Why Kosher? |
Are the dietary commands just hoops that YHWH wants us to jump through? Or is the doing meant to teach us something?
For example, why is the cow an example to emulate? what is it about a pig that makes it a picture we want to avoid? Below are some excerpts from Why Kosher? by Web Hulon. Our hope is that you will not just DO what YHWH commands, but learn how to OBSERVE and HEAR from the doing as well.
The divided hoof is fairly obvious. A cow is quite sure-footed, although it’s body shape and relatively thin legs make it appear as if it would be somewhat clumsy. Likewise, we are to walk a sure-footed walk so that we might not stumble:
Deut 5:33The fact that the hoof is divided should also remind us of this instruction concerning our walk:
33 "You shall walk in all the ways which YHWH your Elohim has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
2 Tim 2:15And there is yet another reason to call attention to the feet:
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to YHWH, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Exod 23:14-17The words that are translated as “three times” are shalosh regalim. They are literally translated as “three feet”. The three major Festivals, Unleavened Bread, Shavuot and Sukkot, are called the Three Feet. While in the land, the Hebrews were required to walk to the Temple in order to celebrate these Festivals, and all men were required to come up to Jerusalem for the Three Feet. So examining the feet of an animal should help us to recall our duty to keep YHWH’s Festivals and to “divide” them, or learn the truths that they hold.
14 "Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:
15 "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);
16 "and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.
17 "Three times in the year all your males shall appear before Adonai YHWH.
A cow walks upon that which it eats, namely grasses. We have seen that to walk with a split hoof is to “walk in all the ways which YHWH your Elohim has commanded you”. Like the cow, we are also to eat of that in which we walk, YHWH’s commandments:
Deut 8:3The cow eats only grasses. Likewise, we are to only eat of “every word that proceeds from the mouth of YHWH”. We are not to eat of every doctrine, vain philosophy, tradition of men and worldly principle that is tossed before us. We must weigh all things against the Word of YHWH in order to determine if it is manna from Heaven, the grass of our field, or if it is something inedible that we should not take into the body.
3 "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of YHWH.
Once a cow eats something, an interesting thing happens. The grass goes into the rumen, the first of the cow’s four stomachs. In the rumen the grass is partially digested and the rest is formed into small balls called cud. The cud is then returned to the mouth, where it is chewed at length. After being swallowed a second time, the cud returns to the rumen for further digestion. It then moves on to the reticulum and the omasum for still further digestion and finally into the abomasum, which acts likes a person’s stomach, digesting the proteins and nourishing the body. The digested proteins also go into milk production, which is used to feed the cow’s young.
There is much to learn from this process. Once we read or hear of the Word of YHWH, we begin to digest it, but it is impossible to fully understand the depths of His Word from only one encounter. We, therefore, must regurgitate the Word and chew on it some more. We are to turn it over in our minds, pray about it, consider it from different angles, see what it is connected to, study it in it’s original context and so forth. This is called rumination. Interestingly Webster’s Dictionary defines ruminate as; “to chew the cud, muse upon, to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly, to meditate.” Even in English the proper connection is made. When we chew the cud, we are meditating on the Word of YHWH. Obviously Moses knew this because he instructed Joshua to chew the cud of the Torah:
Josh 1:8After the cud is chewed, we are to pass on our partially digested understanding to the next stomach, but no human has multiple stomachs. This is why we must be joined to other believers. It is the reason that we are warned not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25). We need everyone’s digesting abilities. We must be in unity with others, each serving the other, joined together and using our gifts, or stomachs, in order to properly digest and process our cud, the Word of YHWH. So the cow teaches us not only that we must be careful of what we take into our bodies, but also that we must search out the depths of His Word, alone and when we are together with our brethren.
8 "This Book of the Torah shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Now comes the most beautiful part of all. The milk. The truths that we learn from digesting the Word become milk for us to feed our young. We are now able to feed the babes in Messiah with sound teaching:
1 Pet 2:1-3
1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby,
3 if indeed you have tasted that YHWH is beneficent.
Gen 17:10-14Rav Sha'ul (Paul) gives us some clarification concerning circumcision:
10 "This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised;
11 "and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12 "He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.
13 "He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 "And the uncircumcised male, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."Deut 10:15-16
15 "Only YHWH delighted in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.
16 "Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. The above passages tie circumcision and covenant and progeny together. The following passage shows that YHWH will honor His covenant and circumcise the hearts of descendants of Israel.Deut 30:1-6
1 "Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where YHWH your Elohim drives you,
2 "and you return to YHWH your Elohim and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,
3 "that YHWH your Elohim will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where YHWH your Elohim has scattered you.
4 "If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there YHWH your Elohim will gather you, and from there He will bring you.
5 "Then YHWH your Elohim will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.
6 "And YHWH your Elohim will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Rom 2:25-29Sha'ul tells us that there are two circumcisions, one circumcision according to the letter, the other according to the Spirit. This brings us to the pig:
25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the Torah; but if you are a breaker of the Torah, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the Torah, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?
27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the Torah, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the Torah?
28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh;
29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from YHWH.
Lev 11:7-8 7 'and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8 'Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.The pig has the correct external sign, and yet it is what is inside that prevents him from being clean. The pig is a picture of one who is circumcised outwardly, but not inwardly. If you take the wrong things into yourself, even though you appear kosher, once you are tested, or closely examined, you are not kosher, that is acceptable. Isn't it interesting that Shaul sees one who appears kosher on the outside, but isn't kosher in the Spirit, as having "praise from men". People may praise our works, or outward signs, but YHWH will search our hearts. The letter will condemn us, but the Spirit will uphold us.
Gal 5:1-6 1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Messiah has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Shaul, say to you that if you become circumcised (only in the flesh), Messiah will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole Torah. 4 You have become estranged from Messiah, you who attempt to be justified by Torah; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Messiah Yeshua neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.Split hooves or joined hooves, how we walk, our halakha, avails nothing if we don't chew the cud; if we don't have multiple stomachs. This is the Spirit of Messiah and His Spirit has a name. YHWH Echad. Echad means united, and the Spirit of Messiah works to unify the body of Messiah. No human has multiple stomachs. We must be Echad with others, each serving the other, joined together and using our gifts, or stomachs, in order to properly digest and process our cud, the Word of YHWH. Now to the "HEART" of the matter.
Gal 5:13 13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.This liberty is not so that you may be admired, pawed over, and approved in the sight of men. This liberty is so that you might become a slave.
Gal 5:14-18 14 For all the Torah is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."If you are led by the Spirit", YHWH Echad, "you are not under the law." The tablets of the Torah will not fall upon you and kill you. Mount Sinai will not crush you. You will not be subject to the death that the letter brings when the spiritual pictures are not sought. You will not be a circumcised pig IF, you "serve one another" in unity.
Jer 9:23-26 23 Thus says YHWH: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am YHWH, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says YHWH. 25 "Behold, the days are coming," says YHWH, "that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised- 26 "Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart."So we see that being "uncircumcised in the heart" is a judgment against all the House of Israel male and female. Not being united. Not serving one another. It doesn't matter if your table is kosher, if you devour one another. It doesn't matter if your foreskin is removed, if you remain selfish. The cleanest of pigs is still a pig. And no pig shall enter the Temple.
Ezek 44:9 9 'Thus says Adonai YHWH: "No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My Mikdash, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.