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ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Leviticus 11

Leviticus 11:

1The LORD spoke again to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them,
2“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘These are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth.
3‘Whatever divides a hoof, thus making split hoofs, and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat. 4‘Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these, among those which chew the cud, or among those which divide the hoof: the camel, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you.
5‘Likewise, the shaphan, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you;
6the rabbit also, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you;
7and the pig, for though it divides the hoof, thus making a split hoof, it does not chew cud, it is unclean to you. 8‘You shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

9‘These you may eat, whatever is in the water: all that have fins and scales, those in the water, in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat.
10‘But whatever is in the seas and in the rivers that does not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they are detestable things to you,
11and they shall be abhorrent to you; you may not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest. 12‘Whatever in the water does not have fins and scales is abhorrent to you.

Avoid the Unclean

13‘These, moreover, you shall detest among the birds; they are abhorrent, not to be eaten: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard, 14and the kite and the falcon in its kind, 15every raven in its kind, 16and the ostrich and the owl and the sea gull and the hawk in its kind, 17and the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl, 18and the white owl and the pelican and the carrion vulture, 19and the stork, the heron in its kinds, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

20‘All the winged insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you.
21‘Yet these you may eat among all the winged insects which walk on all fours: those which have above their feet jointed legs with which to jump on the earth.
22‘These of them you may eat: the locust in its kinds, and the devastating locust in its kinds, and the cricket in its kinds, and the grasshopper in its kinds.
23‘But all other winged insects which are four-footed are detestable to you.

24‘By these, moreover, you will be made unclean: whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening,
25and whoever picks up any of their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.
26‘Concerning all the animals which divide the hoof but do not make a split hoof, or which do not chew cud, they are unclean to you: whoever touches them becomes unclean. 27‘Also whatever walks on its paws, among all the creatures that walk on all fours, are unclean to you; whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening,
28and the one who picks up their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; they are unclean to you.

29‘Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole, and the mouse, and the great lizard in its kinds,
30and the gecko, and the crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand reptile, and the chameleon.
31‘These are to you the unclean among all the swarming things; whoever touches them when they are dead becomes unclean until evening.
32‘Also anything on which one of them may fall when they are dead becomes unclean, including any wooden article, or clothing, or a skin, or a sack—any article of which use is made—it shall be put in the water and be unclean until evening, then it becomes clean.
33‘As for any earthenware vessel into which one of them may fall, whatever is in it becomes unclean and you shall break the vessel.
34‘Any of the food which may be eaten, on which water comes, shall become unclean, and any liquid which may be drunk in every vessel shall become unclean.
35‘Everything, moreover, on which part of their carcass may fall becomes unclean; an oven or a stove shall be smashed; they are unclean and shall continue as unclean to you. 36‘Nevertheless a spring or a cistern collecting water shall be clean, though the one who touches their carcass shall be unclean.
37‘If a part of their carcass falls on any seed for sowing which is to be sown, it is clean. 38‘Though if water is put on the seed and a part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.

39‘Also if one of the animals dies which you have for food, the one who touches its carcass becomes unclean until evening.
40‘He too, who eats some of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening, and the one who picks up its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

41‘Now every swarming thing that swarms on the earth is detestable, not to be eaten.
42‘Whatever crawls on its belly, and whatever walks on all fours, whatever has many feet, in respect to every swarming thing that swarms on the earth, you shall not eat them, for they are detestable.
43‘Do not render yourselves detestable through any of the swarming things that swarm; and you shall not make yourselves unclean with them so that you become unclean. 44‘For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth.
45‘For I am the LORD who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

46This is the law regarding the animal and the bird, and every living thing that moves in the waters and everything that swarms on the earth,
47to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the edible creature and the creature which is not to be eaten.


COMMENT: This chapter deserves several postings of insights...

We are aware these laws of clean and unclean creatures no longer apply to us on this side of the new Covenant. But there are powerful lessons here still.

Consider the birds who feed on carrion. While they can be eaten by humans without incurring the wrath of God, they may not be eaten without incurring the disgust of man! Seriously, I am told turkey buzzard flesh stinks - they feed on dead animals. If you see buzzards circling overhead you know they are smelling a dead animal and are feeding on it - and it has to ripe, too!

In nature it is desirable to not eat these creatures because they are essential in keeping the countryside clean of dead animals. The insects are slow in digesting these carcasses so it is important there are other creatures that will hasten the process. Just think: if there would be no creatures that would eat dead animals how they would foul up the environment. Since this is the case God was so very wise in making their flesh undesirable for human consumption although it is allowable. We by nature will not touch it IF there is other food available.

More to come...Lord willing.


_________________
Sandra Miller

 2012/2/4 11:00Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

QUOTE:
"I am nothing, and know nothing and yet in pride and self I try to do things my own way..."Forgive me LORD JESUS!"

Sister, you have a lot of company - many can relate..


_________________
Sandra Miller

 2012/2/4 11:17Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re: Leviticus 11:25,28,40 - washings

Leviticus 11:25,28,40
25 and whoever picks up any of their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

28 and the one who picks up their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; they are unclean to you.

