Translation & Sermon By Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 13 Mar 2016
17 חֻקַּת עוֹלָם לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם בְּכֹל מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם כָּל-חֵלֶב וְכָל-דָּם לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ: פ
3:17 This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your places of residence: You shall not eat any fat or any blood!
· Last week, we noted that the last verse of Leviticus 3 is different from the verses before it on how to sacrifice animals. It’s a rule about what not to eat, and it says it is a “perpetual statute.” I would like to move from the more principial approach that I took last week to a more practical approach this week as to whether or not this verse prohibits us from eating blood and fat.
· To review the principles from last week:
o I noted, in passing, that 2 Timothy 3:15-17 teaches that “all Scripture [even Leviticus 3:17!] is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching... and training in righteousness,” so I believe that there has got to be something worth learning and applying from this verse, and I highlighted two fundamental truths about God which come out of this verse:
o One being that He is the Creator, so He has authority to make demands on us, because everything He created belongs to Him.
§ This leads us to a figurative application connected with this law. Since blood symbolizes life in the Bible, this command can figuratively be interpreted as a form of the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not murder.” Don’t take life – apart from God’s permission, and don’t use your life to do whatever you want. Your life – and the life of every creature – belongs to God.
o This bridges to the second point I made, which is that God is our Redeemer.
§ God specifically designated the blood on the altar to be a symbol of His redemption of sinful man: Leviticus 17:11 “...the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (NKJV)
§ Furthermore, 1 Samuel 15:23 teaches us that the altar with the fat and blood on it was supposed to be a symbol of people’s inner life being right with God: “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
§ The only blood that the Bible tells us to drink is the blood of Jesus (John 6:53-54). But even that is not to be done physically by “drinking” but figuratively by “believing,” according to John 6:47.
§ These symbols of salvation – the Old Testament animal sacrifices as well as the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament church – were designed by God to relate to us inside of time and point us regularly to the single most important event in history, when the Son of God died on the cross as a substitute for us in order to save us from God’s wrath against our sin. Not eating the blood of sacrificial animals symbolically meant that those who sacrificed animals weren’t getting their life from those animals, they are going to get eternal life from Jesus instead. Similarly, I have seen people who thought they could get extra grace from God if they ate the leftover communion bread, but it’s not the bread, it is Jesus that we get grace from!
§ Now, since we don’t sacrifice animals anymore, there aren’t many opportunities for us to think about this law and what it means, apart from maybe an annual deer-hunt.
§ Is there a different way to apply this principle which would remind us more often of this principle today? I suggest that fasting (or even partial-fasting) is one way to do that. It is a way to remind yourself, “My life does not come from food; ultimately it comes from Jesus.” If you have never purposefully abstained from something you are tempted to idolize, consider a temporary fast from that thing to remind yourself that your life, your comfort, your joy, does not come from it but rather from Jesus.
· Now, last week, I pretty much left things without taking a position one way or the other on whether this command not to eat fat or blood applies literally to Christians today. I only took the position that figurative applications can be made from this command.
· Today, in order to answer the question of whether we should literally abstain from fat and blood, I want to consider three more things:
o First, what the Hebrew words of this command actually say and mean in context – so far we haven’t done that exegetical study yet.
o Second, we need to look at all the parallel passages to see all the contexts in which this command was valid, and
o Finally, we need to see if the law was changed or abrogated. Then I will share my conclusion. So, first...
· It is a “statute” (NIV = “ordinance”). The Hebrew word comes from the root הקק = “to engrave.” Kings in the old days would engrave new laws into stone for all their subjects to see and remember.
o “Statute” and “ordinance” are usually words for a type of law which is not universal but rather is decided upon by local authorities to be binding only on their constituency[1].
