Clean and Un-clean Food

CherubRam

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Genesis 9

God’s Covenant With Noah
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Unclean food was foods that were "ceremonially unclean." However, food with blood in it is always unclean.
 

Heber Book List

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Genesis 9

God’s Covenant With Noah
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Unclean food was foods that were "ceremonially unclean." However, food with blood in it is always unclean.

But Noach knew what was clean and what was not clean, because G_d had already told him to bring seven of each clean living thing into the Ark and only two of everything that was unclean (Genesis 6:21ff); the clear distinction was made. The point did not need to be made again - 'food' was already well defined when the Ark was completed.

Noach was given the right to eat meat, which was a first - it had not been given previously.
 
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Lulav

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Genesis 9

God’s Covenant With Noah
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Unclean food was foods that were "ceremonially unclean." However, food with blood in it is always unclean.

There's no mention in that passage you quote about clean or unclean, so what do you mean about 'ceremonially unclean'?
 
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CherubRam

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There's no mention in that passage you quote about clean or unclean, so what do you mean about 'ceremonially unclean'?
As Heber mentioned above certain animals were regarded as unclean. Later on those animals were regarded as ceremonially unclean.

Leviticus 11:4
“‘There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you.

People could eat food that was not normally eaten, but it comes with health risk.

As everyone knows, even foods that are regarded as clean can become hazardous.
 
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Heber Book List

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As Heber mentioned above certain animals were regarded as unclean. Later on those animals were regarded as ceremonially unclean.

Leviticus 11:4
“‘There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you.

People could eat food that was not normally eaten, but it comes with health risk.

As everyone knows, even foods that are regarded as clean can become hazardous.

Which version of the Tanach are you using in that quote from Leviticus? :)
 
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Heber Book List

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Let me guess, there is a translation problem. Oh well!

I have the same question as Lulav - I cannot find the 'ceremonial' word, or similar. It just says 'unclean' in my copies. :)
 
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CherubRam

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I have the same question as Lulav - I cannot find the 'ceremonial' word, or similar. It just says 'unclean' in my copies. :)
The word "ceremonial" is not in the original text.
 
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Aseyesee

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But Noach knew what was clean and what was not clean, because G_d had already told him to bring seven of each clean living thing into the Ark and only two of everything that was unclean (Genesis 6:21ff); the clear distinction was made. The point did not need to be made again - 'food' was already well defined when the Ark was completed.

Noach was given the right to eat meat, which was a first - it had not been given previously.
Everything means everthing ...
 
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Heber Book List

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Everything means everthing ...

Whenever G_d speaks about food being eaten by his people, he always means clean food (kashrut) - the term 'unclean food' is an oxymoron to G_d :)
 
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gadar perets

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Everything means everthing ...
Gen 8:21 And YHWH smelled a sweet savour; and YHWH said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.​

Does "every thing" mean "every thing" here? No. He did not smite the living things in the ark. Therefore, this verse needs to be qualified. So does Genesis 9:3. Had Noah eaten or sacrificed one of the two unclean pigs on the ark, pigs would have become extinct. Therefore, we qualify the verse to mean every moving thing that lives and is clean.
 
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Lulav

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As Heber mentioned above certain animals were regarded as unclean. Later on those animals were regarded as ceremonially unclean.
Leviticus 11:4 The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you.


But interestingly the word you highlighted is not in the passage, it was added.

It just says 'tame' which means unclean.

:)


ETA: When I came into this thread it lead me to this post and I answered to it without seeing the other posts, but good confirmation though!
 
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CherubRam

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But interestingly the word you highlighted is not in the passage, it was added.

It just says 'tame' which means unclean.

:)


ETA: When I came into this thread it lead me to this post and I answered to it without seeing the other posts, but good confirmation though!
True, the word "ceremonial" is not in the original text. But we do know that those things are ceremonial anyway, even though the word is not in the original text. Thank you for your reply.
 
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Romans 14:14
I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.

G_d categorised what his chosen people may, and may not, eat. The rules are clear and do not need a commentary on them. Paul is making the point that Jews should not force those restrictions on other people because that is not what G_d has told them to do (the lesson Paul learned from G_d, as at the beginning of vs 14). By way of making that point Paul explains that no food, of itself, is unclean - G_d did not create universally unclean food, but for his chosen people to eat of some varieties will make that person ritually unclean in the sight of G_d.

Christians used not to eat meat on a Friday - not because all meat was unclean (they ate it with no problem on the other days of the week), but because they felt it was an affront to G_d whose son's body was broken on a Friday. If you were not a Christian in a Christian household you would not be served meat.

Some people fast on certain days in obedience to their faith, but do not impose it on other people. But if you are in their house on such a day, they would not object to providing you with food, though they would not join you in eating anything.

With G_d's chosen people he has set the rules himself, and they obey them, but do not impose the restrictions on other people. But if you are in their house, they will provide you with food according to what their faith in G_d permits them to cook and eat.

I think I am right in saying that a Jew may indeed eat of the proscribed foods in extreme circumstances, if their lives depend on it, and there is, literally, no alternative.
 
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gadar perets

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Romans 14:14
I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.
The word "unclean" should have been translated "common", as it is from the Greek word koinos. The margin of most good study Bibles will confirm this.

Recall what Peter said in Acts 10:14, ". . . I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." The word common in this verse is "koinos" and the word unclean is the Greek word "akathartos". Animals declared unclean by Yahweh in Leviticus 11 are akathartos. However, when a clean animal becomes inedible for some reason, for example, by being sacrificed to an idol, it is called common or koinos. Paul's statement in Romans 14:14 referred to clean meat which a weak brother would consider common and therefore not eat, preferring instead to only eat herbs (vs. 2). A pig is unclean of itself, it was created unclean. A goat that was sacrificed to an idol is not common of itself. It became common in the mind of a person through outside means. The weaker brother esteemed in his own mind that meat should not be eaten because it may have become common for some reason. It is common meat that Paul was referring to, not unclean meat.
 
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gadar perets

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By way of making that point Paul explains that no food, of itself, is unclean - G_d did not create universally unclean food, but for his chosen people to eat of some varieties will make that person ritually unclean in the sight of G_d.
I disagree. See my last post. Anything said to be unclean in Torah is universally unclean. It was never created to be eaten.

I think I am right in saying that a Jew may indeed eat of the proscribed foods in extreme circumstances, if their lives depend on it, and there is, literally, no alternative.
I agree, but this is not limited to Jews. The same holds true for all people. The distinction between clean and unclean animals existed before the Jews existed. It is a universal law.
 
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Aseyesee

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Whenever G_d speaks about food being eaten by his people, he always means clean food (kashrut) - the term 'unclean food' is an oxymoron to G_d :)
Why would there exist a need to further define it then ...
 
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Aseyesee

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Gen 8:21 And YHWH smelled a sweet savour; and YHWH said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.​

Does "every thing" mean "every thing" here? No. He did not smite the living things in the ark. Therefore, this verse needs to be qualified. So does Genesis 9:3. Had Noah eaten or sacrificed one of the two unclean pigs on the ark, pigs would have become extinct. Therefore, we qualify the verse to mean every moving thing that lives and is clean.

The first commandment in the garden becomes further defined by each ensuing commandment.

Here no distinction is made between clean and uclean in reference to quantiy (gathering food to eat for himself and for those that were to be kept alive).

Gen 6:20-21 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

If we're think in natural terms, couldn't we assume a year's time in the ark would have been suffcient time for the animals to have procreated ...
 
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