Theological Commentary: Click Here
The words “you
shall be holy, for I am holy” should rise above all else in this chapter. If we lose sight of these words, we fall into
the trap of turning this chapter into a study of God and meat related
diseases. If we forget the holiness of
God, we see these laws simply as God’s means of protecting His people from
things like trichinosis and other diseases and worms. While that is a nice side benefit, I don’t
think that is primarily God’s concern as these words are penned.
God is
holy. Holy is a word that means
different. God is different in nature,
and He calls us to be different in our nature as well. When God tells His people to not eat certain
meats – such as the pig – He is separating the people from the world. He is creating a visible reminder that they
are not like the rest of the world.
I don’t
think it has much to do with the pig itself – or any other animal on the
list. After all, these are a people who
were regularly killing herd animals.
They were eating cattle, goats, and sheep with consistency. What’s the difference between killing a pig
and eating it versus killing a cow and eating it?
Furthermore,
remember that in Acts, Jesus tells Peter that He has made all things
clean. Jesus tells Peter to go ahead and
eat the things that used to be off limits.
This tells us that God doesn’t really have an issue with these
animals. God is doing something
different. God is setting the people
apart. God is giving them dynamic places
in their life that reminds them that they are not like the people in the rest
of the world.
In Christ,
we have something bigger to remind us that we are different than the food that
we eat. We have a sacrificial
mindset. We have a life that looks first
to serving others while the rest of the world looks to serve itself first. The point of this chapter – and the point of
relationship with God in the first place – is simple: “You shall be holy, for I
am holy.” Drawing close to God fundamentally
changes who we are.
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