This chapter deals with clean and unclean animals, but it is not clear exactly why some were considered clean by the Lord and others unclean. There have been many theories advanced and no single theory has been universally agreed on – we can only speculate.

Bearing in mind that under the New Covenant, none of the food rules apply to believers any longer, is there anything then that we can learn from this passage? Yes! There must be because 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that all Scripture is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…”

Perhaps we can learn something about what it means to live a life that honours the Lord. The Lord ends his explanations about clean and unclean animals with the declaration, “… therefore be holy, because I am holy.” All of these regulations are about the holiness of the people.

God’s people were to be different from those nations around them. They were to live their daily lives, even down to what they ate and didn’t eat, as a set apart people. If nothing else, the daily rigour, the discipline of remembering and applying the regulations set by the Lord would train them in obedience and remind them at all times of the Lordship of God in all aspects of life.

How different might our lives be if we practised the daily accountability to God that is demanded of the Israelites here? Colossians 3:17 tells us, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” May obedience, accountability and thankfulness be our daily habits.

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NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH