What to make of unclean animals

Today I had a ham sandwich for lunch.

Well, not really. But after reading Leviticus 11 today, I couldn’t pass up the joke.

God’s instructions about clean and unclean animals can be confusing. The notes in my study Bible took me to Acts 10:9-28, where Peter is told by God in a vision “What God has made clean, do not call common.” How has God made things clean? Has He cleansed things that were unclean? Genesis 1:24-25 tells us how God made the livestock, the creeping things, and the beasts of the earth, and that God saw that it was good. So is a pig unclean, or is it good?

Everything that God made is good. But as we are told in 1 Corinthians 6:12, not all things are helpful. One of the reasons that God gave Israel the law, and the list of clean and unclean animals (and this is by no means the only reason) was for their own protection. I remember in biology class learning that pigs carry a parasite (trichinosis) that can be hazardous to people eating under cooked pork. Shell fish, if not properly refrigerated can be very hazardous. Eating these unclean animals during biblical times could be deadly.

The same is true for us today as Christians. God has set standards of holiness for us, and defined certain things as sin. We should view this not as an onerous limit, but as a blessing. God’s righteous standards are intertwined with His love for us. Part of the reason God commands us to refrain from gossip is that gossip destroys relationships, and we need relationships. Notice that many behaviors that Christians call sin are described by our culture as “destructive behaviors”.

So as I read Leviticus 11, I rejoice that God has loved me enough to set limits and boundaries around me for my own good.

Posted by David Fenton on Mar 5, 11:52 PM