The law given through Moses pronounced the raven and every kind belonging to it unclean and forbade Israel and the Hebrews to eat them, together with other unclean birds and animals and any unclean thing. That law included directions identifying animals unfit for food and prohibited flesh such as swine's flesh and the flesh of certain other animals. The raven stands in that list among the birds whose flesh was pronounced unclean and not permitted as food under the dietary restrictions given for Israel in Canaan.
The restriction as given was just and reasonable, a wise prohibition that taught health principles and enforced sanitary laws rather than an arbitrary exercise of authority. It was given to protect life and health by directing the people toward simple, healthful food, keeping their blood pure and keeping sickness away. The flesh of the forbidden creatures was not the best article of food but was injurious, filling the blood with impurities and shortening life. Submission to the prohibition would have removed what was injurious, while eating such animals could pollute the blood.
Daniel and his companions applied this food law when they refused the king's meats because those meats included food the law pronounced unclean. That refusal included swine's flesh, which the law of Moses had declared unclean and forbidden to the Hebrews. They chose obedience and temperance in order to preserve clear minds and healthy bodies for service to God.
The restriction gave no warrant for adding trivial rules beyond what God required. It was perverted when religious leaders went beyond the requirement by imposing additional rules about external cleanliness and by multiplying restrictions and ceremonies. The perversion went to unwarranted extremes, even requiring all water used to be strained lest it contain the smallest insect that might be classed with the unclean animals. That distortion made distinctions about food an exhausting burden that distracted people from true religion. Against such trivial exactions stands the magnitude of actual sin, exposed in the rebuke of blind guides who strain out a gnat while swallowing a camel.
Indulging appetite for the forbidden food benumbs the fine sensibilities, so that sacred things are placed on a level with common things.
The law given through Moses pronounced the raven and every kind belonging to it unclean and forbade Israel and the Hebrews to eat them, together with other unclean birds and animals and any unclean thing. That law included directions identifying animals unfit for food and prohibited flesh such as swine's flesh and the flesh of certain other animals. The raven stands in that list among the birds whose flesh was pronounced unclean and not permitted as food under the dietary restrictions given for Israel in Canaan.
The restriction as given was just and reasonable, a wise prohibition that taught health principles and enforced sanitary laws rather than an arbitrary exercise of authority. It was given to protect life and health by directing the people toward simple, healthful food, keeping their blood pure and keeping sickness away. The flesh of the forbidden creatures was not the best article of food but was injurious, filling the blood with impurities and shortening life. Submission to the prohibition would have removed what was injurious, while eating such animals could pollute the blood.
Daniel and his companions applied this food law when they refused the king's meats because those meats included food the law pronounced unclean. That refusal included swine's flesh, which the law of Moses had declared unclean and forbidden to the Hebrews. They chose obedience and temperance in order to preserve clear minds and healthy bodies for service to God.
The restriction gave no warrant for adding trivial rules beyond what God required. It was perverted when religious leaders went beyond the requirement by imposing additional rules about external cleanliness and by multiplying restrictions and ceremonies. The perversion went to unwarranted extremes, even requiring all water used to be strained lest it contain the smallest insect that might be classed with the unclean animals. That distortion made distinctions about food an exhausting burden that distracted people from true religion. Against such trivial exactions stands the magnitude of actual sin, exposed in the rebuke of blind guides who strain out a gnat while swallowing a camel.
Indulging appetite for the forbidden food benumbs the fine sensibilities, so that sacred things are placed on a level with common things.