Genesis 8: 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma.
Genesis 9: 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.
So the "clean" animals were a soothing aroma to Jehovah, but in the very next chapter Noah is told that every living thing that moves is to be food for him.
I will attempt in this study to give you both sides to this argument.
Definitions:
YHWH, heavenly Daddy has a different relationship with each of His children. So, Jews may follow a Kosher diet, Christians can eat anything, some can be vegan, vegetarian, carnivore or whatever. But it should be done to honor your Abba father in Heaven.
Romans 14: 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?
So let's study food in the Bible, so that I can personally make a purposeful decision about what I eat to honor my Creator.
1. Don't be a glutton:
Noah was before Abraham and before the Jews, but he knew about clean and unclean foods. YHWH told him he could eat whatever he wanted. Those commands in Genesis 9 are known as Noahide laws for the entire world.
The commandments given in Exodus are for YHWH's chosen, set apart, Holy people the Jews, who are to be an example to the rest of the world.
So if Jehovah gives the Jews extra special holy teachings, wouldn't I want to know about them and follow them?
Shellfish and bottom feeders have a job to do. When Lake Michigan was overtaken by zebra mussels, it was great, now Lake Michigan looks like the Caribbean, crystal clean clear waters. If we overeat muscles, shrimp, lobster, catfish, etc. then they can't clean our waters. Also, do I really want to eat something that is a filter (eats garbage and spits out clean water).
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: Yeshua is scolding them for following their own traditions and not following the Torah.
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
Very important to follow YHWH's commands with your full heart, which is what you are doing in your pursuit of understanding. I have chosen to just follow individual commands, then I am given the purpose/meaning of it, then I choose to continue to obey out of my love for that command / YHWH.
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” A Jew, talking to Jews, no one eats pigs, no one is even thinking about eating pigs when he says this.
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides.[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” Parable of sowing seeds
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” Still only talking about un-washed hands before you eat (not a law in Leviticus to wash hands before eating) No one talked about pigs in this story. No one even thought about it.
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” WHAT!? Yeshua was sending her away and wasn't going to witness to a gentile dog.....not even Yeshua would associate with gentiles! Not even to "share the gospel"! It wasn't his job. It was none of their jobs to witness to the gentiles....not yet.
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” WHAT!? Yeshua calls us gentiles....dogs!? Children's bread is the gospel Peter was talking about to Cornelius. The vision showed it was now okay to bring the message to the gentiles.
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” This is the same great faith...put into action that cornelius had.
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Yeshua was only for the Jews, then he sent disciples out to Judea and they came back all excited about the miracles they performed. Then after Yeshua ascended, the "helper" Holy Spirit that Yeshua promised to send, told Peter it was now okay to spread gospel to gentile dogs.
10 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.
The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
Valuable lesson for me, a gentile: Cornelius is a gentile (pig / dog) "feared" God and "devout" and "generous". Reasons God chose him to get a vision and special attention from a disciple.
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” Yeshua is gone physically ascended into heaven, so Yeshua didn't make anything clean while He was on earth. Peter still obeyed the clean food laws. So did Jesus.
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. Peter never ate the unclean food in the vision.
17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision,Not obvious to him....a disciple that lived with, ate with and learned everything from Yeshua.....He knew it didn't mean "eat pig"....searching for what it meant. the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three[a] men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”
22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. If the Jews respected this God-fearing man.....then I highly doubt he was eating pigs. Jesus, Peter, disciples were all Jews and none ate pigs, so for this God-fearing gentile to follow the Jewish God and be respected by the Jews, there is no way he followed every Jewish law but still ate pigs. They would no longer respect him.
The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. 24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”
27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” THIS, THIS, RIGHT HERE! This is the entire meaning of the vision! There is no way Peter would have gone into a gentiles house. not even to preach the gospel, Yeshua didn't do it, (Yeshua went into sinner Jew homes) because gentiles are unclean. However the Holy Spirit showed him the meaning of the vision by visiting him and telling him it was okay to go to Cornelius's house.
30 Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon.https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/682091/jewish/The-Three-Daily-Prayers.htm Followed Jewish law. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 32 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. "He now realizes"....so new information to Peter that he can now go preach to the gentiles. (unclean dogs /pigs)
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Preaching gospel to a gentile that already follows the Jewish God (Cornelius, the first Messianic Jew)
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues[b] and praising God. This gift is for us! I know I have been baptized in HS, because I have had a vision and several dreams from God and now I can hear His very subtle voice. But I still can't speak in tongues...I have a long ways to grow. Circumcision and eating pigs is the same thing. Very much a law for Jews. It's more important to circumcise your heart (cut off the sinful desires) .....but if it's good enough for Jews to be circumcised in the flesh, well I want that too.......then we learn it's cleaner, healthier, funner.
Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
No where in the entire Bible is it recorded that anyone (holy) every ate pigs, dogs, rats.
Isaiah 66: 17 “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow,” declares the Lord.
"gardens" this is deep, basically nature worship, tree worship.....yes has to do with Christmas trees.
The Bible does not contradict itself:
There are wrong translations
There are wrong titles and commentaries
There are wrong interpretations
But mostly the contradictions come from us trying to justify our "traditions of man" with what the Bible actually says.
Christians believe (including my pastor) bring everything from the old testament to the cross, Jesus fulfills it, nullifies it, restores it.
Messianic Jews believe and I believe, the Bible says the same thing front to back. Yeshua didn't have any new teachings, He repeated the old testament....He fulfilled most of the old testament prophecies and will fulfill the rest when He comes back a second time.
Matthew 5: 17 Yeshua said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Passover, unleavened bread, 1st fruits feasts fulfilled 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law Is not eating pigs in the law? until everything is accomplished.Has everything been accomplished yet? I'm still here, and Yeshua isn't 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven,ouch...but still in the kindom, just least but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. sounds good to me 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.Ouch, I have a long way to go.
Final thoughts: Us gentiles are dogs / pigs and we have a choice to get fleshly circumcised or not, we have a choice to eat pig or not. If I move to Israel and choose to become a Jew, then I no longer have the choice. We must circumcise our hearts to follow Yeshua, not a choice. We must have clean things come out of our mouths if we follow Yeshua. Not a choice.
Yeshua and his disciples didn't eat pig....I choose to pursue being like Him.