Episode 5: Leviticus: Time for a new diet? Chapter 11
What can food teach us about holiness? Far more than dietary rules, Leviticus 11 unveils a daily vision of belonging to God and living differently.
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Why are verses 44-45 so crucial in our understanding of this chapter?
Read Mark 7:14-23, and Acts 10:9-23. How do these verses help you you go hooray for Jesus?
In what way does Leviticus 11 help you to consider what it looks like to be increasingly holy with every part of life?
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The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Felicity: Welcome to the Two Sisters in a Cup of Tea podcast, where we believe Bible study belongs in everyday life. In just 20 minutes over tea and biscuits, we open up God's Word together, working through one Bible book each season, not simply to learn more but to let it transform our hearts. This season we're exploring Leviticus. Whether you're a faithful listener or you've only just discovered us, welcome. And this season has been made possible by the generous partnership of our listeners. We are so grateful for every one of you for helping us keep the kettle on.
Sarah: Welcome to Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea. My name is Sarah, I live in the UK. I'm with my sister Felicity who lives in the US and today we are in Chapter 11 of Leviticus. Felicity, we've got a lot of clean, unclean food going on here. What's your take on clean eating biscuits? Is there such a thing?
Felicity: Is that a contradiction in terms? Because can a biscuit really be clean? I was thinking, well, there's definitely the kind of you know, you could buy a biscuit packet that says organic. It might even say the word clean, but the very fact of it being a biscuit is it's likely got a lot of sugar in. Also if it doesn't have the sugar, I'm not sure it's worth your time, really. Is it skillless to let a biscuit?
Sarah: Is it still a biscuit? a biscuit for all our American listeners being that sweet treat on the side of your cup of tea. Yes, I'm not sure a clean eating biscuit works as thing. Maybe there's a new marketing ploy just there though to try and come up with it.
Felicity: Yeah. Probably it's when you see it's probably when you see some kind of strange ingredient in there, like it's made using cauliflower or something. You know, that kind of like as a as a gluten-free person I find that there's some strange ingredients that pop into things you're not really expecting. But I don't know whether that counts as clean or just strange. Anyway.
Sarah: Yeah, I don't think so, just strange. Yeah. So we're in, we're getting into a part of Leviticus that does feel strange. Because it's a lot of unclean, clean food and we don't quite know what to do with it. There's a lot of preconceptions, there's a lot of misconceptions about this part of God's law, the law in general, maybe we could say. From what we've seen in Leviticus so far, how how has that helped you as you've approached chapter 11?
Felicity: I think that, and this is true, I think, of most Bible books, that as you get a feel for the wider context, as you see a chapter or a passage or even a genre actually. So if we're thinking about law as a whole, if you just take law, Old Testament law, out and kind of try and examine it outside of its original context, then I think it is really hard to understand what's going on there and especially with all the cultural differences and the the illusions that we don't understand because of where we are in comparison to where they are. But as you put it back into context and we find this again and again don't we that as we're walking through a Bible book. So chapter 11 coming off the back of chapter eight through 10 really helps and therefore, it's not so much about what do I do with all these different individual instructions? But as I've been reading and rereading and thinking on and putting it into its original context in that sense, what do I actually do with chapter 11 in the context of the whole book? And that's just changed things quite a lot, actually.
Sarah: Yes and I think because we've seen a beautiful picture of God's heart so far through the book of Leviticus, we've seen his provision, we've seen his grace all the way through, that inclines my heart to want to listen more to what he's going to say because I trust him and I trust that that's not going to change his heart for us, his people isn't going to change just because we're getting into slightly different territory here and I think that yeah. That works the whole way through the Bible, doesn't it? So it's helpful to come to an unfamiliar and challenging part of scripture, just remembering who God is, remembering his heart, remembering his character as we come to this. Felicity, you're going to read the whole of chapter 11 for us?
