Paul’s Leviticus

“This is where he picks up the fivefold Covenant structure and turns ‘the right hand of fellowship’ into a set of holy knuckledusters.”

This post has been refined by fire and included in a new book, The Shape of Galatians.

You must be logged in to see the rest of this post.

Join now for a year for $15!

“So I commended
…..enjoyment,
……….because a man
……….has nothing better
……………under the sun
…..…..than to eat,
…..drink,
and be merry…”
(Eccles. 8:15)

If you love the chiasmi of the Bible, why not arrange a “Covenant” Christmas banquet using the Bible Matrix?*

“…whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:13)

*Based on a structure by Albert Garlando. See also Kindle Your Nostrils for how to smoke a pipe according to the matrix.
**This is the 24 angels carrying out their final Old Covenant tasks in the Revelation and leaving the Holy Place vacated for the saints. The Old Covenant servants leave the house to the New Covenant sons.

The Mosaic dietary laws were temporary. Just as a Nazirite made a temporary vow for the purpose of sanctification for holy war, so Israel’s purpose as a nation of holy warriors included certain abstinences prescribed by God. Once the war was over, the prohibitions were removed. “Bridal food” (the Feast of Tabernacles) was back on the menu in the first century.

The Nazirite vow was a symbolic form of death and resurrection, of the bridegroom going into the grave (short hair), slaying the serpents, and emerging from the chamber with His bride (long hair), whom He then presented to the Father. [1] The prohibition on the Tree of Knowledge was a temporary one. It began Adam’s holy war, but he broke the vow, failed to rescue the bride and was expelled from the Lord’s table. [2]

Jesus Himself said He would not drink wine until He drank it in the kingdom, after His holy battle. Although there were personal prefigurements of it (the vinegar, and most likely meals with the disciples after His resurrection included wine), that second “bridal” drinking is history, the wedding supper of the Lamb in AD70.

Christians, as holy warriors, abstain from things for the purpose of intercession — holy war — and then return to the “kingdom blessings.” We fast for others, and we fast for the purpose of holy war against our own members, bodily discipline. [3] But the death is always for the purpose of resurrection. God is a phenomenal foodie. As Robert Farrar Capon wrote, God made onions because He likes them.

So, the claim that a Mosaic diet is healthier has no basis in the Bible. In fact, such a view is the result of imposing the modern worldview upon Scripture, a worldview which denies that every part of Creation has a message for us. James Jordan writes:

…the Old Testament laws are being misused by persons who, with the best of intentions, want to find health hints in the Bible. My hope is that these studies will help redirect the focus of this concern and put matters back into perspective. The food law of the New Covenant is the Lord’s Supper, and sickness and health are indeed tied to its faithful observance (1Cor. 11:30). Sickness and health were related to the dietary laws of Moses for the same reason, but that reason is the Spiritual efficacy of the sacrament, not the biological mechanics of the human body.

The hygienic misuse of these laws arises, as do other misinterpretations, because of the pervasive influence of non-Christian philosophical viewpoints in our culture. It is clear that the laws of clean and unclean in the Bible are symbolic in nature. Peter’s vision in Acts 10 establishes a symbolic connection between the unclean animals and the Gentile nations, an association already set forth in Leviticus 20:22-26. No one denies this, but modern Christians are not accustomed to Biblical symbolism, with the result that full justice is not done to the laws of uncleanness.

Let’s take an example that will show how differently people in the ancient world thought from the way we think today. This story will show us that if we are to understand Biblical symbolism, we shall have to learn to think in Biblical categories, and set aside our modern worldview.

When Jacob returned to the promised land after his sojourn in Mesopotamia, he was met by the Angel of the Lord. God wrestled with him all night, and when the Angel “saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him” (Gen. 32:25). This dislocation, with Jacob’s subsequent limp, constituted a sign of Jacob’s victory. He had wrestled “with God and with men” and had prevailed (Gen. 32:28). Like a father training his child, so God had wrestled with Jacob for nearly a hundred years, using Esau, Isaac, and Laban as His tools to strengthen His son for service. Now, as a token of His grace, He gave Jacob a limp.

What does this mean? For an explanation we can look to Genesis 3:15, where we are told that the serpent’s head will be crushed, while the heel of the Seed will be bruised. It is possible to trace this imagery through the scripture, and what emerges is that because of sin, all men must suffer some wound. The head wound is for God’s enemies, while a mere foot wound is for His friends. Accordingly, Jacob’s limp was a sign of his victory and salvation, a sign that, with God’s grace, he had crushed the serpents in his life.

Now, would it occur to you or me to draw any culinary conclusions from this episode? Doubtless not. Yet we read in Genesis 32:32, “Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.” Notice what the verse does say:  It does not say that God commanded the Israelites to memorialize this incident by refraining from eating this muscle. Rather, it says that the sons of Israel drew an inference from the event: They inferred that it would be improper to eat this particular muscle.

Does this inference make sense to us?  Does it go along with the way we twentieth-century people think? Clearly not.

My point is that twentieth-century readers are not at home in the worldview of the Bible. We do not understand how people thought and reasoned, because we do not share their presuppositions and outlook. The result is that we are prone to misinterpret the meaning of significant parts of Scripture, and this is particularly true of the Mosaic dietary laws. If we are to understand the real meaning of the Levitical code, we must acquire the mindset of the ancient Israelite, which is the mindset of the Bible. When such passages as Genesis 32:32 begin to make sense to us, we will be in a position to investigate Leviticus 11, but unless we become familiar with the “inner logic” of Genesis 32:32, the other dietary laws in the Bible will continue to be somewhat obscure to us. [4]

______________________________________
[1] See The Fruitful Field.
[2] See Touch Not, Taste Not, Handle Not and The Greatest Consumer.
[3] I have summarised Arthur Wallis’ book on fasting here [PDF]. See also Fasting as Sacrament.
[4] James B. Jordan, Studies in Food and Faith. Document included in the Complete James Jordan set.

Cooking as Eschatology

But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence.

NOTE: THIS POST HAS BEEN REMIXED AND INCLUDED IN GOD’S KITCHEN.

Thanks to Doug Wilson’s recommendations of it, one of the books I took to hospital was The Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon. It is a mouth-watering fusion of cookbook and theology, pushing the idea of multi-disciplinary insights to the outer limit. But then, we moderns don’t have such biblical horizons, do we? We refuse to see the world as the Bible reveals it to us.

You must be logged in to see the rest of this post.

Join now for a year for $15!

Here’s a charming quote discovered and posted by Doug Wilson over a year ago. Being exactly the opposite of the so-called “party” image portrayed on TV and in glossy mags, it kind of stuck with me. It is not sinful like they are, yet it is so “incorrect” that it must be true.

“I wish you well. May your table be graced with lovely women and good men. May you drink well enough to drown the envy of youth in the satisfactions of maturity. May your men wear their weight with pride, secure in the knowledge that they have at last become considerable. May they rejoice that they will never again be taken for callow, black-haired boys. And your women? Ah! Women are like cheese strudels. When first baked, they are crisp and fresh on the outside, but the filling is unsettled and indigestible; in age, the crust may not be so lovely, but the filling comes at last into its own. May you relish them indeed. May we all sit long enough for reserve to give way to ribaldry and for gallantry to grow upon us. May there be singing at the table before the night is done, and old, broad jokes to fling at the stars and tell them we are men . . . The road to Heaven does not run from the world but through it” (Robert Farrar Capon, The Supper of the Lamb, p. 180).

What a delightful image! This is a kind of glory the Christian west has largely forgotten. This is the kind of parties we want to be throwing.

To coin a phrase by Douglas Adams, I think the real reason many Christian stuffed shirts disapprove of such gatherings is because they don’t “get invited to those sorts of parties.” What winebibbers those Christians are! In one sense, we get our wings the same way The Hungriest Caterpillar did.

Yes, in the bigger picture, there is still a time for fasting. But our New Covenant feasting is just as glorifying to God. In Esther, the fast lasted for one day and it resulted in the permanent Feast of Purim. The sufferings of David lead to the end of Saul and the feasts of Solomon.

As Christians fast, the world consumes the church (in the same way we “eat Jesus”). That was the theme of the Old Covenant. [1] But when victory comes, as it always, inevitably does, we feast. Then the kings of the earth bring their glory into it: the church consumes the world. This is how it will be until both church and world are transfigured figures.

This is the perfect marriage of thrift and largess, and it takes a king’s wisdom to stay balanced on such a muscular steed.

________________________________________________
[1] See Touch Not, Taste Not, Handle Not and Eat Local and Die.

or Being a Truly Impure Thinker

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15

NOTE: THIS POST HAS BEEN REMIXED AND INCLUDED IN GOD’S KITCHEN.

You must be logged in to see the rest of this post.

Join now for a year for $15!

_____________________________________
[1] Available from www.wordmp3.com
[2] Eugene Rosenstock-Huessy, “Farewell to Descartes” in I Am an Impure Thinker [PDF]
[3] See Marriage as a Promise of Wine.
[4] See Eat Local and Die.
[5]  See Touch Not, Taste Not, Handle Not.
[6] See Knowledge and Wisdom.

The dietary Laws given to Moses were an expansion of the command given to Adam. It is the self-denial of priestly obedience to God. Adam wasn’t ready for the tree of judicial responsibility (kingdom) but he seized it.

In the greater Bible picture, Israel’s history (from Moses) is this period of priestly obedience. But Jesus came and reversed Adam’s failure. Consequently the dietary laws are revoked, and with greater maturity, the people of God (through the first century death of Israel and her resurrection as the church) now, like Jesus, have the judicial wisdom of the Spirit, and the power to eat unclean things (Gentiles), consume them and make them clean. Only the power of resurrection can enter a room with a corpse in it, touch lepers and feast on Gentile meats and not be made unclean, but instead make the unclean clean by consuming it. This is the power of the New Covenant. 

This power only comes after obedience (in this case, obedience to the gospel). Fasting, then feasting.

Under the Old Covenant, scavengers were unclean demonic “servants” of God. Under the new, the church Herself becomes the greatest “scavenger” of all time, the body of Christ eating the dead and incorporating them into His life by resurrection. Only those who will not die, will not judge themselves, those who are neither fire nor water, hot nor cold, are vomited out as unclean. Lukewarmness is the old life refusing to die. No death (fasting), no resurrection (feasting). Jesus is our food, and we are His. We in Him, and He in us. Greater Solomon reigns, and the world is His table. Unlike Adam, He didn’t seize the kingdom, so the Father gave it to Him on a platter.

Just as the unclean birds carried out the Covenant curses for God, now the church of God is the great clean bird situated between heaven and earth, brooding over the abyss, devouring the corpses of those dead in transgressions and rendering them alive as they pass through her Laver gates. The crystal sea still dispenses angelic government, but now it is the crystal city, and the Advocate has replaced the Accuser.

Greater Daniel fasted, and now eats anything Babylon presents to Him. Greater Esther proclaimed a fast, but now devours even the twisted monsters of the deep and makes Gog and Magog fit for God. No nation is too unclean for resurrection. And no nation is too strong, for she devours them from the inside.

Little by little, the world passes through the tabernacle of Jesus, dismembered, washed, burnt and ascended, until all is a Holy aroma pleasing to God. 

So fast and pray, then go out and eat (with) the unclean, remembering that Jesus always keeps the best till the end.

“We shall be gods”

“Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations — “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using — according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”  Colossians 2:20-23

As with nearly everthing in the Bible, the roots of this go back to early Genesis.

Obedience comes first – don’t touch the forbidden food. Adam and Eve took it. Daniel refused it. Esther took it but then all the Jews of Susa refused it and the victory was won.

Then comes Rule - which includes eating the previously forbidden food. Daniel later ate the king’s food. Esther finishes with the establishment of a new feast. It’s not rocket science to work out that Adam and Eve would have eaten from the tree of “judicial” knowledge when they were ready for it. But we are dim, and James Jordan isn’t.

So, besides being pedagogical, the Old Covenant food laws were a sign of temporary, “Adamly” obedience on a national scale. This was fulfilled when Christ not only refused the bread of Satan but became the bread of Life on a tree.

Now the church eats pork, shellfish, oysters, etc. as Greater Esther “devours the Abyss” (rendering it clean, as Jesus does) – and she drinks wine (or should do) – the drink of kings for whom Christ is both wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).

“But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:14

________________
Pic: www.danfergusdesign.com