Food
Leviticus 11:1-23
Clean and Unclean Food
11 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: 3 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. 4 “‘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. 5 The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 6 The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 7 And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you. 9 “‘Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams you may eat any that have fins and scales. 10 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. 11 And since you are to regard them as unclean, you must not eat their meat; you must regard their carcasses as unclean. 12 Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be regarded as unclean by you.13 “‘These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat because they are unclean: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 14 the red kite, any kind of black kite, 15 any kind of raven, 16 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, 18 the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, 19 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat. 20 “‘All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be regarded as unclean by you. 21 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. 22 Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper. 23 But all other flying insects that have four legs you are to regard as unclean.
God made all the creatures on earth, in the seas, and in the air, and they looked like food to human beings, who were later created after these creatures were made, because they should be the food for humans to live on. However, Here, God tells the Israelites about food that shouldn't have been eaten, saying they are unclean for them, even naming the details, which seem so interesting that I think of some food I have eaten until now. Why is God warning them of the food they eat?
Likewise, my father was too careful to eat some food, as he worried a lot about his health, seeing his sister die of cancer, and he thought that she had died because of food. He passed away at age 79, because he got a cancer as well. In reality, he loved coffee and tobacco a lot, so even at the near-death moment, I had to rub some coffee on his tongue. These days I have seen some who have died, due to the cancer, and now some are suffering from the same disease, called cancer.
Our body is very deeply connected to the food we eat on a daily basis. Therefore, we should be careful what to eat, as God warned people who live in the wild in the Middle East. Our body is called the temple of the Holy Spirit, so we need to take good care of it. However, one more important thing is that we should care for our souls as well as our body. We can choose the food that goes into our mouth in some ways, and we pick some, considering freshness or not.
I think that most people care too much about our health and body, feeling they are the best priority in life, but I think that we need to care our souls as well or more than body, as it lasts forever. Our body perishes if our lifetime is set, how hard we care for them. Jesus said that the food itself we eat doesn't make us sin, but the word we spit out of mouths makes us sin. So I believe that the spiritual food is more significant than the physical food we eat, regardless of clean or unclean, organic or natural, or vegetarians or meat-eaters, etc. I am not opposing against the Word of God, but I believe that balancing is good, but if I choose one more essential thing to me, then I will pick the souls that would last forever.
