Chapter 2: Eating Clean Spiritual Food

 

In Deut. 14:3-21 Moses shows the sons of God again how to live a holy life that reflects the presence and glory of God. He deals with various food laws, listing those that were unclean and forbidden. As we will see, these food laws teach us how to eat clean spiritual food, so that we may grow into maturity in Christ through the word.

These laws are not just “Jewish laws” that are designed to make Jews different or special from all other people. These are universal principles that teach us how to study the word of God and how to listen to Bible teachers without idolizing them.

Clean and Unclean

Deuteronomy 14:3 says,

³ You shall not eat any detestable thing.

Verses 3-21 give a shortened version of Leviticus 11. In neither chapter does Moses state either moral or scientific reasons for this prohibition. He says only in Leviticus 11:44,

⁴⁴ … Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth.

Much has been written from a scientific perspective on the wisdom of following these food laws insofar as health is concerned. My comments will be limited to the biblical issue at hand, which centers on the concept of being clean and unclean. This has to do with being acceptable in God’s presence, for Scripture teaches us that if we are “unclean,” we are restricted in our approach to God.

For this reason, lepers, who were unclean, were unable to go to the temple except to be inspected by the priest to see if they had been healed. They also had to withdraw from society, and if others came near, he was to shout, “Unclean!” to prevent them from contaminating those who were clean.

Leprosy, of course, represented mortality (a slow death). Death is the ultimate form of uncleanness, and for this reason the Scriptures show us the path toward immortal life. Only when death is fully eradicated in us can it be said that we are fully “clean.” When Jesus healed lepers, He demonstrated more than just a restoration of health to the sick, but also showed His power over death and His ability to bring us all into immortality.

Jesus interpreted all of the laws of cleansing in His simple statement in John 15:3,

³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

All of the cleansing ceremonies of the law under Moses, then, were designed to portray the real truth about cleansing. Water cleansed people; fire cleansed metal vessels; but Jesus said that it was the word itself that brought inner cleansing. As a result of such cleansing, Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you” (John 15:4). In other words, we who were formerly lepers have now been healed and may return to our true home, abiding in Christ, and He in us.

Spiritual Food

The food laws are really about the type of spiritual food we eat and the manner in which we eat it. The food laws, then, give us a parable of eating clean, spiritual food as we abide in Christ.

Jesus presented us with clean spiritual food by the word that He spoke. More than that, He was the Word made flesh (John 1:1), and hence, He presented Himself as the Bread of Life (John 6:48), born in Bethlehem, the “House of Bread,” and placed in a manger as food for the “animals.” Thus, He said in John 6:51,

⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh.

Eating of Christ and the Word is the central meaning of the Old Testament food laws. Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 enrich our understanding of eating clean spiritual food, and helps us to know how to avoid defilement when hearing the word preached. As we will see, the quality of the spiritual food (truth) is not our only concern, but also the manner in which it is prepared and served to us. There are preachers and teachers who present good truth but who render that truth unclean by their preparation and presentation.

Moses begins in Deuteronomy 14:3 with the general theme of the food laws. Ferrar Fenton renders it,

³ You shall eat no filth.

As a general health principle, this is a good idea, for even if our faith is strong enough to consume poison (Mark 16:18), we ought not to eat poison as part of a daily diet. Likewise, we ought to avoid eating filth of any kind. However, Moses and Jesus are more concerned with cleansing us to remove the hindrances to full fellowship with God.

There are three main categories of unclean meats that Moses lists in Deuteronomy 14--those on land, water, and air. In Leviticus 11 he divides the unclean land animals between the four-footed and the many-footed creepers. But Deuteronomy 14 omits those creeping things, perhaps because this is a short speech, while Leviticus is a book.

The Double Witness

Moses begins in Deuteronomy 14:4-6, saying,

⁴ These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ⁵ the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. ⁶ And any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat.

