Tag Archive | Dietary laws

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 75 & 76

Mar17
Sunday/Monday’s Posts are published on Monday.
Day 75 – 76.  Reading Deuteronomy 14-16 and 17-20. 
 

Read today’s scripture.

What do you learn NEW about God’s goodness?

Who can you share that with today?

Deuteronomy 14.

  Moses reviews the clean and unclean food rules and the tithing of all their flocks and herds. And also the REASON Israel is to live so differently from other peoples.

  • “You are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

Deuteronomy 15.

Moses reminds them of the reasons and details of the Sabbatical years, specifically about the release of the borrowers or the indentured from the previous six years.  The lenders are not to harden their hearts concerning the poor but to open their hands to him and lend him sufficient for his needs.

“There shall be no “unworthy” thoughts or begrudging when the 7th year comes. You shall open wide your hand to your brother, the needy, and the poor in your land.  For the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and all that you undertake.”

“And for the indentured, when you let him go free from you, you shall NOT let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally from your flock, threshing floor, and winepress. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.”

“It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired servant, he has served you six years!”

Deuteronomy 16.

Moses reviews the three most important Festivals they are to observe. (These are when all the men of Israel must journey to the place God appoints (Jerusalem, later) every year. God promised that if they were faithful to do this, he would allow no one to invade their homes and land while they were away or even desire to do it.  Exodus 34:23-24)  

  • Passover, to remember how God freed them from slavery in Egypt.
  • Feast of Weeks – at the first cutting of the spring harvest, to thank God for all His provision.
  • Feast of Booths – at the fall harvest, to remember how God cared for them in the wilderness. 

They were also to appoint righteous judges and officers in all their towns who would judge the people with righteous judgments. None of them should ever accept a bribe. 

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Deuteronomy 17.

Moses strongly cautioned them NOT to do anything in any way to worship falsely as the pagan nations did. The death penalty was to be evoked in that case.

If there are cases of criminal offenses that they can’t decide on their own, they are to take the matter to the priests (at Jerusalem, later), who will decide. THEN, they must obey that verdict.

About kings:  Even before Israel entered the land, God knew that they would desire, no, demand, a king. So here are some basic laws concerning them.  They are allowed to set a king over themselves – but one that the LORD chooses.

  • The king must be from their own people (no foreigners). 
  • He must not acquire many horses (an army to depend on instead of his God) and especially not go to Egypt to get them. NEVER shall they go to Egypt again.
  • And the king must not acquire many wives for himself (a sign of “deals” sealed with other nations). 
  • He shall also not acquire excessive silver and gold for himself.  (Yikes! These are just what King Solomon did!!)
  • And when he sits on the throne, he must write a book for himself, a copy of the Law.
  • He shall read from that Law book all the days of his life so that:
  • 1) he will keep the words and statutes of the Law,
  • 2) his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers,
  • 3) he will not turn aside from the commandments to the right or left,

Deuteronomy 18.

Moses reminds them that the Levites have no inheritance in the Promised Land; only cities with a bit of pastureland on which to live.  And so, Israel is to support them with their offerings and gifts.

Israel must NOT, EVER, learn and follow the “abominable practices” of the pagan nations.  And anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter, practices divination, fortune-telling, or is a sorcerer, a charmer, a medium, or a necromancer shall be killed.  Israel must be blameless before the LORD their God.

Then, that wonderful prophecy!  God will one day raise up a “Prophet” like Moses from among them, and Israel is to listen to Him.  God will put His words in His mouth and He will speak to them all God commands Him. “And whoever will not listen to My words that He shall speak in my name, I, Myself will require it of him.”   (Refer to Acts 3:22-23, 7:37 and John 1:21, 25, 43-45, 6:14 and 7:40)

Deuteronomy 19.

Moses then reviews the importance and use of the Cities of Refuge in the land. Initially, there would be three, but three more would be added as their conquest expanded.  These were escape cities for ones guilty of accidental manslaughter and not premeditated murder.

The people were always to be aware of and to respect their neighbor’s property lines.

In cases of criminal activity, there must be two or three witnesses to the deed. (One will not suffice.) And where two parties are malicious towards each other, then both parties shall appear before the priests and judges.  And they shall not pity in these cases. “It shall be a life for a life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

Deuteronomy 20.

When Israel prepares to fight their enemies, they are not to be afraid, because the LORD their God is with them.  “For it is the LORD your God  who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.“

God gives exemptions to some for NOT going out to war:

  • any man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it,
  • any man who has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed the fruit from it,
  • any man who has betrothed a wife and has not consummated the marriage,
  • and any man who is fearful and fainthearted (lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own.)

After defeating their enemies who live far off, they are to “enjoy the spoil which the LORD their God has given to them.”