§ “Thou shalt not murder” is a universal law that applies at all times and all places,
§ but, “You must have health insurance or else you will be fined” is more like an ordinance because it was passed by the U.S. Legislature and is currently being enforced by the U.S. President only on American citizens. (Obamacare doesn’t apply to citizens of Timbuktu.)
o So the word “statute/ordinance” might indicate that this is a law that could be limited in scope and perhaps even changed or repealed.
o And, of the hundred occurrences of the word “statute” in the Old Testament, 95 of them refer to temple-based rituals which have not been in practice since the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70.[2]
o Nevertheless, throughout the Pentateuch, countless exhortations were given to the Jews to keep God’s statutes along with the commandments and ordinances. Blessings were promised to those who obeyed these statutes, and curses threatened for disobedience.
o Many of the prophets – most notably Ezekiel – specifically blamed Israel’s violations of the statutes as the reason why God punished the nation with exile in Babylon.
· Moving on from the word “statute,” in Leviticus 3:17, we see it has three universal descriptors:
o עוֹלָם “perpetual/enduring/eternal” It usually means “forever” but it can mean “a long time.” So that doesn’t settle the question for us.
o לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם “to/for your generations” (NIV = “for the generations [to come].” This statute is not just for the hearers of Moses’ time, but for their descendants, but it doesn't say “all” generations, just “your generations.”
o בְּכֹל מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם “in all your places of residence” (KJV, NAS = “dwellings”) This noun comes from the root ישב “to sit,” and is expanded to mean “assemblies, dwelling places” (BDB), and “residences, living areas” (Holiday)[3].
o So this statute holds not only for a long time (perhaps forever), and for generations to come, but also in every place that God’s people live!
· On the other hand, there is something curious about the Bible's use of this phrase “perpetual statute.” The phrase always has to do with what we consider ceremonial laws – which passed away with the resurrection of Jesus and the destruction of the Jewish temple. Following is a list of the only things I could find in the Bible which are called “perpetual” or “eternal” statutes:
o Laws governing the priests and temple worship: Sons of Aaron (Ex. 29:9), Levitical cities of refuge (Num. 35:29), priestly linen clothing (Ex. 28:43), priest’s ceremonial washing (Ex. 30:21), Levites working in temple (Lev. 24:9), priest’s meal-offerings (Lev. 6:22), priest’s duty to blow trumpets before war (Num. 10:8), priest’s duty to keep the lamps burning (Lev. 24:3), priest eating the showbread (Lev. 24:9), offering sacrifices at altar (Lev. 17:7), and prohibition of priests drinking alcohol while on temple duty (Lev. 10:9).
o Feast days and Sabbaths: First-fruits/Pentecost (Lev. 23:4 & 21), Passover/Unleavened Bread (Ex. 12:14 & 17), and the Day of Atonement/Trumpets/Feast of Booths (Lev. 16:29-34; 23:41; Num. 10:8)
o And in addition to the temple worship and the holidays the perpetual statutes include a couple of cleanliness-laws for laity: Washing with lye (water mixed with ashes) after touching a dead body (Num. 19:10-21), and this prohibition against eating fat and blood in Lev. 3:17.
· However, not all the ceremonial law was enshrined in “perpetual statutes.”
o Some “ceremonial” laws, such as the prohibitions against eating unclean animals (which were abrogated in the New Testament), were not called “perpetual statutes” in the O.T.
o And there are other statutes, which are considered to be ceremonial law, which are mentioned without the descriptor of perpetuity[4], such as Sabbaths (Ez. 44:24), The sin-offering (Num. 1), Family vows (Num. 30:16), Purifying booty won in war (Num. 31:21), Inheritance traditions (Num. 27:11), Avoiding the blood of menstruation (Lev. 20:18), and the prohibition against cross-breeding (Lev. 19:19).
· Some of these statutes correspond to contemporary things like agriculture, warfare, and family life, but, in what sense would “perpetual statutes” about long-defunct Israelite temple worship be “perpetual” if they only apply to something that doesn’t exist anymore? I suggest they have enduring value for the spiritual and heavenly principles they were designed to point to.
à God’s people – even in the Old Testament – had the freedom to create new holidays, such as the Jews did with Purim in Esther’s day and with Hanukkah in the time of the Maccabes (a feast which Jesus himself observed, by the way, in John 10:22).