After listing examples, Moses gives us the principle by which we may distinguish between the clean and unclean animals. It must have a divided hoof and it must chew the cud in order to be clean food. The divided hoof means that all spiritual truth that we eat must stand upon a double witness to be considered as a clean word of truth. The basic law of all truth is found in Deuteronomy 19:15,

¹⁵ A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.

The Apostle Paul confirms this law in 2 Corinthians 13:1, writing,

¹ This is the third time I am coming to you. Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Again, he gives instructions to the church, saying in 1 Timothy 5:19,

¹⁹ Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses.

Two witnesses establish or confirm truth; the third witness is often necessary to clarify the truth. Hence, we are given the law and the prophets as two witnesses testifying under the Old Covenant, but the psalms provide clarification, put it to music, and give it a beat to establish “timing.”

In preparing the clean food, the preacher must always allow the people to ask for a double witness to establish the validity of the food that is being presented. If the preacher insists that people must believe him without question, then the food is unclean, regardless of how true it is. Food preparation is as important as the food itself.

The problem is not always with the preacher. If the people themselves refuse to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice during the preaching, then they are eating in an unlawful manner, because they are eating the “flesh” of the preacher, rather than Christ’s flesh. In other words, they accept what the preacher says without the Holy Spirit’s double witness. This was essentially Israel's problem at Mount Horeb when they refused to hear the word for themselves but instead sent Moses up the Mount to hear on their behalf. They were violating the food laws by thinking that Moses' witness was sufficient.

Chewing the Cud

In addition, Moses says that clean animals are those that chew the cud. When a cow eats grass or hay, they soon lie down to chew the cud. That is, they bring up the food from their first stomach and chew it further before sending it to their second stomach. The cow appears to be meditating on the food in order to extract its full nutritional value.

We too are to do this with the word in order to ensure that we are eating it in a clean manner. When we hear a message from a preacher or teacher or through a book, it is like a cow eating grass. We ought to meditate upon it prayerfully, in order to turn it from flesh to spirit.

It is not sufficient to hear or even memorize Bible verses. We need the Holy Spirit to give us understanding, so that we may assimilate the word and make it part of us. This is also the spiritual meaning behind the word selah that is often used in the psalms. It is a pause in the music, giving the people a moment to chew the cud.

The Full Biblical Requirement

We can see, then, that asking for a double witness is closely related to meditating on the word to see if the Holy Spirit will provide a double witness to that which has been preached. These two requirements must be paired together in order for the food to be “clean.” So Moses explains further in verses 7 and 8,

⁷ Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these among those which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel and the rabbit and the rock-badger, for though they chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you. ⁸ And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses.

The law tells us that for spiritual food to be clean, there must be BOTH a double witness and meditation upon the word. Camels are unclean because they chew the cud but do not have a divided hoof. Pigs have a divided hoof, but do not chew the cud. Both are unclean, because they do not portray the mind of God in teaching how to eat clean spiritual food. In fact, God created them as a negative example.

Jesus said in Matthew 23:24,

²⁴ You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

Both gnats and camels were unclean animals, but religious hypocrites are more concerned about gnats getting into their mouths than they are about the camels that they eat daily. How did the scribes and Pharisees eat camels? By studying (chewing) the word without obtaining a genuine double witness that comes by the Holy Spirit. This is like eating a camel, which has no cloven hoof.

The other problem was when the Scribes and Pharisees asked for a double witness, but did not meditate upon the word to see what the Holy Spirit would say. In other words, they ate spiritual pork, because pigs have a cloven hoof, but they do not chew the cud. By asking the authoritative rabbis to do their thinking for them, they ate the flesh of the rabbis, rather than Christ’s flesh. In other words, their double witness was not the Holy Spirit, but just another rabbi on whom they were feeding. Just because two men teach the same thing does not mean that their teaching is true.

In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees’ witnesses were limited to the acceptable rabbis, and so they were unable to hear a fresh word from the Holy Spirit. They did not recognize the Word made flesh when He came among them, nor could they hear the clean Word that was spoken from His lips. Their system of Bible study was systemically flawed.

Hence, if a man hears the word preached, and the preacher allows a double witness, but does not allow true meditation on the word, that word is unclean.