Felicity: I am, here we go, chapter eleven.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Say to the Israelites, of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat. You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof, it is ceremonially unclean for you. The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof, it is unclean for you. The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof, it is unclean for you. And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses, they are unclean for you. Of all the creatures, living in the water of the seas and the streams, you may eat any of that have fins and scales. But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales, whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water, you are to regard as unclean. And since you are to regard them as unclean, you must not eat their meat. You must regard their carcasses as unclean. Anything living in the water does not have fins and scales is to be regarded as unclean by you. These are the birds you are to regard as unclean, and not eat because they are unclean. The eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the grey owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopo and the bat. All flying insects that walk on all fours to be regarded as unclean by you. There are, however, some flying insects that walk on all fours that you may eat, those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. Of these you may eat any kind of locust, cricket, cicada, or grasshopper. But all other flying insects that have four legs you are to regard as unclean. You will make yourselves unclean by these. Whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. Whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. Every animal that does not have a divided hoof or that does not chew the card is unclean for you. Whoever touches the carcass of any of them will be unclean. Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you. Whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. Anyone who picks up their carcasses must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. These animals are unclean for you. Of the animals that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. The weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wool lizard, the skink, and the chameleon. Of all those that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean till evening. When one of them dies and falls on something, that article, whatever its use, will be unclean, whether it's made of wood, cloth, hide, or sack cloth. Put it in water. It will be unclean till evening, and then it will be clean. If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean, and you must break the pot. Any food you're allowed to eat that has come into contact with water from any such pot is unclean, and any liquid that is drunk from such a pot is unclean. Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean, an oven or cooking pot must be broken up. They are unclean, and you are to regard them as unclean. A spring, however, or a system for collecting water remains clean, but anyone who touches one of these carcasses is unclean. If a carcass falls on any seeds that are be planted, they remain clean. But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, it is unclean for you. If an animal that you are allowed to eat dies, anyone who touches its carcass will be unclean till evening. Anyone who eats some of its carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. Anyone who picks up the carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening. Every creature that moves along the ground is to be regarded as unclean, it is not to be eaten. You're not to eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet, it is unclean. Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures, do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them. I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God. Therefore, be holy because I am holy. These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves about in the water, and every creature that moves along the ground. You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.
Sarah: Thank you, Felicity. Well done. Some cool animals going on in there. A Hoopoe and a Skink and whatever else. I don't even know what they are. But the big thing here is to... well we need to see this in context as you were saying before. Chapters 11 through to 15 deal with impurity, uncleanness. Chapter 11 deals with preventable uncleanness and chapters 12 to 15 deal with unpreventable impurity. So I think it's just helpful to kind of make that distinction and the kind of driving force behind all of this chapter comes right at the end of the chapter. So if I just read that for us again from 11 verse 44 it says, I am the Lord your God, consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt be your God therefore be holy because I am holy. So that big driving force, that motivation for all of this for them is the Lord's holiness. We've been beginning to see that all the way through Leviticus haven't we? And here there's very specific commands with how to maintain holiness.
Felicity: And that's been the drive all the way through is this holy God and an unholy people. So the instructions we've had in terms of sin, intentional, and intentional, that is all about as well enabling a holiness despite being sinful and unholy. And I think the unfamiliar term here is clean and unclean. But to put it into that category of if you are unclean, you are not able to be in the presence of clean. Clean is kind of almost consecrated almost holy, isn't it? And so unclean is a problem. And so what we have here, again, remembering the character of God, remembering his pursuit of his people to be able to be in relationship with him. All these instructions, and however unfamiliar and alien they feel to us, are a means, a provision by which an unclean people, an unholy people, could be in the presence of a holy God. And and as we go in with that kind of mindset, that understanding, this rather than being a burdensome, kind of slightly hard thing to read, what are all these creatures? What's why the why? Like, why these rules? Actually, we come into it thinking this is a grace, this is a gift that God would be enabling us.
