Dietary Regulations
Today's reading is all about kosher!
1.) Clean and Unclean Animals- The general rule of thumb is if the animal has a split hoof or eats it own cud it is not to be eaten. Even if the animal has only one of the two qualities, it is not to be eaten. The only kind of sea food deemed edible are the animals that have fins and scales, which is disappointing to me because I love shrimp. There are a whole list of birds that are inedible, and I can happily say chicken is not on there! Only insects that have jointed legs for hopping are edible. All ground creatures are inedible. There is a reference to animals that move on their bellies, and I always connected that to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Also, God reinforces the fact that the people should not make themselves unholy by eating such things, and again I see the connection between this and the Garden of Eden. It shows that He does not want His people making the same mistake twice. If someone touches the carcass of an unclean animal, they are unclean until the evening and have to wash their clothes. If an animal dies and falls onto something, whatever it is, it is unclean until evening and and it must be put in water. If a dead animal falls into a clay pot of something, everything in the pot is unclean and the pot must be smashed. At first I wondered why the people couldn't just put it in the water until evening like any other tool, but then I realized what would happen to the clay in the water. Springs and cisterns remain clean, probably because they carry water. If a dead animal fell on seeds, the seeds remain clean unless water has been put on it, which I think just mean if it has been planted already. Again, God tells the people to remain holy to Him.
2.) Dead Animals- If a kosher animal is touched or eaten, the person must wash themselves and their clothes and are unclean until evening. If someone found an animal already dead, it is inedible, but not unusable. An already dead animal can be sold or gifted to the 'aliens' of the town.
3.) Killed Animals- Anyone who eats something found dead or torn by wild animals has to wash himself and his clothes, and remain ceremonially unclean until evening. If he doesn't wash, he will be held responsible. It's okay to give this meat to the dogs though.
4.) Blood and Fat- Blood drinkers are unholy, so sorry to all of the Twilight fans out there! It makes sense though, considering blood is a source of the life God gives and is also used to atone for sins, drinking it could be seen as taking life. Also, no fats are to be eaten. God likes His people healthy!
5.) Meat and Milk- No cooking a goat in milk. I guess a modern day equivalent would be don't feed a chicken eggs or a baby cow a hamburger.
Hope everyone had a lovely Sunday, and I'm really sorry about the lateness of this post.
-Gina
No comments:
Post a Comment