Once
again, I am picking up with
my writings of what will be
occurring in the beginning
of the millennium under the
reign of Jesus Christ.
Last time we begin looking
into the laws of God that
will be taught by us to the
people of Israel and will be
enforced as a way of life in
the beginning of the
millennial years.
As
a side note, a few years
into the millennium, we will
be working with all of the
Gentile nations, but
Scripture reveals it first
has to begin with the nation
of Israel.
Last
time we touched on the 10
Commandments along with the
statutes and judgments, many
of which are largely ignored
today even though people may
read of them.
It
is my purpose in this and
future writings to continue
focusing more fully on the
statutes and judgments of
God of which some are little
known even among God’s
Church.
First,
I will touch on the
ones that are
well-known and obeyed by the
members of God’s true
Church, but as future
teachers now in training,
they are needed as a
refresher course:
The
Dietary Laws —
“Who
satisfies your mouth with
good things, so that your
youth is renewed as the
eagles” (Psalm 103:5).
God
is the Designer and Creator
of human beings.
Scripture reveals our
bodies, as well as our
minds, are wonderfully made.
In some ways our bodies can
be compared to any piece of
fine machinery, whether an
automobile, tractor, truck,
lawn tractor, or whatever.
With
anyone of these a manual
comes with it that makes
known how it should be care
for, the kind and weight of
oil that should be used, the
octane gasoline, and further
how often it should be
serviced to make possible
years of service.
So
it is with us. God has
so designed and fine-tuned
us, one could say, that like
any of the above we need to
make a careful selection
from His physical creation
of animals, fish, and birds,
for the meat we eat to
make possible longevity of
life with good health.
To
aid us, God has made known
in His Bible what we should
and should not eat.
Just
before God made known once
again to the people of
Israel His laws that
regulate the kind of meat
that is permissible for us
to eat with His blessings,
as opposed to the kind we
are not to eat that over
time would bring the penalty
of painful problems in the
form of arthritis or other
crippling disease, as well
as to lead to a death of
cancer, heart related
problems, or some other
terrible disease, He tells
us what kind of people we
are suppose to be to Him:
“You
are the children of the LORD
your God, .. For you are a
HOLY PEOPLE to the LORD your
God, and the LORD has CHOSEN
you to be a people for
Himself, A SPECIAL TREASURE
ABOVE ALL THE PEOPLES who
are on the face of the
earth” (Deuteronomy
12:1-2).
Please
note the following comment
from the Jewish Commentary
regarding the above
introductory Scripture and
the following that makes
known what God’s people
may eat and not eat:
Soncino
Commentary:,
Volume 1, Page 809
“The
two-fold purpose of the
dietary laws is clearly
defined. In the first
place, Israel is to be
‘holy’, i.e. distinct,
marked off from the other
peoples; and these laws
powerfully served to
maintain the separateness of
Israel. In the second
place, the creatures which
are forbidden as described
as ‘abominable things’
– in themselves loathsome
and undesirable as articles
of diet ..”
After
that introduction to this
chapter, God begins to make
known the kind of animals,
fish, and birds, He has
designed and brought into
existence for both the
enjoyment and nutritional
needs for His special
people, and in reality for
all humanity.
The
Scriptures that follow gives
us the major areas we are to
be looking for in regard to
what may be eaten with
God’s approval and
blessing as opposed to those
that are forbidden by Him.
(One should read all these
verses in their entirety,
along with Leviticus 11 for
added emphasis):
Verses
3-6 “You shall NOT eat any
detestable thing (loathsome
and undesirable for human
consumption, summary of
Leviticus 11). These are the
animals which you MAY eat:
the ox, the sheep, the goat,
the deer, the gazelle, the
roe, the deer, the wild
goat, the mountain goat, the
antelope, and the mountain
sheep. And you may eat EVERY
animal with cloven hooves,
having the hoof split into
two parts, and that chews
the cud, among the animals.
Verses
7-8 “Nevertheless, of
those that chew the cud or
have cloven hooves, you
shall NOT eat, such as
these: the camel, the hare,
and the rock hyrax, for they
chew the cud but do not have
cloven hooves; they are
unclean to you. Also the
swine is unclean for you,
because it has cloven
hooves, yet does not chew
the cud; you shall NOT eat
their flesh OR touch their
dead carcasses.
Verses
9-10 “These you MAY eat of
all that are in the waters;
you may eat ALL that have
fins AND scales. And
WHATSOEVER does NOT have
(both) fins and scales YOUR
SHALL NOT EAT; it is unclean
for you.
Verses
11-12 “All clean birds you
MAY eat. But these you
may NOT eat ...”
NOTE:
The Bible Story by Mr. Basil
Wolverton makes known how to
make the distinction between
the kinds of birds that are
clean and good to eat as
opposed to those we should
not eat.
