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Daily manna from the Torah by Dr Ketriel Blad


Re'eh 47-4

Observe

Deuteronomy 14:1-21

...for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession. Do not eat any detestable thing... are unclean for you... is unclean for you... it is unclean for you... are unclean for you... You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Deut. 14:2-3, 7b, 8b, 10b, 19b, 21 NIV, ESV

For whom are certain animals impure?

The laws of kashrutכשרות, adequate for consumption by the Jewish people – regarding pure and impure animals were given to the people of the covenant. There is a clear distinction between what the sacred people, the priestly nation, and the rest of the nations can eat.

The laws given to Noach and his descendants do not forbid them to eat impure animals, only to eat from them while still alive (Gen. 9:4). But when the people of Israel were consecrated and separated from the other nations they received very strict diet regulations; the Torah repeats time after time that for them, certain animals are impure, implying that for other peoples they are not.

It's true that Noach knew which animals were clean and unclean (Gen. 7:2), but that had nothing to do with food because before the Flood men could not eat animals, just fruits and vegetables (Gen. 1:29). It had to do with which animals were adequate for sacrifices to the Eternal. The permission to eat animals came after the Flood (Gen. 9:3).

Even an animal within the category of clean cannot be eaten by the sons and daughters of the covenant if it wasn't slaughtered correctly, according to the Jewish regulations of shchitahשכיטה, slaughter. An animal that died in a different manner cannot be eaten by a son of Israel, but the Torah allows a resident of the land of Israel – ger,גר  – who hasn't undergone conversion, and a foreigner, nochri,נכרי  who doesn't live in the land of Israel to eat from such animal.

Then, how must the diet for those chosen from among the nations, those grafted in the sacred people and sanctified by the blood of Yeshua, be? According to my understanding there cannot be any legal regulations that forbid them to eat what is allowed for the rest of the descendants of Noach. I'm convinced that the millions of non-Jews who have heavenly citizenship in the suffering Messiah that eat animals which are forbidden for the Jews are not sinning against the Eternal for that.  

However, I'm also convinced that the sanctity that these sons and daughters of Noach have acquired high above their fellow citizens from the nations requires from them, not only a higher moral standard, but also a stricter diet, not as a matter of salvation, but as one of sanctification. In other words, it is advisable and healthy that those chosen from among the nations adopt a similar diet to that of the Jewish people to have more sanctified and healthy bodies, thus, more pleasant for the Eternal.

In conclusion, the chosen Noachides are allowed to eat animals that are impure for the Jews, but it is not recommended that they do so.

Kol tuv,

Ketriel


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