Arguments That We Should Follow The Food Laws - A Response To Dr. Michael Heiser (original) (raw)
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THE DIETARY LAWS OF LEVITICUS 11 AND THE HOLINESS OF GOD
Word Biblical Journal, 2023
In Lev. 11, Yahweh prohibited the Israelites from eating camel, rabbit, and pig while allowing them to eat sheep, goats, and cow. He allowed the eating of fish with fins and scales while prohibiting those without fins and scales. This exegetical and theological essay answers the following question that has perplexed many Bible readers: Why did Yahweh establish dietary laws, allowing and disallowing certain foods? It is maintained that the core reason for the dietary laws is to signify the holiness of God in Israel.
DavarLogos, 2019
Early Christianity attitude to biblical dietary laws is a puzzling issue. On one hand, they considered as binding the dietary laws in Leviticus 17,10-14 and then reissued in the apostolic decree. On the other hand, they considered as non-binding the dietary laws of Leviticus 11. Why did they reject the dietary laws of Leviticus 11? This article contends that the rejection of these laws was driven by the desire to distance Christianity from Judaism and not by theological reasons. This is evident in the study of the reception history of Leviticus 11 dietary laws, along with the reception history of common used text to support the non-validity of Leviticus 11 dietary laws and the role played by the food as an identity marker. When these approaches are taken together, a picture appears: the rejection of Leviticus 11 dietary laws is based on the Jewishness of these laws not the theology behind them.
To Eat or Not to Eat: Studies on the Biblical Dietary Prohibitions
2024
Anna Angelini and Peter Altmann address pivotal issues on the biblical dietary prohibitions and their significance as practices and texts through philological, zooarchaeological, iconographic, and comparative ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman lenses. They explore theoretical frameworks adopted in modern interpretation, possible origins in relation to ancient Israelite religion and society, and location in relation to Priestly terminology and Deuteronomic tradition. The authors expand the arc of investigation to the Second Temple reception of the prohibitions in both the Dead Sea Scrolls and Greco-Roman discourses from the first centuries CE. With their foundational studies, they provide an approach to the dietary prohibitions, opening the way for reconstructing their path of development into their present-day contexts. Table of contents: Preface 1. The Dietary Laws of Lev 11 and Deut 14: Introducing Their Ancient and Scholarly Contexts (Peter Altmann and Anna Angelini) 1. A Methodological View of the History of Scholarship 2. Human-Animal Relationships in Ancient Israel 3. The Hebrew Bible Context of Food and Drink Restrictions 4. Biblical Treatments of Meat Prohibitions 5. Questions for this Volume 6. Widening Horizons 2. Framing the Questions: Some Theoretical Frameworks for the Biblical Dietary Prohibitions (Peter Altmann) 1. Anthropological Terminology 2. Psychological Explanations 3. Materialist Explanations 4. Douglas and Other Structuralist Approaches to »Dirt« as Structural Anomaly 5. Synthesis 3. Traditions and Texts: The »Origins« of the Dietary Prohibitions of Lev 11 and Deut 14 (Peter Altmann) 1. Composition-Critical Concerns 2. Continuum: From »Sanctuary Ritual« to »Mundane Custom« 3. Mundane Customary Origins? 4. Sanctuary Ritual Origins? 5. The Influence of Household or Local Religion? 6. Ritual Practice and Ritual Text 7. Conclusions and a Possible Reconstruction 4. A Deeper Look at Deut 14:4-20 in the Context of Deuteronomy (Peter Altmann) 1. The Language of Deut 14:1-2, 3, 21 and 4-20 2. Abomination and Impurity in Deut 14 and Elsewhere in Deuteronomy 3. Mourning Rituals in 14:1-2 and their Link to vv. 3, 4-20 4. »You Are Children, Belonging to Yhwh Your God« 5. A Holy People and Treasured Nation: Deut 7:6; 14:2, 21; 26:18 6. The Relationship between Deut 14 and 26:12-15, 16-19 7. The Stipulations of Deut 14:21 in the context of Deut 14 8. Eating in Deut 14:1-21 in the Context of Deuteronomy 13 and 14:22-27 9. Summary 5. The Terms שׁקץ Šeqeṣ and טמא Ṭame' in Lev 11:2-23 and Deut 14:2-20: Overlapping or Separate Categories? (Peter Altmann) 1. The Usage of שׁקץ and טמא in the Rest of the Hebrew Bible and Their Relevance for Lev 11/Deut 14 2. The Usage of טמא 3. The Terms in Deut 14 and Lev 11 4. Conclusion 6. Aquatic Creatures in the Dietary Laws: What the Biblical and Ancient Eastern Contexts Contribute to Understanding Their Categorization (Peter Altmann) 1. Water Creatures from Iconography and Texts of Surrounding Regions 2. Water Creatures in Levantine Zooarchaeology and Evidence of Consumption in Biblical Texts 3. Sea Creatures in the Bible 4. Discussion of the Texts of Lev 11:9-12 and Deut 14:9-10 5. Reasons for the Prohibition? 6. Conclusions 7. A Table for Fortune: Abominable Food and Forbidden Cults in Isaiah 65-66 (Anna Angelini) 1. Introduction: Dietary Laws outside the Pentateuch and Isa 65-66 2. The References to Food in the Structure of Isa 65-66 3. Abominable Cults between Imagery and Practice 4. The Pig: A Marker for Impurity 5. The Greek Text: Sacrificing to Demons 6. Summary and Conclusions 8. Dietary Laws in the Second Temple Period: The Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls (Anna Angelini) 1. Introduction: Food in Dead Sea Scrolls and Biblical Law 2. Methodological Remarks 3. Main Tendencies in the Dead Sea Scroll Materials Related to Food Laws 4. Animals and the Purity of the Temple 5. Summary and Conclusions: Food Laws between Discourse and Practice 9. Looking from the Outside: The Greco-Roman Discourse on the Jewish Food Prohibitions in the First and Second Centuries CE (Anna Angelini) 1. Introduction: The Origins of the Greek and Roman Traditions about Food Prohibitions 2. The Greek and Latin Witnesses on Jewish Food Prohibitions in the First Century CE 3. The Polemic Use of Jewish Dietary Prohibitions in Juvenal and Tacitus 4. Plutarch and The Philosophical Tradition 5. Conclusions Appendix: Plutarch's Moralia, Table Talk IV, Question 5 (669 e-671c) 10. »Thinking« and »Performing« Dietary Prohibitions: Why Should One Keep Them? One Meaning or Many? (Peter Altmann) 1. Introduction 2. (Envisioned) Practice and Significance and the Myth of the Singular Explanation 3. Knowing How and When vs. Knowing Why
