Week 3
Welcome to the last week for chapter 1! Hope you have had time to think about the chapter, and to try some type of fasting from food if that was something you wanted to do this month.
For this week's post, I've got a question for you...When was the last time you read a chapter from Leviticus? It's been a while for me too, but Jen suggests we read Leviticus Chapter 11, so to make it easy for you, here it is. I will add a bit of commentary from Jen at the end.
Leviticus 11
New International Version (NIV)
Clean and Unclean Food
11 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: 3 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.
4 “‘There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you. 5 The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 6 The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 7 And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
9 “‘Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams you may eat any that have fins and scales. 10 But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales—whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water—you are to regard as unclean. 11 And since you are to regard them as unclean, you must not eat their meat; you must regard their carcasses as unclean. 12 Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be regarded as unclean by you.
13 “‘These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat because they are unclean: the eagle,[a] the vulture, the black vulture, 14 the red kite, any kind of black kite, 15 any kind of raven, 16 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, 18 the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, 19 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
20 “‘All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be regarded as unclean by you. 21 There are, however, some flying insects that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. 22 Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper. 23 But all other flying insects that have four legs you are to regard as unclean.
24 “‘You will make yourselves unclean by these; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. 25 Whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening.
26 “‘Every animal that does not have a divided hoof or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you; whoever touches the carcass of any of them will be unclean. 27 Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. 28 Anyone who picks up their carcasses must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. These animals are unclean for you.
29 “‘Of the animals that move along the ground, these are unclean for you: the weasel, the rat,any kind of great lizard, 30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon. 31 Of all those that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean till evening. 32 When one of them dies and falls on something, that article, whatever its use, will be unclean, whether it is made of wood, cloth, hide or sackcloth. Put it in water; it will be unclean till evening, and then it will be clean.33 If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean, and you must break the pot. 34 Any food you are allowed to eat that has come into contact with water from any such pot is unclean, and any liquid that is drunk from such a pot is unclean. 35 Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean; an oven or cooking pot must be broken up. They are unclean, and you are to regard them as unclean. 36 A spring, however, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but anyone who touches one of these carcasses is unclean. 37 If a carcass falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they remain clean. 38 But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, it is unclean for you.
39 “‘If an animal that you are allowed to eat dies, anyone who touches its carcass will be unclean till evening. 40 Anyone who eats some of its carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. Anyone who picks up the carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening.
41 “‘Every creature that moves along the ground is to be regarded as unclean; it is not to be eaten. 42 You are not to eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is unclean. 43 Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them. 44 I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. 45 I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
46 “‘These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves about in the water and every creature that moves along the ground. 47 You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.’”
Jen talks about the reasons behind these laws and shows that by giving them to us, God is protecting his entire creation. She states that "most of the clean animals are herbivores, and the unclean are carnivores...God forbid the consumption of scavengers, predators and bottom-dwellers. These animals are capable of ingesting and processing tremendous amounts of poison and waste in short periods of time...by abstaining from these unclean animals we do not rid the planet of its necessary clean-up crew, nor do we ingest the toxins they were created to filter."
Think about God's amazing plans for us in regard to food. Every single detail thought out in advance, from providing all of the fabulous, nutritious and diverse plant foods we have to choose from, to adding a wonderful and complex system of creatures for us to eat, God has a plan and design for everything.
I look forward to talking to you all about the previous month, and cant wait to read chapter 2!
Wow...and I grumble about grocery shopping! God does take care of every detail and how often I take that for granted. I hope my Lenten fast from after-dinner snacking will help me focus on and gain a better appreciation for His loving attention to every aspect of our lives and this amazing world He has created for us.
ReplyDeleteso leslie, I am assuming that you may be fasting today or tomorrow (if not already done) so hang in there if you are. Yes, there are good outlines, but we do have to remember context with instructions laid out in the law, and not be law driven ourselves. I broke my fast today because I had the great opportunity to have coffee with a muslim woman who brought an awesome caske with her. It was well worth it to accept her gift, and accept the gift that God gave me to spend time with her. Funny, issues around excess lead me to think about my life in context of the world, and God was giving me the world in my living room....April
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for both of your comments. I think this has been so great, to see how each person is considering all of this, and figuring out how God would have each person learn and grow in their own ways. April, I love that you broke your fast to have coffee with a muslim women. It is so important to think big picture and not be legalistic, absolutely - but it is cool to look at how God planned everything out in such a perfect way, to benefit our bodies, and the environment. I love thinking about all of it, and cant wait to talk to all of you about it tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteOur last group was great. We have a Father who treasures us just for being who we are (warts and all), yet I've allowed the world's perception of valuing myself or should I say de-valuing that I didn't see as clearly prior to this adventure we are on.
ReplyDeleteMy prayer is we would receive His love touches on our hearts this year, so we can participate in His life for us now and view fasting (in any form) as a clear way to connect more with Him and receive His blessing through whatever we encounter.
It's also a form of worship which Leslie shared with the II Chron. 20:1-30 passage. I believe He will continue to give us ample opportunity this year to see the blessing of our separation from "autopilot mode" to in sync with Christ mode as we pursue Him in 7. Love to all :)