Informative
Knowledge —
It
is both interesting and
edifying to learn and profit
by what some notable and
knowledgeable people have
discovered as to why the
animals, fish, and birds,
that are revealed to be
clean by God and therefore
beneficial to one’s health
are to have certain
qualities about them that
the unclean does not have as
we find in the following
comments:
CRITICAL
AND EXPERIMENTAL COMMENTARY,
Volume 1, Page 407
Leviticus
11:9 “These shall you eat
... whatsoever hath fins and
scales” – QUOTE: ‘The
fins and scales are the
means by which the
excrescences of fish are
carried off, the same as in
animals by perspiration. ...
but those that have no fins
and scales cause ... the
most malignant disorders
when eaten: in many cases
they prove a mortal
poison.’
It
is also revealing to read
the following comments
regarding the animals:
CRITICAL
AND EXPERIMENTAL COMMENTARY,
Volume 1, Pages 455-456,
Leviticus 11:3-7
“Whatsoever
parteth the hoof, and is
cloven-footed, and cheweth
the cud” – ‘Ruminating
animals, by the peculiar
structure of their stomachs,
digest their food more fully
than others. It is
found that in the act of
chewing the cud a large
portion of the poisonous
properties of noxious plants
eaten by them passes off by
the salivary glands.
This power of secreting the
poisonous effects of
vegetables is said to be
particularly remarkable in
cows and goats, whose mouths
are often sore, and
sometimes bleed,
inconsequence. Their
flesh is therefore in a
better state for food, as it
contains more of the
nutritious juices, and is
more easily digested in the
human stomach, and is
consequently more easily
assimilated. Animals
which do not chew the cud
and convert their food less
perfectly: their flesh is
therefore unwholesome, from
the gross animal juices with
which they abound, and is
apt to produce scrofulous (meaning:
having a diseased run-down
condition, relating to, or
affected with scrofula =
swellings of the lymph
nodes) disorders.
... In the case of animals
with parted hoofs, when
feeding in unfavorable
situations, a prodigious
amount of fetid matter is
discharged and passes off
between the toes; while
animals with undivided
hoofs, feeding on the same
ground, become severely
affected in the legs, from
the poisonous plants among
the pasture.”
A
note in passing: There are
11 animals named in this
chapter which are not
included in Leviticus and
Numbers. More names
were known after 40 years
away from Egypt.
God’s
Special People —
Though
God does not introduce
Leviticus 11, as He does
with this chapter: speaking
of us as His special
treasure, it still applies
for that is what we are
suppose to be – His
special people who are
called to live His Way of
Life. And He tells us such
toward the end of the
chapter:
“For
I am the LORD your God; you
shall therefore sanctify
(set self apart from all
others of the world)
yourselves , AND YOU SHALL
BE HOLY; ...”
(Leviticus 11:44).
Clarke
Commentary,
Volume 1, Pages 545-546
Leviticus 11:44
“You
shall be holy” – ‘And
this was THE GRAND DESIGN of
God in all these
prohibitions and commands;
for these external
sanctifications were only
the emblems of the internal
purity which the holiness of
God requires here, and
without which none can dwell
with Him in glory
hereafter.’
It
is really not in us to fully
grasp the awesome calling
and selection God has made
with Spiritual Israel, His
Church, today. However
we should be able to
understand enough to help us
realize all the more why we
should keep ourselves within
God’s holy and righteous
laws that do set us apart
from the world.
In
the new world all will
conform to the same
teachings and for the very
same reasons. And God has in
mind that we will be
teaching the peoples inside
the millennium all that we
are learning now.
Be
Discreet —
A
word of advice: As His
special and chosen people we
should not be concerned
about what other people
think of us when we in a
spirit of gentleness decline
a serving of steak that is
bacon wrapped or some type
of shell fish served in our
salad or whatever else is
served to us in a friend’s
home or in a restaurant.
Some
members have tactfully
declined by saying it does
not agree with them.
And it won’t, for it is
harmful to us as we have
seen by the above quotes and
those that will follow.
However if there happens to
be more than one of you in
the home then a further
explanation would need to be
given in a gentle and loving
manner.
Though
the temptation will be there
to make known what God has
to say about the subject, we
should avoid going into a
lengthy explanation to our
hosts unless it is asked
for, and even then say as
little as possible about why
we do not eat the whatever
it is for God has not yet
opened their minds to
understand as He has with
us. It will only create
tension and an impaired
relationship.
The Argument
About A Change —
With
some who are Protestant will
try and point out that these
laws have been changed in
the New Testament just as
they will say the same about
God’s Sabbath Day.
They
will mention Scriptures that
on the surface would
indicate they are right.
However when one studies the
Scriptures before and after
as well as keeping the
subject in context with
other Scriptures we can
easily see they have the
wrong understanding of what
those Scriptures really say.
