We’ve been looking at how we have come to eat as we do today. We saw that Adam and Eve were gardeners and that was fine for the Garden of Eden. Then after the flood, Noah was allowed to eat meat. Later came the children of Israel and the long list of dietary requirements.
“2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. 3 Whatsoever parts the hoof, and is cloven footed, and chews the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat” (Leviticus 11:2-3). This passage starts the long list of everything the children of Israel could and couldn’t eat. It goes into what fish and birds to eat, as well as bugs and creeping things they could eat or were to avoid.
Again this was for Israel during their wanderings. Today they still abide by these rules and some Christian groups follow this dietary way of eating. There are some reasons why this plan still has merit, but it is law. They were not just eating what they were told to eat or not eating certain things but in not following the plan they were clean or unclean. It wasn’t just what they ate but the rules they had to obey. If they didn’t they were under the curse. The food was involved in their keeping the law.
Again this plan was for Israel. It was for their protection and for their obedience. We ate with some Jewish people who didn’t follow the old plan that well. For many it no longer applies in the strictest sense because in many ways the things God was protecting them from included no refrigeration and proper food preparation. The diet plan of God would yet change when Jesus came. It has never been on plan for all time. It’s isn’t what did Jesus eat and that’s what we should eat. Food was part of the law, but now Jesus made it a whole new thing.