Leviticus 14-15

by Jill Ice

Question: What were God's reasons for declaring some food clean and some unclean, or certain conditions such as childbirth and leprosy unclean?

Lots of reasons have been offered.  Perhaps there is symbolism in the choice of animals.  The clean animals represented virtues, the unclean vices.  Or maybe the unclean animals were the ones that the godless countries around Israel used in their pagan worship.  Others argue that certain animals, creatures, or certain conditions were unclean because they were literally unclean.  They were unhealthy and lacked hygiene.  But all of a sudden, in Acts 10, God told Peter that he could eat everything, that God had declared all these animals clean. Did they suddenly become healthy, too?

I wonder if some of the Israelites questioned God’s laws and the meaning behind them also.  Maybe some of the laws didn’t make sense to them either. Later we are told that God explains that He wanted them to be a holy, set-apart people for His purpose. 

Do you find yourself sometimes questioning the reason or legitimacy of what God has called Christians to follow?  It doesn’t make sense that if you want to be first, you must be last.  It is not very logical if you want to have wealth that you should give.  We are at times tempted to compromise our ethics due to the cultural norm.  It’s easy to follow when the teachings make logical sense or are generally accepted by those around us, but when God asks us to have faith it is a test of confidence in God.  Faith and obedience is the common thread.  It is what transcends all cultures and all generations.