Bird's-eye view
These two verses serve as the concluding summary for the extensive dietary laws laid out in Leviticus 11. This is not simply a divine Emily Post manual for ancient Israel; it is a foundational lesson in holiness. The Lord has just finished categorizing the animal kingdom into clean and unclean, edible and inedible. This was a massive object lesson, an audio-visual aid acted out three times a day at every meal. The purpose was to drill into the Israelite mind the fundamental reality that their God is a God who makes distinctions. He separates light from darkness, order from chaos, and the holy from the profane. By embedding this principle into something as basic and constant as eating, God was training His people to think and live antithetically in a world that loves to blur every line. This law was a tutor, a schoolmaster, pointing to the ultimate separation between sin and righteousness that would be accomplished in Christ, who would fulfill all these shadows and declare all foods clean, shifting the focus of holiness from the stomach to the heart.
The entire chapter, and these summary verses in particular, are about separation for the sake of communion. Because a holy God was dwelling in the midst of their camp, the people had to be holy. This holiness was expressed through obedience to these tangible, physical commands. The lines drawn in their diet were a constant reminder of the line drawn around them as a people, separating them from the pagan nations. In the New Covenant, the food laws are abrogated, but the principle they taught is not. We are still called to be a separate people, not by avoiding pork, but by avoiding the spiritual filth of the world. The law was written on their menus; the law is now to be written on our hearts.
Outline
- 1. The Summary of the Law (Lev 11:46-47)
- a. The Scope of the Law (Lev 11:46)
- b. The Purpose of the Law (Lev 11:47)
Context In Leviticus
Leviticus 11 comes right after the laws concerning purification after childbirth in chapter 10, and it is part of a larger section dealing with purity and holiness (chapters 11-16). The book of Leviticus is the instruction manual for how an unholy people can live in the presence of a holy God, whose glory-cloud has just filled the Tabernacle. The sacrifices detailed in the opening chapters deal with the problem of guilt. This section on clean and unclean deals with the problem of defilement. It is one thing to be forgiven for a trespass; it is another to be cleansed from the ritual contamination that pollutes the camp where God dwells. These dietary laws are therefore not arbitrary. They are a central part of the "holiness code," designed to make Israel a distinct people and to teach them the nature of the God they worship. This chapter sets the stage for understanding all subsequent laws of purity, culminating in the Day of Atonement in chapter 16, where the high priest cleanses the entire sanctuary and people from all their uncleannesses.
Key Issues
- The Purpose of the Dietary Laws
- The Distinction Between Clean and Unclean
- Ceremonial Law vs. Moral Law
- Typology and Fulfillment in Christ
- The Abrogation of the Dietary Laws in the New Covenant
- The Enduring Principle of Separation
A World of Distinctions
We live in an age that despises distinctions. Our culture wants to flatten every hierarchy, blur every boundary, and erase every line. Men can be women, good can be evil, and everything is a bland, gray mixture. But the God of the Bible is not the god of gray. From the first chapter of Genesis, He is a God who separates. He separated the light from the darkness. He separated the waters above from the waters below. He separated the land from the sea. Creation is an act of ordered separation.
The dietary laws in Leviticus 11 are a continuation of this divine work. God takes the animal kingdom and separates it into two categories: clean and unclean. This was not primarily about hygiene, though some of the laws certainly had beneficial health effects. This was about theology. It was a pedagogy of holiness. Every time an Israelite sat down to eat, he had to ask, "What has God permitted?" He had to make a distinction. This trained his conscience. It taught him that obedience to God extends to the most mundane areas of life. It constantly reminded him that he belonged to a holy God who had separated him from the nations. The world is full of creatures, but not all are fit for God's people. The world is full of ideas, practices, and religions, but not all are fit for God's people. The menu was a microcosm of the moral universe.
Verse by Verse Commentary
46 This is the law regarding the animal and the bird and every living thing that moves in the waters and everything that swarms on the earth,
This is a concluding statement, a summation of all that has come before in the chapter. The Lord is putting a formal heading on the document, so to speak. He is declaring that this is not a collection of helpful suggestions or folk wisdom; this is torah, this is law, instruction from the covenant Lord. The scope is comprehensive, covering all the major categories of the animal kingdom as the Israelites would have understood them. It covers the beasts of the land ("the animal"), the creatures of the air ("the bird"), the creatures of the sea ("every living thing that moves in the waters"), and finally the creepy-crawlies ("everything that swarms on the earth"). No creature is left out. God is asserting His total sovereignty over every part of His creation. He made it all, and He has the absolute right to tell His people how they are to interact with it. This comprehensive scope reminds us that there is no area of life that is neutral or outside of God's authority. He has something to say about everything, from the mightiest beast to the smallest insect.
47 to separate between the unclean and the clean, and between the edible creature and the creature which is not to be eaten.
Here we have the purpose clause. Why was this comprehensive law given? It was given "to separate," or as some translations have it, "to make a distinction." This is the heart of the matter. The law functions as a grid, a filter through which the Israelite was to view the world. The fundamental distinction is between the unclean and the clean. This is a ritual or ceremonial category, not an inherently moral one. A pig is not sinful; it is just being a pig. But for Israel, it was designated as unclean, meaning it was not to be incorporated into the life of God's holy people. This first distinction is then restated with a practical application: "between the edible creature and the creature which is not to be eaten." The ritual status determines the practical response.
This act of separating was a constant, tangible reminder of Israel's unique calling. The nations around them ate everything. They did not make these distinctions. But Israel was called to be different, set apart. Their diet was a daily uniform, marking them out as the people of Yahweh. This was a kindergarten lesson in holiness. Before they could grasp the deep spiritual truths of separating from the world's idolatry and immorality, they had to learn to separate the shrimp from the salmon. The physical lesson paved the way for the spiritual reality. In Christ, this entire system of shadows finds its substance. He is the one who truly separates the clean from the unclean, not by what goes into a man's mouth, but by what comes out of his heart (Mark 7:19-20). He creates a new people, separated not by diet, but by regeneration and faith.
Application
So what does a 21st-century Christian, who enjoys a bacon cheeseburger with a side of calamari, do with a text like this? First, we rejoice. We rejoice that Christ has fulfilled the law and cleansed all things, freeing our consciences from these ceremonial burdens. We are not under the old covenant administration. As Peter was told on the rooftop, "What God has made clean, do not call common" (Acts 10:15). Our fellowship is not restricted by menus, and we must resist any new form of "food righteousness" that seeks to bind the consciences of believers with man-made rules about what is and is not holy to eat.
But second, we must learn the lesson the law was designed to teach. The principle of separation is not obsolete. While the application has changed, the command to be holy as God is holy remains (1 Pet 1:16). We are no longer called to separate clean animals from unclean animals, but we are most certainly called to separate truth from error, wisdom from folly, and righteousness from sin. We are to make careful distinctions in our doctrine, in our ethics, and in our entertainment. We are to be a people set apart, not by our diet, but by our devotion to Christ and our obedience to His Word. The world still loves to eat whatever it wants, not just physically but spiritually and morally. We are called to have a more discerning palate. The law of Leviticus was a picture, a type. Now that the reality has come in Christ, we are responsible to live out the substance of that picture with even greater diligence. We must be those who, by reason of use, have our senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Heb 5:14).