Unclean

Author: Joseph

Date: September 9, 2018

As God is leading and teaching Israel in the wilderness, He gives them more responsibility as His holy people. God is involved with every aspect of the lives of His people. The priests were instructed to be sober in their service since they would teach Israel between what is holy and profane as well as what is clean and unclean. God spoke directly to Aaron instructing him not only to do these things, but also to teach all the statues which God was giving them. As God is speaking, His focus then shifts from the priests to the entire assembly of Israel, whom He instructs next with the commandments of what creatures are not edible for consumption.

"...be holy, for I am holy..."

As God instructs on what creatures not to eat, He states that those He is forbidding are “unclean” and occasionally calls them “abhorrent” or “detestable.” Not only are these creatures not to be eaten, but even their carcasses are not to be touched. Coming into contact with the carcass causes a person to become unclean. Also, if one of the unclean animals dies and falls upon certain items of clothing or containers, the item becomes unclean and is to be washed or destroyed.

When a person becomes unclean, they need to be cleansed because the unclean creature has profaned them and made them unholy. God warns His people repeatedly not to eat the flesh of unclean creatures, not to touch their dead carcasses, nor to make themselves detestable by these things. God’s reason for commanding these things is to make a distinction between what is to be eaten and what is not to be eaten as well as what is clean and what is unclean.

What is so important about following these commandments? God answers that question, stating, “For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean…” (Leviticus 11:44).

The way God explains this set of commandments about what not to eat is familiar to someone who has read the story of Adam and Havah in the garden of Eden. God’s commandments on what we can and cannot eat follow a familiar explanation: there is a forbiddance and there is a consequence. Just as Adam and the woman were told that they could not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so God was now instructing His people that they were not to eat certain creatures.

When Adam and Havah disobeyed God, eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they faced separation from God and caused death to enter into the world through their sin. When we choose to eat what is forbidden, what is unclean and not edible, we are made unclean and profane ourselves, disobeying God’s commandment to be holy as He is holy.

Are you tempted to eat what is unclean by reasoning that it will do you no harm? Just as Adam and Havah were deceived by the serpent into believing a lie, you may be deceived into thinking that disobeying God will somehow do you no harm. God cares about our obedience to Him, even in the things we don’t consider a priority, such as what we eat. Make obedience to God your priority no matter what deceiving voices may be tempting you to disobey what God has commanded.

Bible Passage: Leviticus 11:1-47

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB). www.lockman.org