ, servant of the king. He’s in the king’s cabinet, trust me, it’s an honorific title. “Abraham, the servant of Yahweh” is an honorific. “Moses, the servant.” Joshua. “My servants, the prophets.” This is all honorific. 

And I am convinced that when Paul uses the word, “Paul a servant of Jesus Christ,” it’s a virtual synonym for apostle. It is not a low bond slave. It can be that. But this is the way in which he declares his credentials for writing, and the credential is he is a commissioned agent of God., 

ʿEḇeḏ hammeleḵ, ʿEḇeḏ Yahweh, a servant of the Lord, and that’s the authority. 

Well, in any case, this guy’s symbol, logo, was the rooster. Don’t ask me why, but there it is. 

What makes food abominable? Well, we can discuss this a long time. But he the closest we get here: “You may eat any animal that has completely slit hooves and chews the cud. But if it doesn’t have both, it may not be eaten. So, you may not eat the camel, hare or hyrax, they chew the cud but don’t have slit hooves so their ceremonially unclean. It doesn’t chew the cud, doesn’t have a slit hoof.” 

Oh, here it is. I do have it here. That’s a camel foot. Those are two toes. That is not a single, one hoof split in two. So, it’s a toe with a toenail. You can find that on the web. It’s clean [recte: unclean].Why not eat catfish or crow or grubs or…well, why? 

There are lots of people who say because of hygiene’s sake. Well, I want you to know that there isn’t a hint anywhere in Scripture that this has anything to do with hygiene. I’m sure it actually does. But that’s not the point. That’s not the point. It’s not health food versus unhealthy food. 

There’s a symbolic explanation. The cud symbolizes – the Jewish folks love it – the cud symbolizes meditating on God’s law. So, sheep are clean because they remind Israel that Yahweh is their shepherd. The pig is unclean because it represents filth that comes along with sin. 

There’s the principle of holiness, wholeness and normalcy. This is the work of Mary Douglas. This is where she went. But of course, whose definition of wholeness and normalcy are you going to use here? So, holiness means to be whole, normal. Well, what is the catfish supposed to think if you say it’s not a normal fish? God made it. 

There’s the arbitrary explanation. Some people say, “Well, God can set the boundaries wherever He wants, and that’s enough. He doesn’t need to justify Himself.” So, some will go that way. 

I think it’s closer to the link with filth and death, actually, I think is what is the issue here. The ones that are rejected are those that eat filth and live in the dirt and they eat carrion. So, I think that’s the closest we can get to this one. 

The Israelites do not eat abominable food. They don’t eat meat of animals that have not been properly butchered, kosher. The life is in the blood, so, life is sacred. Even the life of animals is sacred. 

I’ll never forget my father’s disposition when it was time in the fall to slaughter a steer and to slaughter a sheep or a pig. He hated doing that because he did not like killing animals. And so, he did it for utilitarian purposes, but it wasn’t fun. Killing animals. 

I’ll never forget the hawk was getting the chickens at our place, and my dad went out into the back pasture, and the hawk was flying over and he shot the bird out of the sky. You wouldn’t be allowed to do that now. This is now 70 years ago. And he just cried, “What have I done? What have I done?” But it’s not; all life is sacred, even bugs. 

I was in Kenya and we had been on a trip and we had had the local guy cut our grass for us while we were away. When we got back, I noticed that in the back corner of the yard there, he hadn’t cut the grass. And I wondered, “Why didn’t you cut the grass there?” “Well, I went out there and here is a little nest of cute little bunnies looking up at me.” The guy respected the life of the little baby bunnies and cut around them. Well, I thought, “That is cute.” 

Well, I didn’t dispose of them. I didn’t provide the coyotes food, I should have because I was in Kenya. And the SOS comes from Ellen. And a tone in her voice, written voice, was not pleasant, “As soon as you get home, you have to take care of these rabbits.” 

Well, the next day I mentioned this to the class of Kenyans. I asked them, and we had just been talking about Genesis 1, 2, and 3 in our role as the image of God and caretakers of the earth. And these guys just hooted that I even thought about it. So, I asked, “What would you do?” They said, “Rabbit stew! God has provided you with a meal.” So that was their answer. But I mean, we do need as God’s people to think about these things, we cannot be calloused. 

