Read Leviticus 11
Focus on verse 2
According to Health Care Daily Online the average person eats about six pounds of dirt in a lifetime. (http://www.healthcaredailyonline.com/strange-facts-the-average-person-eats-6-lbs-of-dirt/) According the EPA 55% of that is dust while 45% consists of soil. Exactly how this was calculated is not entirely clear to me, and the thought is not entirely appetizing but I suspect it may have some merit, particularly after observing my grandson when he plays outside.
In today’s reading the people of Israel are given instructions regarding what they are to eat. Certain plants and creatures are forbidden while others are permitted to be used as food.
Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. (v. 2-3)
The laws the Lord gave Israel regarding which animals and birds they could and could not eat, and which animals and insects they should avoid touching, seem a little odd when we consider them through a 21st century lens. These laws in the ancient context – particularly in the context of survival of a multitude of people in the arid wilderness – actually reflect the Lord’s concern for their survival. Many of the forbidden creatures are ones which we now understand are more inclined to be carriers of diseases or which if eaten are more prone to cause illness. This ban on eating certain animals appears to have been lifted in the New Testament when the Law is fulfilled by Christ, and the Gentiles are included in the Kingdom…the vision the Lord shows Peter on the rooftop is perhaps the most direct in that the Lord seems to direct Peter not to call unclean what the Lord has made clean.
Perhaps there is a sense in which Christ’s death and sacrifice redeems not only the sin of mankind, but also the uncleanness of those animals formerly designated as “unclean”? Could it be that just as all creation was corrupted by original sin, all creation is likewise affected to some degree by the redemption of Christ?
Lord, I still have much to learn about this – and once again I am thankful that I will have eternity to spend with You explaining to me how it all fits together. At the rate I am currently progressing I suspect it may take all of eternity for me to get there. Thanks for You patience with me.