But to the cities that the LORD has given them for an inheritance, they shall utterly destroy them and any spoil, that “they may not teach you all their abominable practices.”

Curiously, when they besiege a city for a long time, they are NOT to destroy its fruit trees by cutting them down for ramparts, etc. (God asks, “Are they human that they should be besieged by you?”) They must spare them, but they can eat from them.  Only non-food trees may be used for siege works against the city. 

**** LORD, thank you for being concerned with every aspect of our lives and for showing us how to live holy in your sight.

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 47 & 48

Feb17

Days 47 & 48.  Reading Leviticus 11 – 13 and Leviticus 14 – 15. 

Read the scripture for today. What do you learn about God? Share what you learn with others.

Leviticus 11.

God gives Israel dietary laws about clean and unclean creatures.

  • To keep them distinct from other nations? 
  • To make socializing with idolatrous people difficult?
  • To keep them healthy?
  • To test their obedience to God? 
  • Maybe all of the above.

In general they were to eat only animals that had parted hooves, cloven feet, AND chewed the cud. If the creature had only one or the other, they were not clean to eat. Animals with paws were not clean. No animal that had died of unknown causes was to be eaten.

For sea creatures, they could only eat finned and scaled fish. No shell fish.

For fowl/poultry, only those that ate grain & bugs, nothing that ate carrion (road kill).

And the edible insects (yes, bugs!) had to have wings AND jointed legs so they could “hop” on the ground. These include locusts and grasshoppers and excluded ants, bees, and spiders. 

No rodents or reptiles were clean to eat.

“For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”   “This is the law about beast, bird, and every living creature on earth, in the water, or that swarms in the air, to make a distinction between the clean and unclean; to be eaten or not eaten.”

Leviticus 12.

God gives purification laws for women after childbirth. It is related to the blood and afterbirth, and not the child. As in menstruation, a woman shall be “unclean” for 40 days after the birth of a male child. (At the 8th day, the boy baby shall be circumcised.)  After these “days of purification” she shall bring a Burnt Offering to the priest, depending on how much she can afford. Then she will be clean.

She will remain “unclean” for 80 days after the birth of a daughter. (Perhaps because the daughter will then be able to give birth later in life.)  Both the 40 days and the 80 days give the woman’s body rest from the possibility of conception.

Leviticus 13.

This chapter is necessary, and puts priests in the position of being doctors concerning skin disease. If they follow these guideline, they will be able to distinguish between what is contagious (and therefore unclean and to be avoided, such as leprosy), and what is harmless, nothing to worry about (such as boils and pimples).  I do not envy this portion of their priestly duties. Some instances must be really gross. But God desires holy, clean people, in body, soul and spirit. 

To be “unclean” does not mean God rejects a person. It is only for health reasons that they are to be separated from the body of Israel… and for a time until they are healed, or maybe always.

Curiously, garments of wool, linen or leather can also be contaminated by the discharge of contagious diseases, and must be washed, or even burned to prevent the spread.

..

Leviticus 14. 

CAUTION: Don’t read or listen to these next two chapters while eating!

First praise! This chapter gives hope to lepers because it tells what you must do to “prove” you have been cleansed. Cleansing (healing, remission) IS POSSIBLE! Hallelujah!

First, the priest must go outside the camp where the leper lives and check him. If the leprosy looks like it’s gone, the priest will command them (friends, family, or other priests?) to bring a pair of clean birds, with cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop. One bird is killed over a clay vessel with fresh water. The live bird, wood, yarn, and hyssop are then dipped in the blood. Then live bird is released and the blood is sprinkled seven times on the cleansed person. After that, he has to shave off all his hair, wash his clothes, and bathe himself. And he is … CLEAN!

He can come into the camp but must not enter his family tent for seven days. On the eighth day, he is to bring two male lambs, a ewe lamb, a grain offering, and oil to the priest. These are for the sin, guilt, and burnt offerings. The priest will take some of the blood and the oil and put it on the ex-leper’s right ear lobe, thumb, and big toe. After this atonement, the priest will pronounce him “CLEAN.”

NOTE: In Luke 17:11-14, when Jesus healed the lepers, He told them to first “Go show themselves to the priest.” This is what these men had to do.

This chapter also covers “leprosy” (or dangerous mold) found in their house once they are in the Promised Land. The remedies include tearing out and replacing the plaster and stones, or even tearing down the entire house and disposing the materials in an unclean place! Appropriate sacrifices were then made to make atonement for the house.

Leviticus 15.

This chapter is about “Bodily Discharges,” both the natural and unnatural kinds. It details ways the people had to deal with them. The priests also had to have checklists for their diagnoses. Hygiene and health were super important in a desert camp crowded with people (and later when living in cities).

“Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling My Tabernacle that is in their midst.”