à Perhaps we are no longer bound to rigidly observe only the statutory Old Testament feasts, but seeing as that Old Testament holiday calendar was designed by God Himself, there would be real benefits from patterning our modern holiday system after it as an example.
à I have pointed out before how our Thanksgiving holiday was patterned after Sukkot, one of the three major holidays of the Mosaic system. I can’t help but wonder if God is really insulted when His people instead observe things like Labor Day, and Halloween. Don’t get me wrong – I believe that there is nothing wrong with enjoying whatever can be redeemed of our culture’s holiday system, and I will continue to enjoy Christmas, but I will also seek to understand these Old Testaments feasts and find connecting points for the observance of modern holidays.
à In fact, any special church event or family holiday where God is worshipped and a meal is served could be a kind of modern application of the peace offering.
à “Do not unscrew the cover while unit is plugged into power.” That is wise for most people, but it is not a rule I always follow because I have enough experience as an electrician to know how to stay safe around live electricity.
à It seems to me that this is the case when it comes to eating unclean animals in the Bible. The kinds of animals that the Old Testament law said not to eat are generally animals that are more likely to pass diseases on to humans. Unless you know biology well enough to navigate all those diseases safely, it’s easiest to maintain good health by just following what the owner’s manual says.
à In this way, it is not so much a moral issue as it is a wisdom issue what you eat.
· Frankly, I don’t see that the Hebrew words of Leviticus 3:17 in their context settle the question of whether or not we can eat blood or fat organs today. So let’s open the scope wider: Did this law ever apply to people outside of the Old Testament nation of Israel?
· Moses was not the first one to record a divine law against eating blood. Let's look at what God told Noah around a thousand years before Moses: Genesis 9:4 “But you shall not eat flesh with its life – its blood.”
o The context in Genesis 9 has to do with murder: “whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” God does not explain exactly why no blood should be eaten, but the context seems to indicate that this practice would be a way of honoring all life as precious to God, which is what is positively enjoined upon us along with the negative law against murder. It is a way of honoring life as precious to God.
· Moses was also not the last one to state this law, because it shows up again in the New Testament!
o In Acts 15, the apostles and elders in Jerusalem were called upon to settle a dispute between Jewish and Gentile Christians in Turkey. The Jews said that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised, and Paul was maintaining that they didn’t have to. This resulted in a statement from the Jerusalem council to the effect that Gentile believers would do well if they merely abstained from sexual immorality, idolatry, and blood (Acts 15:22-29).
o There are different theories among Christians as to why the Apostles continued this prohibition:
§ Princeton theology professor Geerhardus Vos wrote that it was, “obligatory for Gentile Christians... not because the thing was wrong in itself, but for the reason that no offense should be given to Jewish-Christian brethren.” (Biblical Theology, P.53)
§ Another explanation that I find more compelling is that all the practices which the apostles told Gentiles to avoid were common in pagan worship in the Roman Empire, and therefore, the Apostles' rules were designed to encourage Gentile converts to demonstrate that they were really Christians by making a clean break with Paganism and no longer participating in the idol worship, blood ceremonies, and sexual rites that Pagans did in their temples.
§ However, in his Institutes on Biblical Law, Rousas Rushdoony noted that none of these reasons are actually found in Acts 15. He maintained that these were binding because of the continuing force of Old Testament Law. He’s got a point.
· As we look at the parallel passages, it should be clear to us that this law was not restricted to the nation of Israel under Moses. It was given to all mankind under Noah, and it was also enforced by the Apostles upon Gentiles in the New Testament church. That means that we can't say it was only for the political nation of Israel.
· But even a long-standing law could be revoked. Does the New Testament abrogate this law?
· Three passages in the New Testament indicate a change in the food laws instituted in the O.T.
o In Mark 7:18-19, Jesus said, “...Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?’ (Thus He declared all foods clean.)” (NASB)
o Then, in Acts 11:5-9, the apostle Peter said, “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw... wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But I said, 'By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' But a voice from heaven answered a second time, 'What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.'” (NASB)
o Finally, in Romans 14:20, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense.”
