He wasn't supposed to go near that.
Now maybe he didn't touch it. But he had contact enough with it. when you took the honey out of the animal. The Samson was It fits the description of the proverbial spoiled jock. He was very strong.
And would just wanted to do what he wanted to do. For example, Why was he walking through the vineyard as a Nazarene? You're not supposed to be near the grapes. What a temptation. But he felt he could reclassify things.
And that ultimately cost him his sight. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Leviticus. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
Leviticus chapter 11 is where Pastor Rick will be teaching from today on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. In verse 5, he talks about the rock hyrax. It is unclean to you. If you want me to read every single word, Raise your hand. I'm looking.
down. Anyway, verse 6. The hair.
Well And again, it is unclean to you. And he gives the reasons why, which you're smart enough to read those on your own. You don't need my comment there. The clean meaning the acceptable to God, the unclean meaning the unacceptable to God. And if you've ever been around these animals, you find out they're all just as unclean physically as the other one.
You can just have a large dog and find out how unclean they can be. Or a cat. I mean, just. Um anyway, now this verse prohibits, incidentally, within this verse, you can't eat horses or donkeys. If you look at it, and then you'll you'll see that.
But the question arises, is do rabbits chew the cud? The word hare is a vague Hebrew word, likely a rabbit, and there are a few of them in here that are vague. That's why some of the translations may opt for different words, which is. Alone. Telling us that we're not to be, as New Testament Christians, too tripped up on this.
They knew what it was talking about. If you must find out that there's no contradiction and you want a biology class on this, then I go to Answers in Genesis or any of those Christian scientific sites that offer Different fields of science, and they'll help you out with that. And the bottom line is the rabbits do have this double or this dual process of digesting their food. And they even look like it do. Their mouth is always going, you know.
Anyway, I would rather clean up behind a rabbit, though, than a cow. Anyway, verse 7. and the swine. unclean to you.
Well, pork is a global favorite. I mean, there are some countries you can find pork faster than you can find a person. And I don't mean pigs, I mean pork, prepared pig for eating. As swine In that ancient part of the world, in the days of Moses, in the days of Jesus. Swine were widely domesticated in that area of the world.
So, this particular dietary law, the menu, not just the part with the pigs, but all that's on it. is were restrictions that stood out to their neighbors and it marked identity. You could tell a Jew by what he would not eat. not so much by h what he would eat, And that's why we're getting more in the negative than the positives. And archaeologists have noted that they have proof That the Philistines and the Amorites in that part of the world kept pigs for consumption.
But when they moved into the Jewish areas, they can't find evidence of domesticated. Pigs for consumption.
So the evidence indicating that the Israelites and their law. They obeyed it. And it mark their identity. Made them distinct. Later, the Greco-Roman writers recorded the Jews' avoidance of pork.
As a key distinction, dissimilar. Eating habits, and they noticing it gave opportunity for the Jew to say, We're commanded in our word not to eat this, and we're not going to eat it. You've got your religion, you follow your religion.
Well, we've got ours, and we follow ours. And this is why, you know, there have been, you know, Those that have Sacrifice pigs at the temple of the Jews to try to strike at them because they understood the distinction enough. Verse 8: Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch, they are unclean to you.
Well, we also remember that Jesus Cast out the demons and they went into the pigs just outside of the promised land. But so we know they were there. In this verse here, it prohibits, well, first, it doesn't say they're unclean to humanity. Um it's this is for the Jews. They could use camels.
And they could use pigs. They just weren't to touch the dead bodies of these animals, and if they did, they were ceremonially unclean and had to go through the purification steps to get right. They weren't stoned for it. But that no way allowed them to eat these animals. Verse nine These you may eat of all that are in the water.
Whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the sea or in the rivers. That you may eat.
So now the surf part: fresh water and salt water, verse 10, they could eat those animals that fit those requirements. Catfish would have been prohibited. You weren't to eat them for a shrimp, for example. Man, they're missing out. Alaskan king crab, king You know who I mean, those women with the long legs.
Anyway, in verse 10, but all in the sea or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water. or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. Verse 11, they shall be an abomination to you. You shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination.
