Why was God so concerned with His people’s diet? On Saturday, we looked at how God prohibited His people from eating fat and blood. But most of Leviticus 11 is made up of a long, long list of animals which were not to be consumed – indeed, even touching one of their carcasses would make someone ceremonially unclean (11:24).

So, why did God consider these particular animals to be unclean? We’re not exactly sure, but most of them seem to have one thing in common – they were known to be predators themselves or, worse yet, eaters of carrion. In other words, they came into regular contact, in one way or another, with death. And since the whole system of animal sacrifices regularly associated sin with death, God’s people were to avoid everything associated with death.

But why do we need to concern ourselves with this passage? After all, Jesus made it very clear that His followers don’t need to worry about any of these food laws anymore. In fact, “He declared all foods clean” (Mark 7:18-19). That’s true, but in doing so, He reenforced the central meaning of those laws – the need to avoid the sin that leads to death: “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23).

So, as we Mississippians enjoy our pork barbeque (Leviticus 11:7) and our fried catfish (Leviticus 11:10), we need to be just as serious about avoiding sin as those Old Testament believers tried to stay away from animals that were somehow connected with death. For if we want to worship a God Who is holy (Leviticus 11:45), we need to put away the true source of uncleanness, and even of death – the sin that is within our hearts.

Leviticus 11: 11:1-8, 41-47 (NASB)

The LORD spoke again to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them,
2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘These are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth.
3 ‘Whatever divides a hoof, thus making split hoofs, and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat.
4 ‘Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these, among those which chew the cud, or among those which divide the hoof: the camel, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you.
5 ‘Likewise, the rock badger, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you;
6 the rabbit also, for though it chews cud, it does not divide the hoof, it is unclean to you;
7 and the pig, for though it divides the hoof, thus making a split hoof, it does not chew cud, it is unclean to you.
8 ‘You shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

41 ‘Now every swarming thing that swarms on the earth is detestable, not to be eaten.
42 ‘Whatever crawls on its belly, and whatever walks on all fours, whatever has many feet, in respect to every swarming thing that swarms on the earth, you shall not eat them, for they are detestable.
43 ‘Do not render yourselves detestable through any of the swarming things that swarm; and you shall not make yourselves unclean with them so that you become unclean.
44 ‘For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth.
45 ‘For I am the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, to be your God; thus you shall be holy for I am holy.'”