IBL06: Sixth Commandment

Dietary Laws

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Prerequisite/Law

Genre: Speech

Track: 48

Dictation Name: RR130Z48

Location/Venue: ________

Year: 1960’s-1970’s.

Deuteronomy 14:1-21, dietary rules.

“14 Ye are the children of the Lord your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

2 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

3 Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.

4 These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

5 The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.

6 And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat.

7 Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you.

8 And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.

9 These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat:

10 And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.

11 Of all clean birds ye shall eat.

12 But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

13 And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind,

14 And every raven after his kind,

15 And the owl, and the nighthawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,

16 The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan,

17 And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant,

18 And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.

19 And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.

20 But of all clean fowls ye may eat.

21 Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.”

Eating and drinking together with every other aspect of life is regulated by biblical law.

The laws of diet or the kosher laws are generally well known, but here as elsewhere man sees God’s rule as a frustration and a hinderance of life rather than as a principle of life, a means of blessing and furthering life. In scripture the purpose of eating and drinking is not ascetic. That is, it has health in mind but not health alone, it is part of our enjoyment of life. As a result the ascetic definitely is not scriptural. In fact, one might say, to take the middle ages when the fat jolly monk was regarded as somehow irreligious and the lean ascetic monk was regarded as wholly; the bible perhaps would tend to say it should have been, if anything, the other way around because the biblical principle is of course health, but also the enjoyment of life.

As Solomon declared, every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor it is the gift of God. And as Saint Paul added, every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Thus, food is given not only for the substance of man but also for his enjoyment with temperance. Now it is often stated that before the flood according to Genesis 1:29 and 30 permission to eat non-carnivorous foods, vegetables, was alone given. And that in Genesis 9:3 the permission to eat meat was given. However we are not given grounds enough to be sure that meat eating started only after the flood because there are references before the flood to clean and unclean animals and we do know that cattle raising was a part of the life. So apparently the division between good meats and unclean meats had already been made by God directly to his people.

Very definitely in the New Testament it is stated that it is the mark of seducing spirits and the doctrine of devils, that is, the teaching forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God has created to be received with Thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. Religious vegetarianism is thus very sharply condemned in scripture. If a man wants to practice it he does so then only on purely personal grounds, scripture gives him no grounds for doing it religiously. Now, the laws of diet as they were given by Moses appear in a number of passages. The one we read, Deuteronomy 14:1-21, and especially Leviticus 11 as well as other passages.

These passages are sometimes a little difficult to follow because so many of the names of animals are unfamiliar to us or the names have changed. And some of the animals have disappeared and some we simply do not know what the name refers to. The English translators gave guesses at a number of points. However, the general principles are clear cut. Certain principles are given here. First let us examine what Moses under God taught concerning diet and then having analyzed his principal let us see what our relationship to them is today. How valid are these for us now?

Before we analyze these general rules that appear in the law, it is well to point out that these are basically the laws of diet to which you adhere today, with minor exceptions. In other words, in every Christian country the diet today has been changed to conform with exceptions, to the mosaic regulations. We no longer eat the kind of thing that was once commonplace in Europe, America, and elsewhere in pre-Christian times. For example, and this is still true today among Western American tribes, puppies are a great favorite. And it is well to keep your puppy indoors after dark if you are among certain Indians or your puppy will wind up in a pot! And we could go on and cite a variety of animals which are the choicest parts of the diets of many people which to us would be a revolting thing to eat.

Now first of all, the eating of blood is forbidden. The animal, on being butchered, must be bled. And this particular rule was restated in Acts 15:20, so we have this very clearly in both Testaments. Second, any animal that dies of itself is ruled out as a part of the diet. In other words it must be butchered. Again this goes sharply against the diet of many people, in some parts of the world in the past and to this day a dead animal is preferred because they believe the meat has gotten riper and as a result, tastier. And it is very highly regarded. Now the law as saw in the twenty-first verse, says that such meat as a cow dies can be given to the aliens who are within the land or sold to others. In other words, as long as it is sold for what it is, a dead animal, there is no point in trying to conform the diets of the unbelievers who will not agree with your principles, so that it can be sold to them.

Third, animal fats are forbidden. This does not mean every little bit that is a part of a piece of steak or anything, but the large segments of fat when there is butchering has to be trimmed away. There is no ban on vegetable fat. Here we can add that medical science has tended to confirm this ban on animals fats.

Fourth, with respect to animals and birds and in most cases with fish also, the scavenger animals are forbidden food. Any animal that is a scavenger is forbidden, and as a result shellfish are on the list of the foods that are prescribed because the shellfish are scavengers. Catfish, again, are banned in that they are scavenger fish. The only partial exception here you might say is the carp, which because it had fins and scales was not in the list of forbidden fish. And it is not as clearly a scavenger fish as some of the others such as the catfish.

Fifth, carnivorous animals, beasts of prey, the lions and dogs and the like, are very clearly forbidden. The pig, by the way, is also forbidden among these scavenger animals and this is the most conspicuous exception together with the shellfish from the modern diet. Almost the only point at which our diet and the Mosaic laws part company.

Sixth, herbivorous animals are clearly allowed. That is grass eating animals. Unless they neither chew the cud nor divide the hoof. The horse as a result is banned, as well as the pig. And the horse was once the staple in European diet in pre christian times. The only area where it has remained of course, is France. Grain feeding birds thus are the permitted birds, but the carnivorous birds, the birds of prey, are banned.

Seventh, all the insects except those of the locust family are prohibited. And the locust family of course was permitted but it was not prized. It was survival fare, and it was eaten in times of famine and in times of great difficulty.

Eighth, there is no legislation with respect to fruits, grains, eggs, and vegetables. These are all permitted, and taste, and the practicality of growing them are thus their only criteria.

Ninth, we have to point out that although there are very obvious rules of health apparent here, the primary principle is religious of which the ascetic and hygienic aspects are simply a part. The terms that are used in the law are clean and unclean, and other foods that are not clean are termed abomination. Religious and moral purity are clearly in mind here and physical purity is a part of this broader classification. Hence, not only are dead animals forbidden, but the flesh of animals torn by wild beasts. In Exodus 22 and 31. Such as animal could not then be butchered, for example, if a wolf or a bear attacked a cow that animal could not be butchered. If it recovered and went back into the herd, well and good, if it died it had to be fed to the dogs. Dead and wounded animals again could be sold to pagans.

Eleven, we must add that another category of forbidden foods with all foods and liquids remaining in uncovered vessels in the tent or room of a dying or a dead man, where there could be contagion. Again the health aspect is clearly in mind here, this appears in Numbers 19:14-16.

Then with regard to drink, temperance is the rule, and wine was a part of the legitimate offering to God in Numbers 16:5, 7, and 10. There are many warnings in scripture against intemperance, but we have also the council to Timothy by Saint Paul to avoid abstaining from wine and to take a little wine for the sake of thy stomach and for thine oft infirmities.

Now the question, having surveyed these laws of diet, recognizing that by and large they are the laws of diet they are the laws of eating which have molded our habits. With the exception of pork and shellfish, as the major exceptions... to what extent are these dietary laws still valid for us? At this point there are many who say that they have no validity and that Acts 10, Peter’s vision is our grounds for the abolition of these laws.

But the vision did not council Saint Peter to eat pork, or to eat dogs, cats, and the like, but to receive Gentiles whom he had up until that point as a result of the pharisaic teachings of the day regarded as unclean as say, a pig. What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And God was saying, I am cleansing the Gentiles who are coming to you. And Peter saw this as the meaning of it, and he said, you know that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a jew to keep company or come unto one that is of another nation, but God hast showed me that I shouldn’t call any man common or unclean. In other words, there is no reference in this chapter to diet. The vision had reference to the fact that against the Pharisaic designation of all other peoples as unclean, God said that he should call no man common or unclean.

However, in Colossians 2: 16-17 we do have a declaration concerning diet. Saint Paul says, Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect to the holy day, or the new moon, or other sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. We saw a few months ago the significance of this in relationship to the laws of the Sabbath. We are no longer under Sabbath law, the Sabbath is a principle of life for us which affects the totality of our life, we rest in Christ, he is our Sabbath, he is our peace.

Now as a rule we follow the council, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, but at this point the old Sabbath laws are no longer a matter of civil or Ecclesiastical law. They are our rule of faith, a principle of life, but not of legislation. This is also true therefore on the same premises for the law of diet. They are now dietary rules, not laws. What does this mean? Well, when we go to the New Testament we find very obviously what it meant. How were they going to live in a Gentile world and meet with Gentiles and seek their conversion if they could not eat with them or had to regard them in terms of the Pharisaic regulations as unclean?

Our Lord makes it clear, speaking through Saint Paul what the purpose of these laws are. They are not to prohibit intercourse with other people, they are not to prohibit any kind of relations with others. So that, for example, when Peter was with Gentiles he ate their food. He ate pork when it was served, he ate any kind of food that was served, because he was there not to teach them the rules of diet but to bring Christ to them. Now, when the Judaizers came and criticized Peter for this he promptly withdrew from these Gentiles, and Saint Paul tells us in Galatians 2:9-15 that he rebuked Peter to his face for this withdrawal. The Judaizers have followed the Pharisee’s in making the laws of diet central to salvation. They never had this purpose. Their purpose was to instruct the people of God in the basic principles of health as God ordained them.

So that the Pauline principle was sound. In essence, you follow the Mosaic regulations, but you do not say I will never touch these foods, and you eat whatever food is set before you because you do not make this a line of division. It is simply a guide, a rule of health. Even as we have not dropped the Sabbath but have dropped the od Judaic attitude regarding Sabbath laws, so we have not discarded the laws of diet, we in essence observe them, but we do not feel that we have sinned if we eat anything that is prescribed. These are thus rules of diet, principles of health, guidelines for the people of God, but not to be the line of separation between the people of God and the world. The line of separation, the dividing mark, must be Jesus Christ. The dividing mark must be Jesus Christ. Thus Israel misused these laws and made it it’s principle of separation, it’s principle as it were of salvation, and against this Saint Paul had to speak up. It was not the diet of Israel, nor the Sabbath of Israel, that constituted their principle of separation but the grace of God unto Salvation and so it must be with us. Thus, understood in these terms, these rules of diet still have validity for us in that they do disclose the wisdom of God concerning our daily life.

Let us pray.

Almighty God our heavenly Father, we give thanks unto thee for thy word. Give us ever grace our father to understand that thy word speaks unto us for salvation, for our sanctification, for our health, our welfare, our joy and our prosperity in thee. Teach us then to enjoy thy law and to delight in it, to obey it and day by day to seek in all things first thy kingdom and thy righteousness, knowing that all things will be added unto us who magnify thee and thy sovereignty. Amen.

Are there any questions now first of all with respect to our lesson?

Yes?