Bible Meat Diet
Biblical Clean Animals
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You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean. Leviticus 20:25 |
Life Before the Flood
Clean / Unclean Meat and Animals
Bible Clean Animal Defined
Noah was directed to bring two of every kind of unclean animal and seven of every clean animal into the ark for the purpose of procreation. Noah offered up the seventh of each clean animal to God in sacrifice. From Adam until Christ, only clean animals without spot were acceptable for sacrifice. Metaphorically, by the ascension of the smoke of this offering, God smelled a sweet savor and set his brilliant bow in the sky. This was signet of a profound covenant.
The book of Genesis does not provide details as to what defines a clean animal. The first five books of the Bible, including Genesis, were written by Moses around 1450 BCE. After the exodus from Egyptian slavery, Moses led God's people to freedom by way of the Sinai Peninsula. Much of the knowledge of God's statutes had been lost during the long captivity. However, these precepts and statutes were reiterated by God with great authority at Sinai and faithfully recorded by Moses in scripture. Clean and unclean foods and eating meat is discussed in the eleventh chapter of Leviticus and the fourteenth chapter of Deuteronomy. Here is a relative passage:
 No blood No fat Lev 7:23 |
“You shall not eat any abomination. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. “Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat. And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you. “You may eat all clean birds. But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, the kite, the falcon of any kind; every raven of any kind; the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind; the little owl and the short-eared owl, the barn owl and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant, the stork, the heron of any kind; the hoopoe and the bat. And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. All clean winged things you may eat. Deuteronomy 14:3-20. |
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The Bible meat guidelines are easy to understand. For land animals to be considered clean, they must both chew the cud and have a divided or cloven hoof. Some animals chew the cud but do not have a cloven hoof. Others have a cloven hoof but do not chew the cud. These are considered unclean. Sea life must have both scales and fins. In the Bible, fish often represent individual men and the sea represents entire populations (Rev 17:15). Scales are analogous to protective armor or defensive devices. Generally, birds are considered to be clean and the Bible lists the exceptions such as birds of prey and scavengers et al. Birds are often used to represent the spiritual realm and unclean birds sometimes represent unclean spirits.
Chew the Cud and Cloven Hoof
An animal that "chews the cud" simply re-chews plant foods that it has already partially digested in some way. This method of nutrient absorption extracts the ultimate benefit from nutrient-poor vegetation like grass and leaves.
The principle method of chewing the cud is a process called rumination. Some animals have multiple stomachs and digest their food in stages. In the primary stages, the easily digested food and liquids are separated from the more fibrous portion and passed along the digestive tract. The courser portion, called the cud, is regurgitated and further masticated. This mixes the cud with saliva and continues to break it down into more readily absorbed nutrients.
If you have ever seen a cow or other animal casually chewing and slobbering profusely, then you have likely seen an animal chewing the cud. Animals that chew the cud in this way are called ruminants.
Not all ruminants are clean; but all clean mammals are ruminants. To be considered clean, a ruminant must also divide the hoof into two segments or toes. Each segment must terminate with a tough hoof substance. This is called a cloven hoof. Cloven hoofed mammals are quite agile on rugged or uneven terrains. This is extremely helpful to mountain goats and rams for example.
Our spiritual sojourn in life is likened to one traveling a straight but narrow ascending pathway. The constant admonition is not to stumble along the way. With feet like a deer, we can be successful and not fall away from the path. And blessed is he, whosoever shall find no occasion of stumbling in me. Matthew 11:6
Bible Meat - Clean Animal Varieties
Most of the clean meat we consume is from the bovadae family of mammals. Cattle, goats and antelope are all bovids. They are distinguished in that the males (and sometimes females) have horns that are not branched. Some examples of bovids are cows, sheep, buffalo, mountain goats, antelope, bison and the like. Cervidae, the deer family, is distinguished by branched horns or antlers. Some examples are deer, caribou, elk, moose, mule deer, reindeer and the like. A pronghorn is also considered to be a clean animal.
In Bible symbolism and prophecy, horns represent authority and are tokens of power. Anyone who has witnessed two rams battling for supremacy can understand the metaphor.
Scavengers and Predators
It may not require much willpower to resist eating bats or vultures, but we may have trouble to resist eating pork, lobster, shellfish, catfish and other unclean meat. It is easy to reason that so many others eat these foods seemingly with no adverse effect. So what's the problem? We do not always see the rationale behind God's restrictions. Similarly, we can not always justify the restrictions we place on our children. They simply trust our knowledge and experience because they understand we are interested in their welfare.
God does not restrict these unclean animals arbitrarily. As Our Creator, God is infinitely acquainted with every detriment to the most minute cell in our body. "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-31. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians 2:10
Many unclean animals are predators; whereas a clean animal is an herbivore. The Bible has established that every green herb was the diet originally intended for animals. When the Bible says green herb, it does not mean grain. Green herbs provide the nutrients to form muscle and flesh in these species. If we choose to eat meat, it makes sense that we eat meat formed directly from plant life and not many times removed.
Other unclean animals are scavengers. Their function is to remove putrefying carcases and filth from our lands and waters. These animals are often parasite ridden. Some may think it is chique to eat sushi topped with exotic raw fish, but it is not at all chique to have a tape worm strapped along several feet of the intestines. In the case of pork and swine, the parasites can be killed by thoroughly cooking the meat, but that is not a consolation. The problem is more than parasites. It is the very constitution of the meat. If we are what we eat, then so are scavengers. Not only should we not eat them, we should not even touch the dead carcase. They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. Leviticus 11:11
De facto Unclean Meat
Many beef producers add growth hormones to cattle feed. Those hormones are passed along directly to the consumer's body. Some have even mingled manure and unusable carcase portions of cattle back into the feed to reduce costs and increase profits. These acts against nature make unclean animals from clean. Imagine a cow thoroughly ruminating on itself or its kind. Such detestable practices are generally considered to be the cause of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or BSE (mad cow's disease). Here are some references on the subject:
- There is strong evidence and general agreement that the outbreak was amplified by feeding rendered bovine meat-and-bone meal to young calves. USDHW
- Epidemiological studies conducted in the UK suggest that the source of BSE was cattle feed prepared from bovine tissues, such as brain and spinal cord, that was contaminated by the BSE agent. WHO
The point is that only eating meat deemed to be clean by the Bible is not good enough. This cannot be overstated. We see a rising trend in unsafe meat production these days. As a society, we are secreting away our elderly who are unceremoniously diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer's disease at alarming rates. Bible health and common sense dictates, to the best of our abilities, we should know the source and quality of the meat we eat. This includes fish and poultry. If chickens are raised in over-populated coups or fish drawn from mercury-polluted waters, they should not be eaten.
When we have done all we can to adhere to the principles of Bible health and ask God's blessing, we can be fully confident that the food we eat is beneficial to our lives.
Do Bible Laws Apply Today?
Four Types of Bible Law and Levitical Dietary Health Laws
The phrase "cleanliness is next to godliness" is not a bible verse, but it accurately captures the essence of the Levitical laws regarding health and meat consumption. Again, when we have done all we can to adhere to the principles of bible health and ask God's blessing, we can be fully confident that the food we eat is beneficial to our lives.
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So obey the commands, laws, and rules I'm giving you today. If you listen to these rules and faithfully obey them, the LORD your God will keep his promise to you and be merciful to you, as he swore to your ancestors. Deuteronomy 7:12
The LORD will keep you from having any kind of illness. He will not strike you with any of the terrible diseases you experienced in Egypt... Deuteronomy 7:15 |