40 ‘He too, who eats some of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening, and the one who picks up its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

COMMENT:

It seems as though the oftener I look at this chapter the more insights I get...the one I will share today is not the one I noticed before reading this morning.

Washing. If any had an physical contact with any carcass of an unclean animal, they were unclean all day and had to wash themselves and their clothes at the evening to render themselves clean once again.

What makes us dirty? What can I do that makes me feel so dirty inside?

I used to milk cows twice a day. We had a modern dairy barn where these cows were fed and milked. While in there they allowed nature to empty their bladders and bowels which rendered the air smelly. This, of course, penetrated anything nearby, including me. I used to say I did not care how smelly I got, how much I stank as long as there was soap and water available to clean myself afterwards. A shower and a complete change of clothes rendered me smelling nice and sweet. Ahh...the power of water [and soap].

In John 4:14: "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Ahhh...the cleansing power of the WORD that dwells within.

2Corinthians 6:17 "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you," this scripture is more to the point. A few verses above he discussed one being unequally yoked with unbelievers. Doing so will contaminate one.

How do we get clean after being contaminated by an 'unclean' action? Is it not by shedding anything on/in our body that was touched by the unclean? Is it not by immersing ourselves daily in the WORD of God and allowing it to fill our heart, soul and mind, allow it to shape our opinions, our wants, desires, goals?

Washing. Am I daily washing my soul, spirit and heart by the Water of the WORD?


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Sandra Miller

 2012/2/6 10:03Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re: Leviticus 11

All these unclean animals - quite a list, but will limit my comments to a few of them.

When I read this through a few weeks ago, I laughed, thought how funny it was that by nature we women hate MICE, roaches, bugs, et al. If we see a mouse we will work to kill that thing NOW or ASAP! And woe if we ever see a dead one or see their deposits (yes, poop) in drawers like tea towels, kitchen utensils. We feel compelled to wash and wash it all. Yuk!

Where does this loathing for these creatures come from? Ever thought about it?

Or, how about rats? Now this belongs to the realm of men vs rats - it gets to be a full blown battle for them. If you have livestock, rats will love your grain, eat it and soon you will have a thriving population of rats in your barn - if not killed. They will burrow tunnels under your concrete complicating the battle even more. (You can try gassing them like our son did - never did learn how many died..) They are repugnant creatures not to mention how their feed consumption will cut into your profits.

Ever seen pics of Indian (in India) children with rats eating grain? Somehow, this idea and fact repulses. It almost seems demonic, if you want to describe it such.

Since God has placed within our hearts a repulsion for these creatures, is there a physical reason why this is so? Is God working to protect our physical well-being by getting us to hate these things? Science has taught us that rats, mice carry insects that will jump onto man, spreading deadly diseases. I do not know how many more of these unclean animals could potentially be the purveyors of diseases.

As one reads, studies these laws is it not amazing how we moderns do these things but never give it a thought to the origin of these concepts?

I can understand why God has cleansed these unclean animals. One only has to read and study the life of those imprisoned for their faith - like Sabrina Wurmbrand - who ate mice, rats (?) for lack of proper food. One could say God provided them with this source of food for their body.

Ahhh, do we not see how God was interested in maintaining the health of his people by teaching them to detest some creatures because they do carry vermin that threatens their physical well-being?

God loves us so much- do we appreciate His WORD and how it teaches us so much?


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Sandra Miller

 2012/2/7 10:55Profile
StarofG0D
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Joined: 2007/10/28
Posts: 1232
United States

 Re:

Hi Ginny,
Love this little section on OT gems. It is a wonder that we can find so much in the OT when a soul diligently seeks it out. He is good beyond all our ways and means of doing things. There is a little book called 'None of These Diseases' in which the writers go along some of the same lines you are going. It's a great read!
I was just reading the first chapter in which they are talking about leprosy and how for hundreds of years the cure was unknown, and it was not until the 19th century that doctors finally figured out it was an infection and quarantined people that had leprosy, "put them outside the camp," that this leprosy was finally nearly unknown of in Norway. Amazing, His law still works today!

However, also thinking about how these people decided to "finally listen to their preachers and carefully follow the biblical rules." How true it is today in following our Lord, in following His strict example that has been set out and laid out before us.

Anyways, thanks for posting these thoughts from the OT.


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Michelle

 2012/2/7 11:28Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

I have also read the book "None of These Diseases" many years ago which helped to open my eyes to the practical aspect of the law.

The restriction of separating people with infectious diseases is something most people will now do to contain its spread. And when was it that scientists discovered THAT?

The OT law was far ahead of modern scientific knowledge, was it not?


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Sandra Miller

 2012/2/8 11:09Profile
SHMILY
Member



Joined: 2009/12/13
Posts: 203
Northern Idaho

 Re:

Ginny,

Thank you for this thread. It is a breath of fresh air.

Have a blessed day! May you see God's fingerprints in it!
REJOICE! =)
Mary

 2012/2/8 11:24Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Leviticus 12 - the Laws of Motherhood

Leviticus 12

Laws of Motherhood

1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: ‘When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean.