Spiritual Coercion

I have often seen preachers who pretend to challenge men to obtain a double witness from God, but then they coerce the people and interfere with their meditation. They make sure that their meditation (thought process) is guided and channeled into the desired outcome so that no conclusion contradicts their teaching. Any conclusion that falls outside the parameters of the pre-established religious creed, doctrine, or denominational literature, is condemned as invalid.

There are many today who strain out gnats but swallow camels. Jesus said in the previous verse (Matthew 23:23), “you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.” There are some who have built entire denominations upon certain laws, but they have not balanced their law practice with the “weightier” matters of spirit. It is only when we truly understand the law through Jesus’ eyes that we will obtain the mind of Christ and understand the law as God originally intended.

The laws of cleansing were only types and shadows of the truth. A shadow can show God’s profile, but at some point we ought to see Him face to face. No amount of water or fire could cleanse the heart. Only the word will provide the true cleansing that God requires.

Ironically, because most Christians have not studied the law of Moses to understand the profile of truth, they tend to miss the full extent of truth that Jesus Christ presents in the New Testament. Studying the food laws will teach us how to study the word of God in such a way that it cleanses us and enhances our relationship with God.

How to Hear a Clean Word

To eat clean spiritual food that is preached from the pulpit or read from a book, one must not allow the teacher to do one’s own thinking or discerning. If this is done, the food is unclean, for even if the word is true, it is unclean if not prepared properly.

Remember that the food laws in Deuteronomy 14 come on the heels of verses 1 and 2, where Moses reminds the people that they are “the sons of the Lord your God” and are therefore “holy.” The food laws follow immediately, showing us that in order to be holy sons of God, we must mature spiritually; and to mature spiritually, we must eat clean spiritual food. No one can mature properly unless they learn to hear God’s voice for themselves. They must know that inner witness and have the ability to meditate on the word that they hear.

Some people go too far by refusing to listen to Moses or others who have been given the word. But God does not give all revelation to any one man. If we rely only upon the revelation God gives to us, we will remain undernourished. Instead, God distributes revelation to many different people in order that we may function as a body. A liver cannot do the job of the heart, nor can the stomach substitute for the foot. Each has a calling, and we must learn to depend upon one another as a body. Yet if the liver malfunctions, the kidneys should do what it can to assist.

The rebellion of Korah in Numbers 16 is a prime example of how some were drawn into rebellion against God’s lawfully-appointed leadership. Their argument was that God speaks to all men, and therefore they did not need Moses’ leadership. This was a half-truth, for God did indeed speak to all men. But so also does God raise up leadership and gives each man a portion of authority along with supporting gifts of the Spirit.

The solution is not to be an island unto one’s self and expect God to reveal everything to each individual. The solution is to recognize when God has truly spoken to others and submit to the word that is in others—once we have borne witness to it and have had time to meditate upon it. In this way we learn to function as a body, while yet retaining our independent relationship with Christ.

Eating Dung-free Seafood

Moses says in Deuteronomy 14:9 and 10,

⁹ These you may eat of all that are in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat, ¹⁰ but anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

God prohibited the Israelites from eating scavengers. Shellfish were part of God’s wonderful creation, but they were called to eat the feces of other fish and filter the water to keep the oceans from becoming polluted. The sons of God were not to eat such creatures, because they were not to eat dung—even second-hand dung.

Jesus explained in Matthew 15 that the traditions of men are spiritual dung. When a preacher feeds on the word but does not follow the spiritual food laws, he misunderstands it. Without revelation that comes by meditation and the Holy Spirit’s witness, he can only teach the traditions of men. This is like dung. Dung is good food that has been processed by carnal man. Jesus said in Matthew 15:11,

¹¹ Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.