They do not eat meat that’s not been properly cooked. And here he ends with, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk,” whatever that means. There’s something fundamentally perverted, something that’s associated with pagan rituals. I think basically it’s desecration of that which is there for the health and life of the child you used to. You don’t kill it by throwing it in and drowning it in there. But on the other hand, it’s fundamentally incongruous to boil a kid a goat in its mother’s milk. It must have been a delicacy in that world. 

But who’s invited to the Lord’s table? Verse 21, “You must not eat anything that’s died a natural death. Give it to a foreigner in the town. Sell it to. He may sell it. Or you may sell it to a stranger. But don’t eat it yourselves. You’re set apart. You may not boil a kid.” I’m going to go on to the end of this, though. Lots of debates about what’s wrong with boiling a kid in its mother’s milk. But we need to conclude this with some practical illustrations or practical comments. 

What’s the significance of these dietary regulations for Christians today? This is the debate. People often ask me, do I eat pork? I actually do. I feel sorry for the pig. I’ll never forget the looks on my family’s faces when at Thanksgiving in the prayer for the thanks for the meal, I said, “We thank you, Lord, for these animals that have given their lives for us.” “Really? Did Dad say that?” But I meant it. I meant it. For an animal - this is the conclusion in my essay for Elmer Martens, I suggest that for an animal to nourish the image of God is the highest calling; no, second highest calling. The higher calling is for an animal to be presented to God as an acceptable sacrifice as the highest calling. 

And this, I think, leads us into the significance of all of this for us. There are a couple of things we should note. Along with prohibitions on idolatry and sexual immorality, the Council of Jerusalem reaffirmed the prohibition on consumption of blood and the meat of animals that had not been properly slaughtered. That is really interesting. “You don’t eat the blood; that is for Gentiles as well as for…” So, that’s actually not a distinctly Israelite ordinance. It’s given to Noah at the fountainhead of human history, “You shall not eat the blood of an animal, for that’s the life.” So, life is sacred. 

But to me, the significance of the dietary regulations for Christians is probably best understood as a corollary of Israel’s sacrificial system. Have you ever noticed that the food that is allowed for human consumption belongs exactly in the categories of foods that the Lord says to come, bring them to the temple to worship, and I’ll serve you. These are the categories. And so, in my view, the significance of the dietary regulations for Christians, with the ending of all sacrifices in Christ, these food regulations become passé. I don’t think they apply. We no longer provide God with these offerings, but we celebrate the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. Then, whenever we partake of the Lord’s Table, that’s the bread and the wine of communion, we participate in the feast to which the Lord has graciously provided, invited us, and we don’t do the other offerings anymore. Indeed. 

So, something really curious. When Jesus transforms the annual Israelite Passover into the regular communion meal and institutes the Lord’s Supper, He’s not only the Divine host, this is the Lord’s table. The Israelites ate at the Lord’s table at the central sanctuary, this is the Lord’s table. He is the host. But Jesus is more than the host. He invites us to eat in His presence, but He is God in the flesh, inviting redeemed sinners, children of God, His holy people, His chosen ones, His special treasure. Those words are all taken from Deuteronomy 14. He invites us to eat of Him. Of course, it’s not literal cannibalism. It is metaphorical. He invites us to His table and then offers Himself as the sacrifice. Through Him our admission to the family of God is secured. Hallelujah, what a Savior. 

And so, on the matters of dietary prohibitions and boundaries, I’m absolutely free. I don’t have to eat everything; I don’t want to eat everything. But if you want to eat squid, go ahead, have it. Clams, it’s not my natural inclination, but I have eaten clam. It was all right. Most people just chuck them right down the throat so they don’t have to taste them. But, um, yeah, this is interesting. 

But the theology of feasting in the presence of the Lord, that’s I think, what we need to get. “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest. May this food to us be blessed.” The theological perspective on all of life, and I call this eating for the glory of God.