Diet is a subject of taboo in many religions, and both Judaism and Islam have strict laws about lawful and prohibited foods. In Judaism, what food is lawful, and what food can be eaten with what, and how food is prepared all come under the label of Kosher cuisine, whilst Islamic rules of diet are known as halal cuisine. Christianity, however, has largely dispensed with any limitations on what can be eaten, and how it is cooked, largely because the churches teach that the law of Jesus is through the heart and spirit; the intention rather than following rote legal niceties. This book critically examines the Christian reasons for abandoning God's dietary Law, and calls the God fearing back to not only observing it, but embracing the true religion that God has sent to man down the ages of mankind. The defence that Christians often erect in order to justify their non-observance of the Torah Laws, especially concerning what they eat, is three pronged, centring around, in the Gospels, Matthew Chapter 15 and Mark Chapter 7. They also cite Acts 10 from Luke's scripture, and various passages from Galatians and Romans in which Paul argues the abrogation of Mosaic Law. These evidences I will, God willing, present and examine first. I will then discuss dietary law using Islamic proofs. Finally, I will present evidence that Jesus (Peace be upon him) came not to abrogate, but confirm, the Mosaic Law to the Jews, and examine the claim that Jesus (Peace be upon him) was to allow the people to distance themselves from that which had been added to it by the priesthood, and his mission was, as is written in the Quran: “to attest the Law which was before me, and to make lawful to you part of what was (before) forbidden to you...” [Quran, 6:50] and thus that Christians are obliged, according to their scriptures, and now according to ours, to follow the Monotheistic Laws of God that are enshrined in the Quran, which confirms what is in the Gospel and Torah.
Dietary Laws: Is there evidence for modern validity?
The centrality of God's sovereignty over what human beings may or may not eat is emphasized after creation, in the dietary laws of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. According to those laws, there are certain animals that we should consider “clean” for consumption, and others “unclean”. During centuries the Israelites kept these laws and for some orthodox Jews and Christian denominations they continue to be obligatory until this day. The question of its validity has not been raised in such a serious manner in Christian context to deserve much attention, however, in recent years a handful of scholars have noticed the necessity of a more detailed study of the matter. In this paper, the general questions to be taken under scrutiny are (1) how are we to “choose” which Old Testament laws are valid for the whole Christian church and (2) do the dietary laws fit into that category; more specifically the issues will be (3) is there arbitrariness in the validity of dietary laws and (4) does the New Testament abrogate the obedience of these laws.
The dietary regulations in Deuteronomy 14 within its literary context
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 2002
A structural analysis of Deuteronomy 14:1-21 indicates a well planned composition. A comparison with the same set of dietary regulations in Leviticus 11:2-20 indicates a process of literary growth in the Deuteronomy composition. An original list of land animals was extended into a literary unit on dietary regulations. A technique of inclusio was used in different literary layers to form thisunit and to include it in the Deuteronomic Code and eventually in the Pentateuch. Different theories on Pentateuchal growth are considered so as to understand the ethical meaning of these dietary regulations within this larger literary framework.
Old Testament dietary laws in contemporary African Christian practice
Verbum et Ecclesia
Old Testament dietary laws consist of the rules that God gave to the Israelites pertaining to what may be eaten and what should not be eaten. In the Old Testament, the animals that may be consumed are referred to as ‘clean’, whereas those which should not be consumed are referred to as ‘unclean’. The prohibitions on food were mainly aimed at preserving the identity of the people of Israel. This article analysed the dietary laws recorded in Leviticus chapters 11 and 17. It investigated the observance of the Old Testament dietary laws among contemporary African Christians, with specific reference to Nigerian Christians. The findings of this study revealed that in the contemporary Nigerian Christian practice, some Christians’ compliance or noncompliance to the food laws is faith-based, while for others it is not. Hence, some Christians obey the Old Testament food regulations on the premise of their loyalty to God, while some do not observe the dietary laws because they do not regard no...
The Old Testament Dietary Laws Was Abolished According To Mark 7:19b?
Journal Kerugma
Various essential discussions have been raised against Mark's parenthetical commentary in 7:19b, one of which is the discussion of eating from that statement. On the one hand, some take the text as a clear teaching of the Bible about the abolition of the food law in the Torah, as a result of which the law no longer binds both Jewish believers and Gentile believers. On the other hand, some consider it meaningless as the abolition of the food law in the Torah. Within this group, various meanings have been proposed. Historically, lexically, grammatically, and contextually it shows that Mark 7:19b is not a teaching of the abolition of the food law in the Torah, but a "guarantee" for the Gentile believers in Rome as Mark's gospel audience that there will be no unclean food for them because of contamination. or consumed with dirty hands (not washed), but the food is kept clean, so it cannot defile those who eat it. Therefore, Mark 7:19b will be of no significance to the ...