Then, because the disciples still did not understand what He was saying, Jesus explained it further in verses 17-20,

¹⁷ Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? ¹⁸ But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. ²⁰ These are the things which defile the man…

Jesus did not feed people spiritual dung. He fed them the true Word of God, giving them the understanding that the Holy Spirit revealed. We, too, can do the same, if we learn to eat clean spiritual food. We can even eat bad food (false teachings), for what goes into our mouths does not defile us. The purpose of meditation is to allow the Holy Spirit to filter that which is good from that which is not. That which is not edifying passes through the body and is eliminated.

The problem comes when the mouths of men become their dung gate. Dung has a proper outlet, and it is not supposed to be the mouth that we use to teach others. If a teacher uses the mouth to dispense food coming from his own carnal heart, it is unclean. It is dung. These are the traditions of men that defile people.

The sons of God live a different way of life. They know the ways of God, and they know how to eat clean spiritual food and avoid the dung that is so often taught.

Deuteronomy 14 shows us how to mature spiritually by eating dung-free food, especially when we study the laws of seafood.

So we are told that a clean fish has fins and scales. Fins are the guidance system for a fish. Scales are its defense. If we are to eat clean spiritual food from the sea of humanity (Revelation 17:15), we must first be guided by the Holy Spirit and also put on the armor of God.

We are not called to escape this world, but to subdue it and to rule it. Like Jesus, we are to walk on water and not be overwhelmed by the sea. We are called to be an influence for establishing godly culture and truth, rather than drown in the immorality and lies of the world. To do this, we must be led by the Spirit and put on the armor of God. Those who are not led by the Spirit will be led by the flesh.

Scales are the Armor of God

The armor of God is revealed in Ephesians 6:13-17,

¹³ Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Paul warns us to persevere and be alert (vs. 18), because there is much unclean food being served in the world’s buffet. If we are weak in any of our spiritual armor, this will be the spot where we will be wounded or be unable to deal with that which the world has to offer.

We must first know the truth. This is the belt of truth that girds our loins. Secondly, we must put on the breastplate of righteousness. In Exodus 28:29 it is called the breastplate of justice. This piece of armor has to do with being lawful in our dealings with mankind. The law was the original revelation concerning justice, and without some knowledge of the law, even Christians will occasionally fail in this area, for they will be products of the worldly culture of their peers, rather than of Kingdom culture.

Our feet must be prepared to preach the gospel of peace, rather than of war, as Isaiah 52:7 tells us,

⁷ How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation [Heb. yeshua], and says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

The previous verse says, “Therefore My people shall know My name.” The name of Yahweh is thus revealed in verse 7 as Yeshua. We will announce or proclaim Yeshua, if our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. As we mature spiritually, we ought to put on our shoes, walk on the sea of humanity, and give everyone the standard Hebrew greeting: Shalom, “Peace,” followed by the command, “Be still! Find rest!” (Mark 4:39).

We must also have the shield of faith at all times, knowing that we are in a battle against the restless sea of humanity. In this world we expect to see the flaming missiles of lies and false accusations hurled against us. Such missiles are not part of our weaponry, but our shield of faith protects us from those coming at us.

Faith is a way of life—not a single act, but a life of “faithfulness.” It is knowing who we are in Christ. If we are wounded by the accusations of others, our shield is too small and our faith is yet weak. Many people use their words as weapons to wound others. Some do it in ignorance, while others do it intentionally. Faith is not arrogance in thinking that we can do no wrong, but knowing our position in Christ. We know by revelation that the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us, making us legally perfect in the eyes of the divine law.

We must also put on the helmet of Yeshua, whose name means “Salvation.” In other words, we must recognize Jesus Christ (Yeshua) as our head. He is the One leading us and guiding us in all things. To have Yeshua as our “helmet” is to have Him as our Head, to follow all of His commands, and to renew our minds to think as He thinks.

Finally, Paul says that we are to take up the Sword of the Spirit. This is the only weapon that Paul puts into our hands. It is the word of God, both the written and the spoken word as we are led by the Spirit. Our Sword will be sharp if we live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). This includes the law, the prophets, the psalms, and the gospel of the New Testament.

Our divine armor is given to us because we are clean through the word which He has spoken to us. You see, man is naturally an unclean creature. We have no divided hoof, we do not chew the cud by nature, and we have no fins and scales. There is nothing in our physical makeup that makes us inherently clean creatures. The only way that we can be clean is by spiritual means through the word of God.

Hence, if we consume the word with the double witness, meditate upon it, are led by the Spirit, and put on the whole armor of God, we are then clean through the word which He has spoken to us by revelation.

Fins are Divine Guidance

Fins provide guidance for fish, but it is a little different for people. Scripture uses a different metaphor when teaching us divine guidance. God’s “reins” are pictured by our kidneys. The kidneys are our renal system, because they look like handles with reins. The Hebrew word for kidneys is kilyah, often translated “reins.”

A man riding a horse holds the reins to guide the horse. Psalm 7:9 says, “the righteous God tries [tests] the hearts and kidneys.” In other words, God is One who tests our hearts for righteousness, but guides us through our spiritual kidneys.

David says in Psalm 16:7, “my kidneys instruct me in the night.” Everyone has had to get up in the night to relieve the pressure on their kidneys. Hence, also, God often guided him by dreams or by revelation during the night.

In Psalm 26:2, David prays, “Examine me, O Lord, and try me; test my kidneys and my heart.” Our hearts are tested for righteousness (justice); our kidneys are tested in the area of divine guidance.

Isaiah 11:5 (KJV) speaks of the Messiah, saying,

⁵ And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins.

The sign of the Old Covenant was circumcision (loins), whereas the sign of the New Covenant is the circumcision of the heart. Righteousness is paired with the loins, because of its connection to the heart. Heart circumcision, then, has to do with righteousness, which includes justice, mercy, and grace.

Faithfulness is paired with the reins, or kidneys, because, as Paul says in Romans 10:17, faith comes by hearing and obeying the word—that is, by divine guidance. When we hear and obey God’s voice guiding us, we show our faith by being faithful to Him.

In summary, if we are in Christ, and have put on the helmet of Yeshua, then righteousness, or justice, will gird our loins as Truth (Ephesians 6:14), and faith will gird our kidneys as we hear His voice and are guided by the Spirit into all Truth (John 16:13).

This is the mark of a “clean” believer. This is the way of the sons of God.

Unclean Birds are Bloodthirsty

The third category of unclean food in Moses’ list is the birds of the air. Winged creatures represent spirit, as does the air, and so we must pay particular attention to this category. We are not to live by a bloodthirsty spirit. Deut. 14:11-18 gives us a list of unclean birds:

¹¹ You may eat any clean bird. ¹² But these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard, ¹³ and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds, ¹⁴ and every raven in its kind, ¹⁵ and the ostrich [Heb., yahanah, “daughters of the owl”], the owl, the sea gull, and the hawk in their kinds, ¹⁶ the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, ¹⁷ the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, ¹⁸ the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat.

The common characteristic of these birds is that they are birds of prey. Many were created to eat dead animals in order to prevent the spread of disease and the stench of rotting flesh on the ground.

For this reason, the NASB translation is incorrect when they include the ostrich in the list. An ostrich is a clean bird, for it is not a bird of prey. Gesenius says that the yahanah may be an extinct bird, but gives its literal meaning as “daughters of the owl.”

In verse 21, Moses briefly gives us the divine reason why those winged creatures were unclean: “You shall not eat anything which dies of itself.” Such things are the blood-filled food of the unclean birds and animals. Moses enlarges upon this reason in Lev. 17:10-15, where we are told not to consume blood. God created blood to atone for sin, not as a food to be consumed. This law applied not only to Israelites, but also to foreigners. Leviticus 17:12 says,

¹² Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, “No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.”

Many years later, in the first Church Council (recorded in Acts 15), this prohibition was upheld under the New Covenant (Acts 15:20), along with the law against fornication and idolatry. The official ruling was set forth in a document that is quoted in Acts 15:23-29, ending:

²⁸ For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: ²⁹ that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.