· All three of these passages indicate that eating food that was declared “unclean” by Old Testament law is no longer a sin in-and-of itself. The reasons for this would introduce a whole new sermon topic, so I won’t go there this morning.
· However, this is not relevant to the prohibition against eating blood and fat. Fat and blood do not appear in the Old Testament lists of “unclean” foods. They are prohibited, not for being unclean, but for being holy, belonging to God, and therefore off-limits to man. So I do not think we can say that Jesus revoked the command in Leviticus 3:17 to abstain from blood and fat.
· So, should we eat blood and fat today?
o In light of the enduring principles behind God’s law, in light of the force that this particular law had in every era of redemptive history, and in light of the fact that it was not specifically revoked, it seems wisest to follow the statute still today and not eat blood or the large deposits of fat on an animal.
o Please understand, this is not going to save[6] you, and it is not something to go on a crusade over; it is simply something we can do in our private life to show respect for God. The blood and fat are His.
· In many cases, this is all a moot point:
o Butchers in the USA are pretty much required to drain the blood out of an animal before quartering it,
o and we don't eat big globs of fat in our culture either.
o Wide swaths of humanity follow suit in their diet, I suspect, because the command goes all the way back to Noah, the father of all nations.
· But what if you sit down in some dark corner of the world and someone serves you blood sausage or lard-cakes?
o I recommend eating it without raising questions of conscience, based on Jesus’ instructions to His disciples, “Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'” (Luke 10:8-9, NASB[7]),
o but I wouldn’t buy it for myself to eat on a regular basis.
o I would do my best to eat what is served me – unless it is clearly part of a demonic or satanic blood ritual, then I would refuse it on religious grounds.
· The law system that God created is good[8]. In Christian liberty, let us not “throw out the baby with the bathwater” when we encounter an Old Testament law that seems strange to us, but rather let us seek to understand it in the context of the whole Bible and find out valid ways to connect with it – even if it does not make or break our salvation.
[1] “Statutes” in the Bible applied not only to the Jews in Israel, but also to the “sojourners” (Num. 9:14) and the “strangers” (Num. 15) in Israel.
[2] The other occurrences are: (1) in reference to laws of Egypt (Lev. 18:3), and Persia (Dan.6) - Keeping God’s statutes is often contrasted against worshipping other gods (I Ki. 9:6), (2) a rule David made about sharing the booty of war with those who stayed back from a battle to guard the camp (I Sam. 30), and (3) the covenant-promise God made to Jacob, which was later called a “statute” by Moses and David (Ps. 105:10). The New Testament was written in a different language, namely Greek, and the Greek translation of Lev. 3:17 uses a word not found in the New Testament. However, there are other Greek words translated by some English versions of the New Testament with the word “statute/ ordinance” in Luke 1:6, Romans 1:32; 13:2; and Ephesians 2:15, Hebrews 9:1&10, 1 Pet. 2:13, and a couple in Colossians and 1 Corinthians in the KJV that the NKJV didn't see fit to carry over.
[3] The LXX translates it κατοικίᾳ “houses.”
[4] Nowhere in the New Testament is the law said to last forever, but it is said in two places that Christ will be forever: John 12:34 (referring to such places as Ps. 89:28-29; Ps. 110:4; Dan. 2:44; and Dan. 7:13-14) Hebrews 7:28 “For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.” (NKJV)
[5] Hebrews 8:5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, "SEE," He says, "THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN." Hebrews 9:23-24 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (NASB)
[6] 2 Timothy 1:9 “God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (NASB)
[7] cf. 1 Corinthians 10: 27-28 “If someone of the unbelievers calls you and you wish to go, you should eat anything that is set before you, not making a single judgment with regards to the conscience. But if someone happens to say to you, “This is a temple-sacrifice!” stop eating – on account of that informant and his conscience.”
[8]
Rom. 7:12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous
and good.
1Tim. 1:8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully.