Sea Life That May Or May Not Be Eaten (Leviticus 11:9-12).
“These may you eat of all that are in the waters. Whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that may you eat.”
Once again the principle is the same. Fish intended to be eaten have fins and scales. This is seen as the ‘perfect' edible fish. They swim and eat in the clear waters, in parts that are ‘clean', in their proper sphere, not wallowing in the mud. They are solely of the sea or river. Anything less than that is a ‘sea creature', especially those that cling to the bottom or to rocks, and not an edible fish. For those with fins and scales are again less likely to have absorbed anything parasitic or harmful. They were created to be eaten. Compare Deuteronomy 14:9. And their way is not in the mud (wet dust). We should look at, and have dealings with, what is good, not at what delves in the dirt and dust and mud. That is a sound principle of life.
“And all that do not have fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination to you, and they shall be an abomination to you. You shall not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall have in abomination. Whatever has no fins nor scales in the waters, that is an abomination to you.”
On the other hand all other sea and river creatures are not to be eaten. They are to be seen as blemished for they do not have the attributes of the ‘perfect' fish. They lack scales or they lack fins. They are not designed for the pure waters. They take their food where they find it, among what is ‘unclean'.
This would include all shellfish which tend to eat decaying matter. Indeed these are all ‘an abomination', that is, especially unclean and to be avoided. Once again there is no doubt that by observing these rules they would avoid much disease, for shellfish for example are notorious for causing physical ailments and food poisoning, although that is not to say that some were not perfectly edible. Compare Deuteronomy 14:10. But they were forbidden by God. Note how the deciding factor is very simple. No one could genuinely make a mistake.
So God is again and again emphasising to Israel that they must keep to their proper sphere. When they fail to do so they connect with dirt, and degradation, and dust, and death and become unclean.
If we would serve Christ fully, we too must swim in clear waters, and not be constantly delving in the mud. The principle still applies that what God has created for man's good lives and eats cleanly, and is thus ‘perfect' and without blemish and does not render unclean. These sources of food are not forbidden to us, (as long as we are careful), but being like them is.
Birds And Flying Creatures That May Not Be Eaten (Leviticus 11:13-23).
“And these you shall have in abomination among the birds, they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination; the griffon vulture, and the bearded vulture, and the osprey, and the kite, and the falcon after its kind, every raven after its kind, and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kind, and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the black vulture, and the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.”
In the case of birds it is the negative that is emphasised, the ones to be especially avoided. On the whole the ones mentioned tend to be birds of prey. They do not keep to the proper sphere of birds by flying in the air and eating what is in the air, and seeds. They are mainly death-dealers. They descend into the dust and eat carrion. They descend to the sphere of, and eat, beasts and creeping things. The thought may also be that they eat flesh with the blood like wild beasts. Thus those who take life in this way and who eat in this way must be unclean, for death is unclean and decaying flesh is unclean, and rodents are unclean. It is contrary to what they should be, and contrary to what Yahweh is as the living God.
Others of these unclean birds mentioned are clearly noted fish eaters and swamp dwellers, and are seen to delve their beaks into the mud for food. In all cases they appeared to feed on what was outside their sphere and were not over-particular to avoid what was ‘unclean'. It was their practise that must be avoided.
All these examples bring out the lesson that what we are is revealed by how we behave, and we are not to follow their example. We must remain in our own sphere. And the sphere of Israel is the covenant, and obedience to the Law. The sphere of Israel is to be holiness.
On the other hand Deuteronomy 14:11; Deuteronomy 14:20 give permission to eat ‘all clean birds' and ‘all clean fowls'. No further detail is given but it was probably a fairly wide definition. Birds and their eggs generally appear to have been seen as edible, especially turtledoves and pigeons, which could also be sacrificed.
“All winged creeping things that go on four are an abomination to you.”
Compare here Deuteronomy 14:19. Such creatures sought food in unclean places, and on dead carcases and dead matter. These are the flying things that have more than two legs. ‘On four.' They go on more than two legs. If we translate ‘go on all fours' we must recognise that it means rather, ‘scuttle along like a four legged animal' in the dust, in contrast to those that ‘leap' like those in the next verse. It means those winged creeping things that have four legs or more. It is not necessarily suggesting that they have only four legs. It is a way of distinguishing those with two feet (e.g. birds) from all others. These creatures were creatures of the dust.
“Yet these may you eat of all winged creeping things that go on all fours, those which have legs above their feet, by which to leap on the earth. Even these of them you may eat; the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. But all winged creeping things, which have four feet, are an abomination to you.”
There were, however, some larger insects which were exceptions and could be eaten, and they are outlined here. They are distinguished by the fact that they are ‘leapers', not grovellers in the dust. They are also all such as appeared to eat vegetation and grain. They were therefore clean. The Bedouin are known to have eaten certain types of locust, as did John the Baptiser (Matthew 3:4), and they appear to have been a delicacy at king's tables. It is clear from the description that the Israelites also enjoyed them.
The general idea behind these food laws would appear therefore to be to distinguish those which ate what was ‘clean' and which went where it was relatively ‘clean', and lived in their own spheres, and were not obviously involved in death-dealing (consider how death-dealing animals have not even been dealt with, their uncleanness is assumed - but see Leviticus 11:27) in contrast with those whose habits were such that they would continually have contact with dead and decaying and rotting and infested matter, and with what was ‘unclean', going out of their own spheres and lurking and scrabbling in the dust. Only the ‘clean' were fit for God's holy people. The constant recognition of this fact would bring home to Israel God's holiness, the holiness that was required of them, and a sense of being God's people as witnessed by what they ate. They would be a constant reminder that they should stay within their own sphere. They certainly helped to prevent disease, and were good aids to hygiene. The rules had to be straight and simple. They were not naturalists. There was no question of arguing individual cases.