One cannot attribute this ruling to Jewish influence, but rather to the Holy Spirit, as it says. Nor should this be taken as a complete list of laws that Christians should follow; otherwise, we might take this to mean that theft and murder are now acceptable under the New Covenant. It should be understood that this Church Council dealt with just a few laws—primarily circumcision—which needed clarification so that the Church would know what non-Jews were expected to do.

Since the law required foreigners to refrain from consuming blood (Lev. 17:12), it was clear that this should constitute lawful behavior of Christians under the New Covenant as well. Yet physical circumcision was discarded, as it was decided that it was a sign of the Old Covenant.

Eating unclean birds represented eating spiritual food with a bloodthirsty attitude and spirit. The purpose of blood was to make atonement, that is, to cover of the sins of the people, whereas eating blood means that we expose the sins of others by accusation and often by violence. When men sin, those who are bloodthirsty sense the smell of blood and attack them like vultures or buzzards.

In Ezekiel 35:5, 6 Edom was condemned for being bloodthirsty:

⁵ “Because you have had everlasting enmity and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of the punishment of the end, ⁶ therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “I will give you over to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you.”

In other words Edom was in the habit of acting like unclean birds of prey. They did not avoid bloodshed, so divine judgment says that “bloodshed will pursue you.” Jesus put it another way in Matt. 26:52, saying, “all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.”

The way of life for the sons of God is to preach the word by the power of the Spirit in order to change the hearts of men—not to expose their sin for all to see. We read in 1 Peter 4:8,

⁸ Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

This does not mean sin should be covered up, for the law itself calls that a sin. It means that love is the way of life for the sons of God. When they approach one who has fallen, they approach him as Paul instructed in Galatians 6:1, 2,

¹ Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. ² Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.

This is the law of Christ, who taught us how to live lawfully and to walk in the Spirit.

Eating Insects

Moses continues in Deut. 14:19, 20,

¹⁹ And all the teeming life with wings [sherets, “creepers, swarmers, flying insects”] are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten. ²⁰ You may eat any clean bird.

Because Moses’ focus is upon the winged creatures of the air, he briefly mentions insects, but enlarges upon this further in his listing in Lev. 11:20-23.

²⁰ All the winged insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you. ²¹ Yet these you may eat among all the winged insects which walk on all fours: those which have above their feet jointed legs with which to JUMP on the earth. ²² These of them you may eat: the locust in its kinds, and the devastating locust in its kinds, and the cricket in its kinds, and the grasshopper in its kinds. ²³ But all other winged insects which are four-footed are detestable to you.

Locusts and grasshoppers contain only a very small quantity of food, but they are clean because they jump. Many sermons are preached today which have very little food value, but if they motivate a person to “jump” higher, the food is clean. The problem comes when preaching is designed to keep people crawling forever like ants, spiders, and spiritual babies.

There are many denominations and preachers who secretly do not want the people to grow spiritually, because they may cause problems and can challenge the leadership. Years ago I read a book counseling church leaders not to teach doctrines to people. The author said that if you teach one doctrine, you will divide the people in half; two doctrines will divide the people further, and by the time you teach the fourth doctrine, the church will be very small. His solution was to keep the people happy with motivational speeches, but to give them no real food to eat.

The food in that book is unclean, not necessarily because what they say is untrue, but because it does not promote spiritual growth or cause people to rise up or leap to new heights in the Spirit. The author counsels preachers to keep people spiritually ignorant and immature.

Giving Unclean Food to a Foreigner

Moses then says something in Deuteronomy 14:21 that is often misunderstood,

²¹ You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner [ger, “sojourner”], for you are a holy people to the Lord your God….

We have already seen from Lev. 17:12 that God forbids aliens living in Israel to eat blood. By extension, this would include not only blood but dead animals whose blood was not drained. Why, then, would Moses allow Israelites to sell such animals to “the alien who is in your town”? Is Moses contradicting himself? No, of course not.

To interpret this consistently with the character of God—as revealed in the law itself—we must understand that these aliens are not citizens of Israel but are sojourners, “just passing through town.” Canaan was the major trade route between Syria and Egypt, and so the roads often saw merchants passing through the land. For this very reason, the word Canaan means “merchant.” If such people wanted to settle down and become citizens of Israel, they were expected to follow the law of the land.

