Bible Health Laws Concerning Meat (Part One)
There were some questions raised concerning my article The Top Six Bible Verses on Swine (Pigs) | Healthmad when it was first published on Healthmad.com so I decided that since thoroughness required a lengthy reply I would respond by a two part article series.
The Bible has various laws. The most widely known are the Ten Commandments which were written in stone tablets with God’s own finger. There was also the Ceremonial Law that had to do with sacrificing lambs when one sinned. There were various civil laws and finally there were health laws. One of those health laws is in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14 which states which meats are clean to eat and which are unclean and forbidden. Do we still have to keep this health laws? Let us see what the Bible says.
Firstly, note that the Health law is separate from the Ceremonial law which was for a time. The Ceremonial law with its related Feast days like the Day of Atonement etc. stated that if a man sinned he had to kill a lamb as a symbol that one day the Lamb of God would come and take away the sins of the world. Once Jesus came and was crucified as the Lamb of God the Ceremonial Law was no longer kept. It had served its purpose. It is not that God changed. Many people believe that the Old Testament was from the Father and that it is very different from the New Testament which they believe was from Jesus alone. For clarification on that issue you can read the series on Jesus and the Father starting with In Defense of God The Father – Part One | Relijournal
Paul tells us that that Ceremonial Law was “a shadow of things to come” (Col. 2:17).
It was a symbol and Jesus was the substance. He was the fulfillment of that prophecy. The Bible even tells us that the moment Jesus died the veil in the Temple separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was ripped from top to bottom by an unseen power.
Matt. 27:51 “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.”
Now all this is different and separate from the Health laws. Christ dying on the cross does not affect the fact that we have to be healthy and eat healthy foods. These Health laws existed before any Jew existed. From as early as the one thousand six hundred and fifty-sixth (1656th) year after Creation – the year of the Flood – we see God telling Noah:
(1) There was a Health law concerning Clean and Unclean Animals long before Israel was a nation
Gen. 7:2 “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.”
That was almost a thousand years before Israel left Egypt in what is called “the Exodus.”
(2) Israel kept the Health Laws in their time.
The Health laws concerning clean and unclean animals can be found in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14. They are very, very detailed. Those laws are so important that what is said in Deut. 14 is almost a word for word copy of what is said in Lev. 11. In both passages swine or pig is singled out as unclean. God felt the need for those Laws to be written twice utilizing two whole chapters of the Bible.
(3) Daniel and his three companions kept those Health laws.
Dan. 1:8 says “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”
You can read the whole story in context in Dan. 1 and the great miracle God performed on behalf of these four men who refused to be tainted by the King’s meat and wine.
(4) The example of Peter – Jesus’ disciple in the New Testament
Peter was physically around Jesus for three and a half years of Jesus’ ministry and was never in the habit of eating unclean meats. To even think of eating unclean meats filled him with horror.
He got a vision from God in which he saw a great sheet tied at the four corners and in that sheet were all types of animals, wild beasts and creeping things. He then heard voice saying, “Rise … and eat.” His reply in Acts 10:14 was :
“… Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.”
Now if Peter no longer had to keep the Health law concerning clean and unclean meats surely Jesus would have told Him in the three and a half years they practically lived together. They would surely have seen Jesus eating “unclean meats” during that time if they no longer had to follow those health laws. It is when we look at the context of Acts 10 and Acts 11 that we see what that vision was really about. It was about not thinking of non-Jews as common or unclean like unclean animals. The Jews of that time were known for treating the Gentiles or non-Jews as unclean. In John 4:9 when a Samaritan woman encountered Jesus and He, a Jew, spoke to her, she was surprised and said:
“… How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”
This is the type of thing that God wanted Peter to realizewas wrong so He sent Cornelius, a non-Jew, to teach him that lesson and to make the vision sink in. Peter said of his encounter with Cornelius in relation to his dream:
Acts 10:28 “And he (Peter) said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
For the second part of this series see:
The Bible has various laws. The most widely known are the Ten Commandments which were written in stone tablets with God’s own finger. There was also the Ceremonial Law that had to do with sacrificing lambs when one sinned. There were various civil laws and finally there were health laws. One of those health laws is in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14 which states which meats are clean to eat and which are unclean and forbidden. Do we still have to keep this health laws? Let us see what the Bible says.
Firstly, note that the Health law is separate from the Ceremonial law which was for a time. The Ceremonial law with its related Feast days like the Day of Atonement etc. stated that if a man sinned he had to kill a lamb as a symbol that one day the Lamb of God would come and take away the sins of the world. Once Jesus came and was crucified as the Lamb of God the Ceremonial Law was no longer kept. It had served its purpose. It is not that God changed. Many people believe that the Old Testament was from the Father and that it is very different from the New Testament which they believe was from Jesus alone. For clarification on that issue you can read the series on Jesus and the Father starting with In Defense of God The Father – Part One | Relijournal
Paul tells us that that Ceremonial Law was “a shadow of things to come” (Col. 2:17).
It was a symbol and Jesus was the substance. He was the fulfillment of that prophecy. The Bible even tells us that the moment Jesus died the veil in the Temple separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was ripped from top to bottom by an unseen power.
Matt. 27:51 “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.”
Now all this is different and separate from the Health laws. Christ dying on the cross does not affect the fact that we have to be healthy and eat healthy foods. These Health laws existed before any Jew existed. From as early as the one thousand six hundred and fifty-sixth (1656th) year after Creation – the year of the Flood – we see God telling Noah:
(1) There was a Health law concerning Clean and Unclean Animals long before Israel was a nation
Gen. 7:2 “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.”
That was almost a thousand years before Israel left Egypt in what is called “the Exodus.”
(2) Israel kept the Health Laws in their time.
The Health laws concerning clean and unclean animals can be found in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14. They are very, very detailed. Those laws are so important that what is said in Deut. 14 is almost a word for word copy of what is said in Lev. 11. In both passages swine or pig is singled out as unclean. God felt the need for those Laws to be written twice utilizing two whole chapters of the Bible.
(3) Daniel and his three companions kept those Health laws.
Dan. 1:8 says “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”
You can read the whole story in context in Dan. 1 and the great miracle God performed on behalf of these four men who refused to be tainted by the King’s meat and wine.
(4) The example of Peter – Jesus’ disciple in the New Testament
Peter was physically around Jesus for three and a half years of Jesus’ ministry and was never in the habit of eating unclean meats. To even think of eating unclean meats filled him with horror.
He got a vision from God in which he saw a great sheet tied at the four corners and in that sheet were all types of animals, wild beasts and creeping things. He then heard voice saying, “Rise … and eat.” His reply in Acts 10:14 was :
“… Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.”
Now if Peter no longer had to keep the Health law concerning clean and unclean meats surely Jesus would have told Him in the three and a half years they practically lived together. They would surely have seen Jesus eating “unclean meats” during that time if they no longer had to follow those health laws. It is when we look at the context of Acts 10 and Acts 11 that we see what that vision was really about. It was about not thinking of non-Jews as common or unclean like unclean animals. The Jews of that time were known for treating the Gentiles or non-Jews as unclean. In John 4:9 when a Samaritan woman encountered Jesus and He, a Jew, spoke to her, she was surprised and said:
“… How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.”
This is the type of thing that God wanted Peter to realizewas wrong so He sent Cornelius, a non-Jew, to teach him that lesson and to make the vision sink in. Peter said of his encounter with Cornelius in relation to his dream:
Acts 10:28 “And he (Peter) said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
For the second part of this series see:
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