Sarah: Yes and he's marking out his people isn't he? He's providing a way for them to be known as followers of Yahweh. In a similar way that you would, you know that a vegetarian doesn't eat meat, you know that God's people here don't eat various types of animals, they know what's clean and what's not clean, they would be known by their diet wouldn't they? It would depend on a way of marking them out. And I think so I mean the repetition, while you're reading that through, it's just so clear, it? There's so and the highlighting all the unclean, unclean, unclean, unclean. There's so much in here. But there's also a lot of carcass and death there's that it seems to be connected. The words unclean and carcass and dead and die. They seem to be kind of with one another. There's a connection between being unclean and and death therefore there's a connection between cleanliness and life and that again what we've been saying the whole way through actually the Lord is doing this to protect the people, to give them life, to guard their lives and I think that's just been it's been as I've been kind of just reading and rereading again that repetition has really helped kind of make that distinction.
Felicity: Yeah. Yes. And this then is is important because life is really desirable. I mean it's it's just it's just really helpful to sort of seeing that in in the kind of the big the big picture. For the people at the time, this is not as well, this is not a moral issue. Like it's not like you're suddenly just a totally sinful and beyond hope because you've touched a dead carcass. This is something that is gonna happen and we're gonna see that later on in the book as well. Uncleanness happens through actually just normal parts of life, and there's a means being given here by which we'd be moved from unclean to clean. Now, Sarah, as we've been in Leviticus, one of the things that's just the light bulbs that has gone off for us is just beginning to see echoes of Genesis, especially the opening of Genesis in this book. Now, we're hesitant to kind of bring in a whole nother book of the Bible, because very aware that that is can that can be confusing. But do you want to just help us kind of just begin to see those echoes? Because we think that really does help to understand the book as a whole.
Sarah: Yeah, I think this is one of those things where the more that we've seen it, the more we've gone, wow, okay, let's see what's going on here. So at the beginning of Genesis, we see the Lord split the animals into land, sea and air creatures, don't we? And we also see him in Genesis chapter two, and he says to the people, you may eat. And just with those phrases in mind, we've got in this chapter, animals being split into land, sea and air creatures. Leviticus 11 verse 3, you may eat. So we've got those kind of huh, the people would be thinking, huh this feels familiar. Genesis 2 verse 17, you must not eat. And then Leviticus 11 verse 8, you must not eat so we've got this kind of pattern that's forming in this chapter that the people would be wholly familiar with because they have been told the stories and they've been steeped in these stories. And so it would have been very familiar for them. I think that what kind of really kind of brought that home for us both as we talking about this was then later on in chapter 11, go down to verse 42 and it says, are not to eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it moves on its belly and that very specific language that is only actually used in Genesis 3 to describe Satan, to describe the snake. Just, okay, so we've got this kind of climax moment that seems to be something around the snake, something around disobedience versus obedience, and the Lord, the Lord gently, I think, just helping Israel to kind of see themselves in Adam's shoes so I think, and the commentators have helped us to kind of draw this out, but actually they've got an opportunity here. Which way they gonna go? Are they gonna be obedient to his call or are they gonna be disobedient to his call in terms of what they eat and how they then are faithful to his commands? Do you wanna add anything else on that?
Felicity: And I think as we, along with Israel, begin to hear that and see that and those familiar kind of Genesis one through three kind of ideas kind of begin to burbble along the surface here, what is going on is that the means by which all this these commands that that what is it to be obedient, what is it to be set apart, what is it to be holy, what is it to have life? Actually, this is not just just a means of just doing life now. Actually, almost he's putting into picture a restoration of what the people had in Eden. And one of the what possibly the primary thing in Eden was to be in the presence of God. When Adam and Eve sinned, they got kicked out of the garden, kicked out of the presence of God. And so this, as I think that's a really good way of putting it, they have a choice. Choosing obedience, choosing to follow these commands, choosing to be holy, that is a means by which you might return to the presence of God, which is the most desirable thing, like the most desirable thing for humanity to be in the presence of God. And I think then as we begin to see that, what we've realized is, well, wow. This isn't just about clean, unclean, random rules, like mixed cloth, whatever it may be.