So restrictions, of course, aren't new. Adam and Eve from the very beginning were restricted from eating from the tree of knowledge, of good and evil. Noah had restrictions as he populated the ark. Abraham understood restrictions when he made his offerings. Discernment has always been a part of the people of God.
The problem is What he says here, for example, in verse 11 and 10: they are an abomination to you.
Well, and As Eden's forbidden tree should have been an abomination to Adam and Eve. Instead, Eve reclassified sin, and Adam caved to it. That's their guilt, two separate acts. Reclassifying sin is how King Saul lived. and there was nothing good about King Saul.
And what a lesson there, a warning to tell us do not reclassify sin. Identify the commandments, obey them, and do not try to adjust them or downsize them. And sometimes it can get pretty tricky because the flesh gets in the way, it wants something so bad. It comes up with all of these creative arguments. Why this particular thing is no longer that?
Well anyway The choice is either pleasing Yahweh or not for the Jew. Verse 12: Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales, that shall be an abomination to you.
So, again, coming back to why this is so beneficial to the Jews, to keep them separate from other peoples. If I was a Jew and I was invited over for a fish fry and I was assured that no, we're just serving Mahi. Um How would I know it? It could be prepared in such a way where I can't tell if that's a Mahi or not. I mean, he could offer me, say, you know, it's tuna salad, it's fine.
for example, and really it's not. It's an unclean meat.
So the Jew wouldn't take any chance with that. You wouldn't trust. His relationship with God, if he was a righteous Jew, or or over the menu. He would pass. And so, this would keep the Israelite from dining with the Gentiles, and that dining environment is where Satan gets a lot of work done.
How many deals are made on the dining room table or the restaurant table? table wherever. I mentioned Chinese restaurants. I don't mean to sound insulting, but the fact remains, they can take a food, they can take a non-chicken and make it taste like chicken. Which makes my point.
The Jew wouldn't put himself in that position. And thus the kosher. The rabbi is marking things as kosher was created to ensure that this is a food that is actually. In compliant with the law of Moses. Verse 13: And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds.
They shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard.
Now someone may say, oh well these animals There the fowl There prohibited because There m Animals of prey. or the carrion. All fish are animals of prey.
So, what do you how do you answer that?
So, well, it's best to just not say that's the reason why. Just to you know, it doesn't say why these flying animals are prohibited.
So, the kite, the falcon after its kind, every raven after its kind. The ostrich, the short eared owl, the seagull, and the hawk after its kind. The ostrac, you couldn't even eat the eggs of these animals. Verse 17: The little owl, the fisher owl, the screech owl. He's annoying.
screeching all the time. Verse 18, the white owl. Those are little cigars. The jackdog. Yeah.
There was a brand for those of you who don't know. Anyway, the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the stork, the heron, after its kind. The hoopoe, or hoop-poo, actually, and that's not poor English question. Grammatically, we crushed question, the hoopoe, and that's how you pronounce it, and the bat.
So those were prohibited. Verse 20, all flying insects and That creep on all flaws shall be an abomination to you. I don't need the Lord to tell me that one. These are the appetizers.
Some locusts were allowed as food. Verse 21, yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours.
So that means some aren't permitted. And of course, I'm going to skip some things because, again, it's straightforward enough. Verse 22, these you may eat, the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind.
Now we stop there for a minute. These are the locusts that Jonah was talking about. In fact, they're out now. I don't know where you live. Do you hear their whistling?
I thought it was the mothership finally coming. And then I was telling it's the locusts. And they're making this screeching owl sound back to Verse twenty two The cricket yum after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. But then he has in verse twenty three, but all the flying insects which have four feet Shall be an abomination to you.
So, are you going to remember this the next time you're out in your backyard and you see a wasp land? He's like, He's got four feet. I can't eat that one. But look at this one over here.
So, he says, By these you shall become unclean. That's the word that's supposed to glare out at the reader. And remember, Moses is writing this for the priest and the Levites and the people. It's published so the people can be aware of what is prohibited instead of every time running to the priest and saying, Hey, is this on the list? Because I just ate a whole one.
Uh Yeah. This is why the Jews couldn't own motorcycles in the summer. Yeah. Yeah. Get in your teeth.
Anyway, he says in verse 24: But by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches the carcass of any of. them shall be unclean, even until death. And thus the fly swatter was born. This way, hands off, you could do them in and not have to touch him.
