I've Got A Question

In Old Testament times, at least from the time of Abraham on, the Hebrews were largely agricultural. Meat was reserved to festival times, and it was a very small part of a poor man's diet, although Solomon and his courtiers went through quite a lot of meat, and his dietary habits found their way into the diet of wealthy Hebrews from that time on.

Sheep and goats were raised in large numbers, with the meat of the sheep being preferred. When poor people had meat, it was usually that of a goat. Most of the Israelite's milk came from goats, and it was used both fresh and after it had soured, including butter which was made by swinging soured milk in a goatskin. Cheese was also made.

Nearly every time that the slaughtering of a sheep is mentioned, it is for the occasion of an honored guest, and that was nearly always a lamb, with very little said about slaughtering adult sheep.

They also raised cows, as we know from the stories of slaughtering a fatted calf. The wealthy preferred a calf that had been kept in a stall, while regular people would slaughter a pasture-fed calf.

Documentation suggests that while the king's court took in a lot of wild game, hunted animals seems not to have played a large part in the diet of the Israelites.

The Israelites were forbidden from eating either wild or domesticated swine and, unlike the Arabs, the Israelites also abstained from eating camel meat. Hare and rabbit were also prohibited.

Although eating the flesh of birds of prey was forbidden, fowl was an important part of the Israelite's diet. These were probably geese rather than chickens, although there is no reason to suspect that chickens were prohibited. They may not have been prevalent. There is mention of quails being eaten, and the Arabs raised pigeons for food, but it's uncertain whether these were a part of the diet of the people of Israel.

Fish was an important part of their diet, we know, but they were prohibited from water animals that did not have fins and scales, which would include water snakes and other snakelike reptiles, as well as shellfish and the like. The Bible doesn't differentiate between one kind of fish and another, so we don't know which varieties of fish were preferred or the most common.

Locusts were eaten and, although we know that bee keeping is mentioned in Egyptian, Hittite, and Assyrian texts and drawings, the Bible refers only to wild honey, which was the primary sweetener used.

The rules distinguishing between clean and unclean foods were strict and like many Old Testament prohibitions, they were largely intended to keep the Hebrew people healthy. For example, while minerals and vegetables were considered clean, water or food prepared with water that had come into contact with a dead carcass was unclean, likely for health reasons.

Of the mammals, only those that part the hoof and chew the cud were allowed, and then only when they were slaughtered the right way, after the blood was removed. Consuming blood was prohibited from Noah's time. Since there is nothing to suggest that God had a personal hatred for pigs or other animals that were created by God, pork was probably prohibited for the same reason that we don't eat pork rare, because there was a greater likelihood of disease from pork.

Rather than considering these prohibitions as being arcane or weird, I consider that to have been a good way for God to keep His people healthy, without getting into the science of food borne illnesses, which were not understood at that time.

Animals that were considered unclean were those that were carnivorous, eaters of carrion, or inhabitants of desert places and ruins, which were then associated with beings of the underworld.

Probably because there was no way to know if it had been slaughtered the right way, or to tell whether or not it has been part of a sacrifice, the Israelites could not eat food prepared by pagans.

In New Testament times, the rules were reduced to abstaining from blood and things that had been strangled, and if meat was known to have been sacrificed to a pagan idol, it was not to be eaten.

But the Apostle Paul advised not to ask questions about the origin of the meat, although he warned that if it would cause offense to stricter (which he termed weaker) brethren, then it should not be done.

Paul wrote that "there is nothing outside of a man which by going into him can defile him."

Others of the apostles, such as Peter, observed the Old Testament food rules during his life, but did not mandate them for others, particularly the gentiles who were coming into the church. Peter was given this in a dream.

Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter! Kill something and eat it.” But Peter said, “Absolutely not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean!” Again the voice came to him a second time, “You must stop calling unclean what God has made clean.” This happened three times. Then the sheet was quickly taken back into heaven. -- Acts 10:13-15

 

No offense intended, but these can't possibly be serious questions so I won't be wasting any more of my time with it. I have too much respect for the people in this forum to consider these questions to be serious.

 

Every word we hear has to be interpreted if we are going to understand it.

 

There's that darned free will getting in the way again. God could have created us without it, I'm sure, but what kind of a relationship can you have with an automaton?

 

People have insulted God here several times, and I would put God a step or two above the Pope.