And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “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.
Truth: God demands holiness in all that we do.
In the above text we have the instruction of God, through Moses, about dietary laws and regulations. In the verses in chapter eleven God was not trying to restrict the nation of Israel from eating a great bacon-cheese-burger, as much as He was preventing them from being made sick by certain food items for those particular days and to make them distinct from their neighbors. God knew that in the roaming in the desert there were certain foods that would not be healthy for them, nor would be able to be kept clean and free from diseases from them. He also knew that to keep them separate from the other nations, that would include how and what they ate. At the end of the chapter, God gives the reason for the dietary rules and laws:
Leviticus 11:44a
For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.
These laws are why Daniel, even in captivity stood his ground and asked to be excused from the eating of items that God had forbidden him to eat from this passage:
Daniel 1:8
But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
In the book of Acts, Peter is challenged with the eating of these types of food, because God removed the restriction to demonstrate His love for all kinds, i.e. the Gentiles. When seeing animals of all types, forbidden foods, ascend from heaven Peter was told by God to eat them, which perplexed Peter. It is no doubt he knew the instructions of Leviticus 11 and, yet, this is what God said to him:
Acts 10:13-15
And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”
God is concerned about all aspects of our holiness. In the day of the nation of Israel that holiness was manifested in "what" they ate. Later God would change that manifestation. In Christ it became about "why" we eat. Note the passage Paul writes to the church at Corinth about eating meat that was sacrificed to idols previously ... should we eat it?
1 Corinthians 8:10-13
For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
God is concerned about our holiness ... but that is manifested differently by God. In our day it is less about "what" we eat and more about "why" we eat. He still demands that we are holy, however.
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