3‘On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4‘Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed.

5‘But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days.

6‘When the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.

7‘Then he shall offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, whether a male or a female.

8‘But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”

COMMENT:

I just love this chapter! So many practical lessons here. Having said this I want to reiterate that the observance of it does not impact our salvation one way or another. But what can we learn from it? Let us take a look. This law pertains to females - I suspect males won't care one way or another...so here goes, ladies!

The law stipulated that a woman who gave birth will be unclean for a certain number of days as in her menstruation. After that she will still be unclean for a period of time but is not to touch any thing that is consecrated. The days of being unclean varied whether the child was a male or female.

Anyhow.

What does this look like in life?

It means that after birthing a child a mother is to be quiet, limit her activities including the cooking, washing of clothes, caring for the family. Instead she is to focus on caring for her baby and allow her body to heal from this episode of birthing - I promise you this is a traumatic event for a physical body.

My generation, I was born in 1947, was told that we can do whatever we want when 'flowing', that it is not necessary to be 'quiet' in our activities like our mothers had taught us. The same philosophy was applied to a new mother. Many did this. After birthing they were up, about, shopping, running the household like nothing happened. And the result?

In todays' world most women my age and many younger have had hysterectomies because of excessive bleeding OR because of over-energetic OB-GYNs, not sure which. But this used to not be the case. What happened? I am convinced it is because mothers failed to take proper care of their bodies after birthing a child or when they were flowing - after all there was a loss of blood every month or so.

When I was a young woman birthing children it was painful - I hurt - was forced to take it easy. And that was nice, actually, just sit around, care for the baby and let others fend for themselves, for once. (I am not sure I was aware of this principle as written here - I did it because mom did.)
To this day neither me nor my mom have had hysterectomies and both of us have gone through menopause without the use of drugs. (Oh, sure I had hot flashes which provided my husband with funny stories!)

OK, now let us take a look at the time a mother had to spend with her baby. We see the time of her 'uncleanness' varied with the gender of her child. This amount of time will result in a bonding between the child and the mother. The fact that a mother was unclean longer after birthing a girl seems significant and makes one wonder why. I suggest that it is to enhance the bonding of the mother with her daughter. In pagan cultures girls were readily discarded because they placed a low value on her. This bonding of mom with child will go a LONG way to prevent this from happening. She will not want to see her child suffer - you hurt her daughter and you have an angry woman on your hands - for justifiable reasons!

Did God care about the physical welfare of women? I think so. He gave these laws forcing women to care for themselves otherwise they would likely have done what moderns do - go do their own thing regardless because they felt good and never considered they will be harming their bodies and buying discomfort in the future.

I think God really loves women. Don't you? I sense his warm smile, don't you?





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Sandra Miller

 2012/2/8 11:49Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Leviticus 13,14 - Law dealing with Leprosy

Leviticus 13,14 - laws dealing with Leprosy.

Due to the length of these chapters, I will forgo coping it here. But I would encourage any who reads this post to read it

I find this law fascinating for several reasons:
1. There must be an accurate diagnoses made
2. The victim is isolated until this diagnoses is certain.
3. The religious leaders were knowledgeable of skin diseases and other natural occurring disorders.

And the result:
1. Even if it is not leprosy, isolating the victim will result in containment of the disease most of the time.
2. The law of sanitation rules in halting the spread of disease.

The rule concerning 'leprosy' in/on a building is a fascinating one. If it cannot be cleaned, it is to be destroyed. When a building (house) is infected with mold, it is very hard to get rid of. This law commands that when it fails to respond to treatment it is to be destroyed.

It is an establish fact that many persons are very sensitive to mold. When it occurs in the dwelling, it will sicken its occupants.

Now, who knew how up-to-date the OT law is? These rules of sanitation, isolation are the rule in the treatment of diseases. How long has it been since this became the norm for modern life?






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Sandra Miller

 2012/2/11 8:56Profile
ArtB
Member



Joined: 2004/4/27
Posts: 431
New York

 Re:

Quote:
by ginnyrose on 2012/2/8 8:09:56

I have also read the book "None of These Diseases" many years ago which helped to open my eyes to the practical aspect of the law.

The restriction of separating people with infectious diseases is something most people will now do to contain its spread. And when was it that scientists discovered THAT?

The OT law was far ahead of modern scientific knowledge, was it not?



Ginnyrose, you are doing exactly what God instructed the Hebrews when He gave them The Mosaic Laws on creatures not to eat. The word that is traditional translated into 'obey', does not mean obey.

The Hebrew word I am referring to is 'shama', shama actually means: to hear intelligently.

In your posts, you are giving us intelligent reasons as to why it is not good to eat certain foods God banned. Though in the New Covenant (Contract with God) there is no Law against eating these creatures, meaning that we do not lose our salvation by eating them, but we are likely going to get sick.

Though not mentioned in the OT Law, but for 'intelligent reasons' (shama) we are intelligently aware that we ought not eat any fish that contains mercury.

I'm enjoying reading your posts this thread.


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Arthur Biele

 2012/2/11 10:41Profile





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