In
this context, consider the
following points:
1)
We should remember God does
NOT change (Malachi 3:6).
He is the same yesterday,
today and forever (Hebrews
13:8).
2)
In actual fact one can see
that God will be destroying
those who eat swine flesh at
His coming (Isaiah 66:17).
3)
One should realize that God
did not re-create all of the
unclean to make them clean
in the New Testament anymore
than He changed the 7th Day
Sabbath to Sunday
observance.
The
following quotes make very
clear there has been no
change in God’s creation
of the animal kingdom. They
are still the same as they
were when created:
The
Hog, Should It Be Used For
Food,
Page 11-12, C Leonard Vories
“On
examining the swine’s
anatomy, we find that, as a
supplement to his bad
appetite [a scavenger] he
has but one poorly
constructed stomach
arrangement, and very
limited excretory organs
generally. Consequently, in
about three hours after it
has eaten his polluted
swill, putrid carrion, or
other offensive matter, man
may eat the same in
second-hand style off the
ribs of the pig.
“This
flesh the law condemns as
unclean; not merely
ceremonially as unclean, but
hygienically and
physiologically as well.
In the nature of tings it is
gross, diseased, and deadly;
manufactured out of the
basest and most diseased and
polluted material, and in
the crudest and speediest
way. The diet of a pig
is so deadly that it
generally kills the animal
itself in about eight to 10
years.
“If
you examine carefully you
will find a small abrasion
behind the front foot of the
pig. Rub it off and
press the leg above the
abrasion, and you may
squeeze a teaspoonful of
dirty matter from it.
This is original pork gravy.
It helps to drain off the
teeming filth with which the
system is filled.
“On
a close analysis of this
filthy scrofulous serum, or
the ‘culture’ of its
bacilli under varied
conditions, it is seen to
contain the elements of many
dangerous diseases and
combinations; yet how
toothsome is pickled pig’s
feet to ignorance, unbelief
and disobedience – The
Defender, pub. In Wichita,
Kansas., December, 1939
[With
this in mind perhaps we can
better understand why God
commands: “Also
the swine ... you shall NOT
eat their flesh OR TOUCH
their dead carcasses”
Deuteronomy 14:8]
Dr.
Thomas H. Nelson, wrote,
(page 11, same book):
“The
animals that chewed the cud
and divided the hoof, such
as the ox, sheep, goat,
deer, buffalo, etc., because
of the saculated condition
of the alimentary canal and
the secondary cud
receptacles, have
practically three stomachs,
as refining agencies and
cleansing laboratories, for
the purifying of their food;
thus weeding out from their
systems most of the
poisonous and deleterious
matter.
“It
thus takes clean, vegetable
food over 24 hours to be
turned into flesh. ... The
dietary habits of all such
vegetarian animals were also
clean, in comparison to the
omnivorous swine.”
Page
10, same book: “... many
will say that the hog is no
more filthy in its habits of
feeding than a chicken.
If this were true, there is
still a vast difference
between the digestive system
of a hog and that of a
chicken. The chicken
has two stomachs – the
glandular stomach and the
gizzard.
“One
writer says, ‘The clean
bird has a stomach or
gizzard with a double skin
which can easily be
separated. (Examples
are the chicken, the turkey,
and certain species of ducks
and goose. Careful
examination of vultures,
hawks, eagles, ... reveals
they do not have such a
gizzard.)
“Knowing
these facts about the
chicken, we might believe
the Creator permitted it to
be used for food because it
has a digestive system
something like that of clean
beasts – a digestive
system more capable of
eliminating impurities from
the food eaten than in the
digestive system of the
unclean animals.”
With
all this in mind science has
not shown where there has
been a new creation of the
unclean by Christ in the New
Testament. They still
are the same as they were
when they were created by
God.
For
example – visit any hog
pen and you will find under
most circumstances the hog
has never lost his dirty,
unclean nature (II Peter
2:22).. He still proves
himself a scavenger in every
way.
I
have used lengthy quotes in
order to help the reader to
more fully understand WHY
God commands us not to eat
the unclean and it is my
hope that they will prove to
be helpful in increasing the
understanding of all of you
who will be reading this.
In
Conclusion —
Since
I have devoted so much space
to the Dietary Laws I will
break off here and hope to
continue next time with the
statutes and judgments that
God tells us we are to
REMEMBER and OBEY them.
I
really feel this is needed
for we should well realize
WHY God commands us what to
eat or what not to eat.
Where
we do fully understand no
one will ever be able to
convince you they are now
all right to eat, plus, you
will be able to teach with
understanding these laws to
the people of Israel in the
millennium, as well as your
children now..
Please
take care and keep close to
God.
Our
love and prayers,
Don
Billingsley
There
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