I urge every Christian to learn as much as they can about Judaism and the Old Testament. I have this book that by no means claims their views are facts but does give very good solid reasons on why the oral law, known as the Levitical or Mosaic Law, was given and why it was extremely good for that age. I'll give you a few that I remember and will find the book (it was misplaced when we moved but it's in the house) and I'll share that with you. When you consider the times and customs of that period, laws that made no sense to us today suddenly enlightens us to the awesome God we worship. To me, whether or not they are the right answer, at least it gave me some insight that in my case, increased my faith and belief in the Bible and that God indeed created us as only He could know our bodies and what is good and bad for us. My first is a dietary law on the reason Jews were forbidden of eating pork and shellfish and fish that didn't have both scales and gills (I think that's what they were).
Let's start with pork. Pigs do not have sweat glands and even though they were called "unclean" doesn't mean that pigs are in any way bad. God created them and what did He say about everything He created? It was "good." So pigs are not to be hated or called bad as they were created to clean the earth. That is their purpose. That's a good thing. That's why even today (although we are no longer under bondage of the Law of Moses), we should either abstain or vastly limit the eating of pork. They will eat anything, including snakes, rats, mice, worms, trash, etc. and since they have no way of releasing toxins from their bodies, whatever they eat, so do we. Also, our bodies cannot metabolize and rid our bodies of pork fat. If you eat a great amount of pork, you are causing damage to your bodies. That's a proven fact. Honestly, pork is my favorite meat. I love BBQ and pork ribs. I'd eat it everyday if I could but it's rare that I do today. Sure I miss it and I am quite sure I'm not sinning by eating pork but if I choose to, I have to live with the consequences of it. My husband had a quad bypass and I love him far more than ribs so I don't cook it. I may buy it if we go out to eat for me but he abstains except in extremely rare cases. I'd rather have him breathing. I don't buy and cook pork. I also limit beef but he's a very picky eater and doesn't like vegetables. I tease him about this and say that the reason he won't eat vegetables is that he's not a cannibal. He's afraid of eating one of his relatives, lol. A private joke we share. I'm learning how to hide vegetables in his food but shhhh, don't tell him.
Now to shellfish. I didn't know this but shellfish contains iodine and Jewish people have a high population of people allergic to iodine. Today, we have epi pens and other means of helping people who have severe or life-threatening allergic reactions but back then, they didn't. The only way to know if one was allergic was to eat it and if they were, it meant instant death. So, this book believes that this law was given to prevent the death of Jews. You don't know if you're allergic to iodine so do not eat it because it will end badly for you if you are. That's a great law! It is also not specific to Jews as many non-Jews are also allergic to iodine. Fish without both scales and gills are also ocean cleaners and again, as with pork, what they eat, so do you. I have never liked fish very much and the few I do eat are healthy. Tuna, salmon, talapia, flounder, they are fine and extremely healthy as they are rich with Omega 3 so if you like fish, eat as much as you can.
Also keep in mind we were not created to be meat eaters. We were to eat the green herbs. In other words, we were created to be vegetarians. I'm not sure when we started eating meat, as some say after the fall of man but I believe it says it was after the flood that we became meat eaters but don't quote me on that. As I said, this book doesn't claim that they know the mind of God and exactly why He gave these laws but from what we know today, it's possible that these are the reasons. By no means is this meant to be factual but it is at least giving us new insights into things we don't understand. As I said, it built my faith. I'm going to cover one or two more.
One of the oral laws that never made sense to me was the no mixing of fabrics. Here's their thoughts on this law. Jewish people generally wore clothing made of linen, wool, or cotton. Natural growing plant materials. Other cultures wore leather, and other types of clothing mixed with other types of fabric. These cultures were dangerous to the Jews. They were not a very well-received people and they were in constant danger. It goes along with the no cutting yourself or putting any marks (tattoos) on your bodies. Here's why...if someone of danger tried to infiltrate themselves into their tribes, they would be identified as dangerous immediately by their clothing and/or tattoos. It was a great way of keeping themselves safe and protected. Yes, it also probably had something to do with keeping their bloodline pure. You must keep in mind that the Old Testament is about one thing and one thing only and that's the birth of the Messiah. No one new when or who would bring Him into the world so it was a must to keep their bloodline absolutely pure in order to fulfill God's plan for all of humanity. So many people think that the Jewish people today who have not believed that Yeshua is the Messiah continues to keep their bloodline pure because they think they are a superior race. Not true. They are still waiting for the promised Messiah as they don't believe Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. But before you think more highly of yourself than you ought, remember that they were blinded to Him, in part, for our sake. Yahwey has great plans for the Jews and has not forsaken them by any means. They are still His chosen people. I have a theory on why they are His chosen as I believe they were the only ones who stayed faithful to Him and His sovereignty over the world as the others were worshiping strange and false Gods. They are His Chosen to be an example and a light of Him to the world. God is not a respecter of persons. He loves us all the same. He doesn't love the Jewish people more than He loves us and today He certainly doesn't love them one bit less. This is my opinion and I may be right or not. No true Christian should ever be antisimitic. That's wrong on every level.
This is just a few examples I specifically remember that I wanted to share. As long as you don't obey the law thinking that by doing so it somehow saves you, if you want to follow the law, especially the dietary ones, go for it. Respect the Jews who do follow the law that have yet to accept the Messiah. They will one day. Since tonight begins their Sabbath, out of support for Israel and the Jews, I wanted to share a bit of their history. Also, for those who think that the oral law was or is somehow bad laws, nothing Yahwey did was ever bad. While today as we are under grace and most of the laws are no longer really applicable, they're not bad laws. We're just no longer required to keep because to us Christians, we know that Jesus fulfilled the law. We are free from the bondage of the law but we should never boast in this. Christ did this for us, not us. We are no better than those who are still under the Law nor should be ever be offensive towards this. I think this applies to those of other faiths as well.
Learn your Hebrew roots. It's vital to understanding the New Testament. Some call it the "better" Testament but I don't. I think that term is offensive. I'm not being politically correct here as I feel that's a major reason we're in the mess we're in today but just because we have the right to say things, it doesn't make it right. On the flip side, I believe in freedom of speech and people are just way over the top with having their feelings hurt and getting offended over the least little thing. If someone offends you, Jesus told us what to do, turn the other cheek. Walk away and don't start a fight. Let it go. It's not worth going to jail over. He was the wisest man/God ever!
Shabbot Shalom and Happy Sabbath to those who keep the traditional Fri/Sat day of rest. Be blessed!
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