Sarah: No, this is faithfulness. This is about faithfulness to the Lord, isn't it? So he's giving food as a marker of their fidelity to God's commands here. As it was in the garden, he's also doing it here. so, and food is one of those things where they have to think about it three times a day, don't they? Like this is a very present kind of thing through the day, like, I've got to think about this at every point and therefore I've got it, my mind's got to be shifted back to the Lord and just remember I'm going to be faithful to him in this. So yeah I think that's been really striking. Of course we've not got much time but Felicity, Jesus then says what to the food thing?
Felicity: Well, yeah, exact a absolutely. So if you're thinking, no, I'm not gonna get into the presence of God without following all these instructions, no no no. Go to the New Testament, have a look at Mark seven, Acts ten. We are very clearly told that in the new covenant, under Jesus, we are not under these same instructions. What we are under is a call to obedience, a call to holiness, a call to be set apart. And as we do that, as we seek to pursue that, then would we be in the presence of God. But even more than that, actually, not through our obedience do we gain the presence of God. Through Jesus' obedience, through the cross, through through his, what he has done, we are then able to be in the presence of God. And so we are called to be holy as He is holy. 1 Peter 1 15 through 16 kind of quotes this very verse that we've got here. So the call is still to be holy, the call is to obedience to be set apart but through Christ, in Christ, under Christ, we have life in that way. And so the food thing, as you were saying, that's something they'd have to think about so many times a day. Actually there is a kind of theology here of all of life obedience, like a kind of every aspect of who we are, including the food, the kind of the way we do life, I think.
Sarah: And there are a number of New Testament commands, aren't there, that talk about food, that talk about what it looks like to love our neighbour with food, not to eat in excess, to be generous, to be hospitable. There are things that we need to think about in relation to food, aren't there, but they're not our means of access to the Lord. That is all through the Lord Jesus who makes us clean, who cleanses us and presents us as a radiant, cleansed, renewed church as His holy people as we saw in Ephesians last time. I think it's as we think about food, as we think about these things on all of life, that's out there overflow of hearts that have already been cleansed, we've already been renewed, we've already been given everything that we need in the Lord Jesus so yeah so whistle stop tour that isn't it I mean there's so much to say but I think we've we've touched on something of where we've got to reading this chapter and wanting to not skim over the chapter i think that's been our priority we've wanted to kind of just go here and sit in it and not just think right it's just kind of scrap that we've wanted to kind of really think through God's heart and value behind what's going on. And we hope some of that has come across.
Felicity: Yeah, I think that's right. And but I think it's a grower as well, isn't it? Because we are going to encounter laws again. And I we would just really encourage you to read all of Leviticus. And I know that feels intimidating and and maybe if you haven't done that before, that's quite a hard kind of how can I do that? But it's really worth, as we've been talking about, reading it in all in context. So don't just you know, hit read the chapters that we're reading out loud. Actually give yourself some time and and give it a go, read through the whole thing. And hopefully, our conversations are just starting to give you a framework by which you might be able to think about it for yourself and to to dig into it.
Sarah: Yeah, you want to pray for us, Felicity, to that end?
Felicity: Yeah. Absolutely. Heavenly Father, we praise you that you are a holy God and that you call us to be holy, but you give us a means to be holy. We praise you for what this chapter shows us of your character. We praise you for Jesus. We praise you that in Him we are clean and that in him and by your grace, through your spirit, we are able to live holy lives in obedience to you. Father, thank you for life in Christ. And we want to be those who live holy unto you. So Father, help us to be obedient, help us to choose your way. Again and again, we pray that we would be very much for your glory. Amen.
Sarah: Amen. Well, we will be getting on to more unclean and clean things next week as we hit chapters 12 through 15. Before then, if you haven't already, do sign up for our newsletters. Our monthly brew is for when you want to slow down over a cup of tea once a month. And our weekly biscuit, that's your practical and timely roundup of all the week's resources direct into your inbox. Do sign up for those in the show notes. And we will look forward to seeing you next time for chapters 12 to 15. Again we won't read all of it out loud but please do read all of it because you'll benefit so much more if you do that. We'll see you then. Goodbye.
Felicity: We'll see you then, and we're just so thankful to the listeners for enabling this episode to happen.
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