Hence, there are two kinds of aliens. There are those who live outside the land and follow the laws of other gods, and there are aliens living in Israel who have attached themselves to the covenant of the God of Israel and have agreed to abide by His law. The law allowed an Israelite to sell a blood-filled animal to an alien passing through, but the same law forbids an Israelite citizen, whether alien or not, from eating animals that died without being drained of blood.

This is no different from the law whereby Israelites were allowed to charge interest to a foreigner (Deut. 23:20). It was allowed only if the foreigner was a sojourner or non-citizen, because if he wished to live in Israel, then he was to be treated as other Israelites (Lev. 25:35-37). In Lev. 19:33 and 34 we read,

³³ When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. ³⁴ The foreigner who resides with you shall be to you as the native [Israelite] among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

Israelites were to love the non-Israelites “as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” Israelites were to remember how they were treated as aliens in Egypt. They knew how Egypt had treated them unequally, so they knew how it felt to be an alien in a foreign land. So they were to treat the non-Israelites as themselves, following the Golden Rule.

Again, we read in Deuteronomy 10:19,

¹⁹ So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

Furthermore, in the land of Israel where God’s law ruled, we find that there was to be equal justice for all—especially for the aliens who were most likely to suffer from unequal justice. Numbers 15:15 and 16 says,

¹⁵ As for the assembly [kahal, “church”], there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the Lord. ¹⁶ There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.

The entire spirit of the law, therefore, absolutely demands impartial and equal justice for all, regardless of their genealogy. Furthermore, the law was applicable to all men, whether Israelites or not. It is NOT the case that the law of Moses applied only to Israelites, while the so-called “Noahide laws” applied to non-Israelites. It is NOT the case that Israelites were held to a higher standard, or that Israelite genes made them more capable of abiding by the law, mind, and will of God. It is NOT the case that non-Israelites were spiritually inferior to Israelites and therefore incapable of understanding the higher truths of God.

And so, in light of the overall spirit of the law, I am confident of the meaning of Deut. 14:21. Animals that died by themselves, which still had retained its blood, could be given or sold to an sojourner who was not a permanent resident; but if a non-Israelite wanted to settle down and become a citizen of the Kingdom of God, he was expected to abide by the same laws that the Israelites followed.

Cooking and Eating a Nursing Lamb

The last portion of Deut. 14:21 reads,

²¹ … You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

This was a Hebrew idiom for not cooking or eating a lamb that was still nursing. However, according to The Jerome Bible Commentary, p. 111,

“This reference is to part of a religious ritual practiced in Canaan, the exact import of which escapes us. It occurs in an obscure Ugaritic text…”

We know too little about this aspect of Canaanite worship to be of help in understanding this verse. Was this prohibition purely a reaction against Canaanite worship? I do not believe that God reacts in such a manner to idolatrous practices of the Canaanites. Because “the law is spiritual,” as Paul says in Rom. 7:14, this law must contain some positive revelation of the mind of God.

We know that the lambs killed each Passover had been born the previous year, for they had to be a year old (Exodus 12:5). Why was this important? Certainly, Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb, was more than a year old when He fulfilled that feast. I believe it speaks of the age of accountability, or at least the age of communion.

Every animal that was slaughtered was considered a sacrifice on some level, even when it was only intended to be used as food for the family. Eating meat with others was thus an act of fellowship, i.e., communion. Thus, to kill and eat a lamb that was still nursing did not fit spiritually with the idea of communion, for a nursing baby is too young for such fellowship. Neither should they be offered communion (bread and wine), for they cannot understand its significance.

If the Canaanite practice was to eat nursing lambs, their religious practice denied or contradicted the mind of God insofar as this principle of communion was concerned. We know that it was also their practice to sacrifice innocent babies as well as nursing lambs. But the sacrifices in Scripture do not include the very young, whether they are lambs or babies.