So, Can I Eat Shrimp?
“These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you. You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.
In this section of Leviticus we read about the foods the nation of Israel could eat. There was a long list about the foods and it included those on the land, the sea and in the air. The description of what they could eat and not eat begs the question, “Why is God concerned about their menu selections?” This seems to be a little bit of “micro-management” on God’s part, doesn’t it? Several things should be noted when reading this passage:
1. The main reason for the restritions and guidelines about food is given by God, via Moses, in this verse:
For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
That should be enough to explain the “why.” But, there is more to explain God’s directives in these chapters.
2. The nation of Israel did not have refrigeration while living in tents in the wilderness. The 2-3 million people depended on both good sanitation and good nutrition to assure their physical safety. Many of the foods that they were commanded to refrain from eating would be almost impossible to keep pure and without diseases. God, by restricting them, was actually showing them grace to keep them healthy.
3. God did not intend these restrictions to continue throughout time. Although the religious leaders of Jesus day thought that they should, God only meant these nutritional laws to be enforce until the New Testament time of grace. Note:
Peter's Vision
The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 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 has made things clean now. He still wants us to be holy toward him, but the holiness toward him is now (and was then, as well) a matter of the heart. The ceremonial law of Leviticus no longer applies, but the reasons behind it does. God wants us to be holy toward Him and in the world and to be protected from things that could harm us. That is God’s grace, not Him being unfair and withholding from us a plate of shrimp.
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