Rev. Don Campbell
Leviticus 11-14
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2019
TOUCH NOT, TASTE NOT
The word “unclean” is used 158 times in the O.T., with 99 of those being in Leviticus and over a third of those being in today’s reading. Although the word “unclean” is not found prior to Leviticus, the contrasting “clean” is found. Noah was to take seven pairs of the clean animals and a pair of those that were not clean (Gen 7:1-5). In some cases, the distinction between clean and unclean may have been for the control of disease but cannot be limited to that.
Some, in trying to bind vegetarianism or veganism as a religious principle must go to the O.T. for their prooftexts because God has declared everything that he has created clean. God was ready to open the door of salvation to the Gentiles. He chose a centurion named Cornelius and told him to send to Joppa for Peter. As the men were approaching the city, Peter, at about noon, had gone up on the housetop to pray while the meal was being prepared. Let’s let Luke tell us what happened: “While they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.’ And the voice came to him again a second time, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven” (Acts 10:10-16).
This does not mean that there may be no reason to avoid certain animals as food for health or dietary reason, but it has nothing to do with one’s acceptance by God. One may also reject certain foods for the sake of one’s own conscience or that of a brother or sister, but Paul says, “Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak” (1 Cor 8:8).
Anyone eating or touching an unclean animal or object was defiled (Lev 11:43-44). Jesus sounds the death knell: “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone” (Matt 15:10-20).
CONNECTIONS (1 Cor 8:13) (1 Tim 4:1-5)
1. Paul said that he would never eat meat if it caused a brother to stumble (1 Cor 8:13). In Colossians two he wrote, “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’ (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (vv.20-23). How are the two situations different?
2. What does Paul say that forbidding marriage and requiring abstinence from foods is a sign of? (1 Tim 4:1-5)