Verse 25: whoever carries part of the carcass, or any of them Shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. What a pain in the neck. Aren't you glad you're not under the law? You couldn't study insects even, you know, get one of those kits with the little pins. Verse 26: the carcass of any animal which divides.
The foot. But is not Cloven Hooft. Or does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches it shall be unclean.
So he's sort of going back and summarizing now. And um I think one of the things that comes out of this for us all is that the world will infect us at a faster rate than we can save them. That's why the dominant word, unclean, and also its sister word, abomination to you. Unclean to you, abomination to you, a sister phrase. Maintain your distance.
That's the point. of the Jewish menu, Maintain your distance. And the Christians, 2 Corinthians 6:17, are under the same advice. Verse 27. And whatever goes On its paws, among all kinds of animals that go on all fours.
Those are unclean to you. Whoever touches any such carcass shall be unclean until evening. Whoever carries any such carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. It is unclean to you. Now that's dogs, cats, bears, they're not supposed to eat.
You keep your paws off those.
Now verse twenty nine, These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth. And this is interesting. Creeping things here are not insects. They're mammals.
Well, at least two of 'em. The mole The mouse. and the large lizard. After its kind. Lizards are disgusting to me, but they look like they have a lot of meat.
They just look like, boy, that'd be a good meal for somebody. The gecko, the monitor lizard, well, try to get that one if you want. Who would even want to eat that one? I'm sure it's probably a different. Cool.
Classification for that. The sand reptile. the sand lizard, and the chameleon. Yeah. Coming back to the mouse for a minute.
Well, let's read verse 31. These are unclean to you. among all that creep, whoever touches them When they are dead, they shall be unclean until evening, ceremonially. They couldn't go down to the temple and worship and do things with other people without infecting them, cross-contamination. Isaiah said that the Jews were actually breaking this law, Isaiah 66, verse 17.
He said, eating swine's flesh. And the abomination And the mouse I think they were like, no, this makes a really good stew. You don't even have to skin it. You just seep it, and it's there. But you know, you can go on YouTube and go around the world to see what people eat.
And none of this is beyond reason. Nauseating, which some people can tolerate. Verse 32, anything. Before we do verse 32, Missionaries that went out to foreign countries, if they were under these restrictions, they couldn't bring the gospel of Christ. And God knew what He was doing when He raised up a man like Paul to refute the continuation of the ritual laws of the Jews.
Because, for example, they would go into places and there would be bugs in their food that would be forbidden to eat, and there's no way to get rid of too many of them.
So they would just eat it. They're all saying, How do you know a new missionary from an old missionary?
Well, the new missionary still picks out the bugs, the old ones just eat. And so those were those were hardcore days amongst People who we would classify as savage.
So the wisdom of God. Verse 32, anything on which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean. Verse 33, any earthen vessel into which any of them falls, you shall break, and whatever is in it shall be unclean.
So he's now dealing with the vessels or containers and cross-contamination. Haggai talks about this, chapter 2, verse 13. But there's an interesting phrase here that stands out, at least to me, any earthen vessel. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4, 7.
So when you look when I hear that, the earthen vessel, I said, That's me. And if it weren't for grace, I would remain unclean and broken. But by the grace of God, we have this treasure. In earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of ourselves. We're just clay pots.
We have no power. Any power we experience. comes from God. Through us. What a privilege.
We go to verse 39. Again, they're straightforward enough. Verse 39: If any animal which you may eat dies, he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until evening.
Now, this is dead from natural causes, not those killed for food. Otherwise, you have several problems. And remember, we are not fact-exempt as Christians. You have a nation of 2 million people here. How many animals are slain, and how many people would have to go down to the temple?
It would just cause a lot of problems. The priests couldn't offer sacrifices. They touched the carcass. It was just not practical.
So it's not talking about in verse 39. uh the killing of animals for food, but if you um stumble across a carcass of an animal and touch it. This is one of the problems with Samson. He saw the carcass of a l of the lion. He wasn't supposed to go near that.
Now maybe he didn't touch it. But he had contact enough with it. when you took the honey out of the animal. Samson was They fits the description of the proverbial spoiled jock. He was very strong.
