Tuesday – Pentateuch

Reading – Leviticus 3-4

Highlight Verse:

““You must never eat any fat or blood. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation, wherever you live.””
‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I have heard three different explanations for not eating the fat or the blood.

• It kept the Israelites disciplined since the fat was the most flavorful part.
• It kept the Israelites safe from tape worms and parasites that could be found in the fatty tissues.
• It set the Israelites apart from the pagan practices of the nations around them.

In my opinion, I don’t think God wanted the Israelites to be deprived of good tasting food. That does not sound like the nature of a loving Father God.

I don’t doubt that avoiding the fat protected the Israelites from parasites.

But I don’t think that is the main reason.

Our father God truly wanted to protect His children from the evils of the paganism of the surrounding nations.

The consuming of the blood and sometimes the fat was part of the evil pagan practices of the surrounding nations.

To allow that in Israel would have blurred the differences between worshipping pagan idols and worshipping God.

As it was, Israel struggled to follow the Lord throughout history.

Those blurred lines could have made Israel and mere sub-note in history instead of the source of salvation for the world.

What do you think the modern equivalents of the blood and fat would be today?
Is there anything you should cut out of your life that is having the same effect that the blood and fat would have had on Israel?