Clean and Unclean Meats

Clean and Unclean Meats William H. Shea Former Associate Director Biblical Research Institute December 1988 Introduction The law on clean and unclean animals in the Pentateuch divides all animals into two groups: clean which can be eaten, and unclean which are not to be eaten. This law has been followed by many Jews for thousands of years. It has also been accepted as a rule to follow by some Christians. Other Christians, undoubtedly the majority, believe that this law is not binding upon them in this era and that this law has been abrogated for Christians. It is the purpose of this study to evaluate the various texts of the Bible which address this matter and evaluate them to determine just what response should be given in this regard. In order to live, every human being has to eat. Thus the consumption of nutritional elements is a very personal matter. As such it is also a matter upon which various and strong opinions are held. The Bible does not avoid addressing such matters, however, just because human beings may be opinionated about it. On the contrary, the Bible makes a direct address to the way in which human beings live in almost every area of life, including the nutritional one. Thus we find dietary laws in the Bible, and to the one who takes the Bible seriously, these dietary laws must also be taken seriously, regardless of what one ultimately does with them. From these initial observations a number of questions arise. Some of these questions revolve around the origin, nature, and authority of these biblical dietary laws. Are they of divine or human origin? At what time did they originate? Why were they given? What was the motivation and purpose of these laws? Are they moral, ceremonial, or hygienic laws? Are they an outgrowth of some primitive religious customs which the Hebrews borrowed from some other culture? Were these laws only for Jews, or should Christians also observe them? Did either Jesus or his apostles abolish these laws for the Christian Church? While time and space do not permit exhaustive answers to these questions, the more important of them are addressed below through the medium of the examination of the relevant biblical texts. In terms of literature, I should give credit to a series of unpublished Seminar papers on file at Andrews University which I have employed outside of the standard reference works such as dictionaries and commentaries. These seminar papers include: (1) James Fisher, "A Critique of the Rationale for Laws of Clean/ Unclean as Applied to Animals in Leviticus 11," (1982); (2) David Merling, "Unclean or Unhealthful? Another Adventist Perspective," (1986); (3) George Bryson, "A Seventh-day Adventist Analyzes Five New Testament Passages Commonly Used to Justify the Abrogation of the Ban of Unclean Meats," (1976); (4) Jiri Moskala, "The Concept of Health and Holiness in Dietary Laws," (n.d., and 5) P. van Bemmelen, "The Nature and Authority of the Law on Clean and Unclean Animals in the Pentateuch." Because of limitations of time, these works have been employed to a considerable extent and credit is not always given to the individual papers from which the ideas presented below have come from. On the other hand, their use here has been selective, and the author retains the responsibility for the statements and misstatements made below. With these introductory and qualifying marks made, we may turn now to an examination of the texts themselves. By and large they are treated in the chronological and literary order in which they appear in the Bible. I. Principal Passages in the Hebrew Bible Which Deal With the Subject of Clean and Unclean Meats A. Genesis 7-9: The Flood Story In the instructions given to Noah for the way in which he was to prepare for the Flood which God was to bring upon the world, he was told to take animals into the Ark once he had constructed it. The purpose of this was to preserve alive the various kinds of birds and land animals. As a consequence they were to be brought in by pairs, male and female, in order that they might propagate on the earth after the flood. They were also to be brought in quantitatively according to whether they were classified as clean and unclean: seven pairs of clean animals, but only one pair of unclean animals (Gen 7:2). From this passage a number of points of interest can be made: 1. No explanation was given to Noah as to how he was to recognize them as either clean or unclean. In other words, either additional information was given to him about their characteristics of qualifications, or this was information which was already known to him as common knowledge. 2. The first statement about clean and unclean animals in the Bible comes here as an observation, not in legislation about their use. Legislation about their use comes only later in the laws of the Pentateuch. 3. The most direct comment on their use comes in terms of their use (or nonuse) as sacrificial animals (8:2), for indeed only clean animals and birds were sacrificed upon exit from the Ark. This does not necessarily mean, however, that this was the only purpose of the distinction made. 4. It is at this time that flesh food from animals was given to, assigned, or permitted for use in the diet of man. This contrasts with the original Edenic diet originally assigned to man which consisted of nuts, fruits, grains, and vegetables (Gen 1:29-30; 2:9, 16; 3:2). Although it is not explained in the text as such, one evident reason for the use of flesh food being introduced at this time was the depopulation of the flora of the world with the destructive action of the Flood. In any event, one can say that the distinction between clean and unclean animals occurs in Scripture at the same time when flesh foods are introduced into the diet of man. 5. It should also be noted that this differentiation and its relationships were introduced long before the Sinai Covenant when the more specific legislation about such animals as made in greater detail. One can certainly say, therefore, that such a distinction goes back long before the more specific covenantal stipulations with Israel were made at Sinai. This distinction was made at a time when all of the ancestors of the human race, the 8 members of Noah's family, were still together in a group with those animals in the Ark. 6. Although the legislation about the use of these animals and their distinction is not made specifically in terms of diet at this time, one could say that it was implied. In providing seven times more clean animals in the Ark and for the postdiluvian world, God was also providing a sevenfold greater likelihood for having clean animals available for consumption after the Flood by Noah's immediate descendants. 7. The association of restrictions upon the use of blood in the diet was also made at this time. (Gen 9:4). The continuing nature of this association between clean and unclean animals and the prohibition upon the use of blood is spelled out in more detail in Leviticus. B. Leviticus 11: The Major Law of the Clean and Unclean Animals The most extensive piece of legislation on this subject in all the Bible is found in Leviticus 11. There is a definite sequence of animals treated in this chapter and it runs as follows: quadruped land animals, verses 2-8, water animals, verses 9-12, all flying animals, whether birds or insects, verses 13-23, and finally, the smaller animals that creep upon the earth, verses 29-31, 41-43. This order of the animals treated and their different categories are summarized in verse 46. Mixed in with this type of legislation is another type, that which deals with the touching of the carcasses of dead animals. This type of legislation shows up in the latter half of the chapter, verses 24-40. In particular these laws are found in verses 24-28, and verses 32-40. Here they sandwich or bracket the legislation about the creeping animals. It should not be said, however, that the first half of the chapter deals with the issue of clean and unclean and the second half deals with the touching of dead animals. In the first section we can already find references to the second issue, and in the second section there are still references to the first. But the fact that these two issues are so closely intermingled should not lead us to overlook the difference between them. The Hebrew terminology in this passage, and others that deal with the same subject includes: (1) tahor for "pure, clean," (2) tame' for "unclean, defiled," (3) sheqes for "abomination," and (4) qadash, a stative verb referring to the state of being holy. In a causative form it is commonly translated "to sanctify." The dictionaries ascribe three aspects to the word for "clean." It can mean pure physically, as in a state of "pure" gold. It can mean to be ceremonially clean, and it can mean to be ethically or morally pure or clean. Examples of all of these kinds of usages can be found in the Hebrew Bible. The noun for "abomination" mentioned above occurs 11 times in the Hebrew Bible and eight of those occurrences appear here in Leviticus 11. The three other occurrences are in Leviticus 7:21, Isaiah 66:17, and Ezekiel 8:10. There are a number of aspects of this important passage which should be studied individually.

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