Troublesome Topic: THE FOOD LAWS TAUGHT HOLINESS

The food laws, or dietary regulations, were established first of all to teach God’s holiness by highlighting the primary categories into which all created things fall (clean and holy, clean and common, unclean and common).

How do these conditions relate to the food laws?

The dietary regulations exemplified these truths and required the Israelites to be conscious of them at all times. To obey the food laws a constant vigilance was required, and that is exactly what God desired. It was the goal of most Israelites to live in a way that was either clean and holy, or eligible to be made holy by being clean and common. If they became unclean for whatever reason, they were to begin the process of becoming clean again as quickly as possible. But that process required a “price” and there were various requirements of the law that defined what that “price” was for each situation. It always required purification, and sometimes required atonement.

Thus, the first reason for the food laws was to teach them about holiness and what God requires of them. These laws reminded them to be ever conscious of their own spiritual status, and the spiritual status of things around them.

The next lesson in all three series on Covenants is: The Food Laws Taught That They Were God’s Instruments