Read: Leviticus 11:1-12:8; Mark 5:21-43; Psalm 38:1-22; Proverbs 10:8-9
Leviticus 11 is the Hebrew dietary laws about what foods would make them pure and which ones would defile them. They called them clean or unclean. We know that according to Romans 7:14 that the law is spiritual which means that every law for them has a spiritual meaning for us. What we eat is much more than what we put in our mouths. We are to eat the bread of the Word, and the flesh of Jesus and to taste and see that the Lord is good. So eating means to take something into your soul.
They could eat any animal that had a completely divided hoof and chewed the cud. A divided hoof means to have a balanced foundation of both the Old Testament and the New, the law and grace - to be balanced spiritually. To chew the cud means that you chew on everything you read and hear before you take it in. God doesn’t want us to be gullible and believe every new doctrine we hear but to have discernment.
They were to eat fish that had scales and fins. Scales are covering and fins help the fish stay upright and not lop-sided. Fins help with direction. We are to be covered with the blood of Jesus and be under the authority of other spiritual leaders. We are to walk straight and our doctrine be balanced.
They were not to eat anything that couldn’t bend the knee. In other words, everything we do must be able to bow to the Lord and be under submission and humble. Birds of prey were not to be eaten because they eat dead meat. We are not to thrive on the failures of others or the negative of the world. What we watch on TV affects our soul. If we love death more than life it will mess with our soul. Jesus came to bring life!
In Mark, Jesus is commissioned by Jairus to come and heal his 12 year old daughter. On the way to heal her, Jesus passed a woman who had snuck out of her house in hopes of being healed of a curse of bleeding for 12 years. When Jesus felt healing leave his body he stopped to see who it went to. Jesus healed more than her body; he healed her soul. She had been unable to go anywhere without crying out, “unclean”. She had been barred from the synagogue because of her bleeding so she had suffered much rejection. Jesus made a point of pointing her out in front of everyone that her faith had made her whole. He blessed her with healing and peace.
Then Jesus went on to raise the little girl from death. This was a picture of what he did for the woman also. He raised them both from death to life.
Lord, help us to walk in life and to eat the fruit of life in all that we do.
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