And we just wanted to do what he wanted to do. For example, Why was he walking through the vineyard as a Nazarene? You're not supposed to be near the grapes. What a temptation. But he felt he could reclassify things.
And that ultimately cost him his sight. in his eyes.
Well, verse 40, he who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and shall be unclean until evening.
So the problem here is that if according to Deuteronomy 14:21, I mentioned there was a problematic verse, and this is it, verses 39 and 40. Uh if the Jew Came across a dead animal, they're not supposed to eat it. If the animal died of natural causes, they weren't supposed to eat it. It wasn't bled properly.
Well, then, why does it say here in verse 40, He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening? Seems like an easy pass.
Well, the key is probably Deuteronomy 14:21, where there's a stipulation attached that would Make this make sense. Deuteronomy 14:21. You shall not eat anything that dies of itself. you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it. Or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to Yahweh your God.
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. I mentioned to you there were some cooking restrictions, and there's one of them, so I continued to read it. But it says, Within your gates So The idea is that when they were in the wilderness, there was an exception here. But once they were in the land, the exception went away. And there were other things.
The manna, for example, the first day they stepped foot in the promised land, before they stepped foot in the promised land, the manna stopped.
So that is. The way I'm treating versus 39 and 40. If there is that challenge that, wait a minute, they're not supposed to eat these things.
Well, there may have been an exception in the wilderness. Almost none of the commentators want to comment on that. Verse. The unbeliever wants to find an era in the scripture, and we want to find Answers to their supposed errors, and I have learned that almost all of them are pretty easy to answer in time. And the list, when you first come to the Bible, is a 10-foot-tall list of apparent discrepancies and contradictions.
But as you become a student of the Scripture, you find that list goes way down. And then you begin to say, well, at this pace, they're all going to get answered. I don't have to remember, I'm not a Christian based on what I don't understand. It is based on what I do understand. Um I don't understand why that truck's going to run over me.
But you do understand that it will run over you if you don't move. Maybe you don't get that. Maybe I didn't say it right. Anyway. Verse 43, you shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps.
Nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them.
Now, here's a metaphor for this verse. There's a literal meaning. for the Jews, but in the church it becomes A metaphor. Creepy churchgoers creep into churches and defile the unprepared. happens quite a bit.
You get some new guy in the church or new woman, and they make friends, and in time, they begin to corrupt people. People against a church that that person loved before this one creeps in. and they go undetected. Ere go the creep. Jude, 4.
For certain men have crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men who turned the grace of God. Into lewdness and deny the only Lord God. And our Lord Jesus Christ. And so Jude was warning about those creeping into the church unnoticed.
So the idolatrous nations. They didn't have all of these. restrictions as the Jews did. And that, again, is true today with the world and us. There are just some things we're better off without.
There are some programs that just over, you know, it just um. Over the limit of tolerance, and you just can't. Verse 44, and you have to find those out for yourselves. For I am Yahweh your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy.
For I am holy, neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. I am Yahweh your God, shows up more in Leviticus, that phrase, than any other book. The focus of holiness will dominate the rest of Leviticus. It's been present throughout, but it will become more pronounced. The reason.
for their distinctiveness As the people of God, is that God Himself is distinct? Be you perfect, for your Father in heaven is perfect. That's New Testament theology. It's the pursuit of perfection. You're not going to get there in this life, but the pursuit of it will be way better for everybody.
So I am the Lord your God. Uh He says, and Deuteronomy fourteen, again, the parallel section. We read. about the people of God. That they are a peculiar people in the old King James, a special treasure in the new, above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, by calling as a people.
No nation has. Had the same opportunities and blessings as a nation as Israel. And of course, the Jew now is judged and always has been individually anyway. And the cute Thanks for tuning in to today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Pastor Rick Gaston is currently going through the book of Leviticus.
We're glad you joined us. We trust that you're gaining some valuable insights into God's Word as we go through this Old Testament book. Cross-Reference Radio comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast, you can do so by going to your favorite app store and downloading from there. For any additional information about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreference radio.com.
Make sure to come back again for the upcoming edition in the book of Leviticus, as Pastor Rick has much more to share. We thank you for being with us right here on Cross Reference Radio.
