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COMMANDMENT OF THE DAY
“You may eat all clean birds, but the following birds you must not eat; the tawny vulture, the griffon, the osprey, the kite and the several kinds of buzzard, all kinds of raven, the ostrich, the screech owl, ibis, pelican, white vulture, cormorant, stork, the several kinds of heron, hoopoe, and bat.”
Deuteronomy 14:11-19 (CoD 9)
This particular commandment makes God sound a bit like a conservationist (some of the birds on the His list are protected by federal law), but a few verses prior to our CoD, He says you may eat deer, gazelle, roebuck, ibex, antelope, oryx, mountain sheep, and anything that lives in water that has fins or scales. I don’t think the Nature Conservancy or Greenpeace would give the Lord a high legislative score—especially with that “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28) clause. Note also that the griffon is a mythological chimera, and bats are mammals. They do have wings.
The Lord God, as we have already noted(s.d.) in this series, is very concerned that His chosen people eat right. By the way, God is not so concerned about unbelievers, according to Deu. 14:21: “You must not eat any animal that has died a natural death. You may give it for food to the alien who lives in your towns, or sell it to a foreigner.”
But the Lord provides the faithful with detailed instruction as to what to eat and what not to eat, as well as how to prepare or dispose of “clean” and “unclean” foodstuffs. The Almighty is a bit obsessive-compulsive about the matter. Not only are believers forbidden to eat camel, hare, hyrax, or pig, even touching the meat, carcasses, or other products of these animals makes you unclean. That’s why having a gullible foreigner or two handy is a recommended convenience.
The shalt-nots outnumber the thou-shalts, I’m afraid. My personal favorite among the Lord’s dietary restrictions is Deu. 14:21: “You are not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”
This CoD was inspired by Vincent’s post HOGWASH, at Web Related Injuries.
Go read it. |
