Leviticus/Wayyiqrah 11 – As a Torah-observant Jew, what would Jesus have eaten?

[First posted November 28, 2012, the year we started this website. The Leviticus 11 “divinely prescribed diet” is still relevant in this day and age, year 2019 even if Christianity misunderstood what its man-god supposedly declared, that “all foods are clean.”  Read on.–Admin1].

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Would the Author of TORAH leave out an area of human life that would not only enhance the quality of life but also extend the quantity of life?  YHWH is the Source of Life, would He not include instructions about how to best sustain life, specially human life?

“Let thy food be thy medicine

and thy medicine thy food.”

– Hippocrates.

Modern medicine today sees the value of the vegan diet (listen to and look at the lean and healthier US ex-president Bill Clinton who has turned advocate); or going ovo-vegetarian or lacto-vegetarian; or avoiding certain meats and guess which ones they are.

The Seventh Day Adventists have successful lifestyle change programs that claim to reverse chronic and and life-threatening diseases and a major component of the change is a vegan diet.

We are just beginning to wake up to health alerts relating to food choices, yet the newly freed slaves had the luxury of being taught by the Creator of the human body Himself some 4 millennia ago!

Instructions on what is the best and healthiest food for humans is what this chapter is about.  If the Creator Himself who knows why He designed different creatures for different purposes gives instructions to humankind about what to eat and not eat, explaining what makes animals clean or unclean, should we not simply obey?

Just think:  Why would the flesh of swine, for instance, be forbidden as “food” during the time of the wilderness wanderings and then be allowed just because Jesus supposedly declared “all foods clean”?  Was there a change in the constitution of swine flesh and other unclean foods (oyster, crab, lobster, shrimp)  or are they not exactly the same today as they were in those days?

 Christians misinterpret the verse in Mark 7:19, by conveniently forgetting that Jesus the Jew would have been Torah-observant and as such, when he said “food” his frame of reference would have been the Leviticus 11 definition of food.

People who are used to eating unclean meat, whether out of ignorance or misinterpretation of the Jesus text have difficulty adjusting their tastebuds and their appetites to such drastic restriction in their food choices; they would rather face the inevitable health risks that later develop which are the natural consequences of disobeying Torah on food.

Consequences of violating Torah are automatic, God does not have to step in and teach each pork-eater a lesson, for eventually the forbidden meat starts causing problem-diseases that naturally take their toll.

Medical practitioners suggest changes in lifestyle, change in diet, specific avoidance of . . . guess what?

A Christian friend got offended when told that it was up to her or anyone for that matter, if after being biblically informed, to continue eating animals which are scavengers, which the Creator had intended to clean up the garbage on earth and under the sea. She cited the same verses in the gospels and Acts to justify today’s free-for-all food choices.  Consequence to disobedience may be the best and most effective teacher; we should quit mouthing scripture and just watch, wait, and see.  Modern medicine validates what Leviticus 11 has prescribed for human consumption; after all, who better than the Creator/Designer of the human body is the ultimate authority to pronounce what is “food” and not “food”?

Again, simple common sense tells us—animals were the same on day 1 of their creation till today, unless man has the ability to alter their constitution, or the scavengers  have metamorphosed from unclean to clean by the simple declaration of Jesus Christ.  Could that truly be so?

This is not an attack on the Creator’s amazing animals called “scavengers” who do their divinely-designated assignment to rid the earth of rotting flesh; these animals have built-in protection and will not get sick nor die from cleaning up the earth’s filth . . . but humans who eat these animals are not similarly protected.

But then again, taking risks is a human choice, believing or disbelieving TORAH is a faith choice, ultimately it boils down to a health choice because there are health consequences even if you have “faith” in the declaration of Jesus Christ, or the usual interpretation of your pastor. Go back to the question in our title and figure it out for yourself.

Postscript:  We have already posted a whole series of articles on the Leviticus Diet; please read if you have not yet done so.

• Biblical Diet 1
• Biblical Diet 2—UNclean Meat
• Biblical Diet 3—Leviticus 11
• Biblical Diet 4a: NT Perspective: Did Jesus declare all foods clean in Mark 7:19?
• Biblical Diet 4b: NT: Matthew 15:1-20
• Biblical Diet 4c: Peter’s Vision in Acts 10:9-23

   NSB@S6K

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[We have yet to fill in the commentary and hopefully we can accomplish that in this year of 2017!  Not a promise, just an intention. But even without commentary, the text is easy to understand on its own.  After all, when YHWH gave these instructions through His mouthpiece, Moses, the hearers most likely did not have to resort to commentaries to understand what is clean and unclean meat. 

Translation:  EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses; commentary from  AST/ArtScroll Tanach and P&H/Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz.  Highlights and reformatting ours.–Admin1.]

Leviticus/Wayyiqrah 11