Kosher Food Laws Framework

There appears to be a pattern with the Kosher food laws in Leviticus 11. Flying creatures only have to be herbivores, and land creatures that were herbivores that chewed cud (regurgitated grass) and had split hooves were considered clean. It seems that land and air creatures that were omnivores, carnivores, and scavengers were all classified as unclean. This may have be connected to why humans are forbidden from consuming blood as moral sin in the bible (Genesis 9:4, Lev 7:25-26, Lev 17:10-14, Lev 19:26, Deut 12:16, Deut 12:22-25, Deut 15:23, Acts 15:20 & 29). What if animals that eat meat (who consume blood), are classified as sinful in a sense because they don’t drain the blood? Land creatures are even further distinguished by diet (cud-chewing herbivore) and anatomy (split hooves), which may clue into their digestion processes. For example, rabbits are cud chewers but they also eat their own dung, which is something that may be viewed as unclean.

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Ritual Purity in the New Covenant

Some may wonder if Christians are supposed to be eating kosher, and following rules about bodily fluids and circumcision. Ritual purity laws are not like moral purity since they don’t involve behavior, and therefore breaking them is not punishable by execution. These laws were designed to set the Israelites apart, and they were never given to Gentiles. Paul had also to say about not enforcing these laws in the OT, and even Jesus said some things. Let’s take a deeper look at why they existed in the first place if new covenant Gentiles don’t have to follow them. What were they pointing to?

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