Scripture says we are to eat clean animals, like certain species of fish. But what happens when those clean animals eat those deemed unclean? Can we still eat the clean ones?
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This is Living Hebrew, Selah, where we present a brief Scriptural topic for you to ponder on.
In this episode, we consider:
“EATING CLEAN ANIMALS THAT EAT THE UNCLEAN”
An interesting issue came up in a Hebrew household where the habits of clean fish (fish that have scales and fins) came into question. Torah declares we are free to eat these kinds of fish.
9“These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. 10But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you. 11You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. 12Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.”
—Leviticus 11:9 – 12
These include many species of fish. You know the kind: herring, salmon, tuna, bass, trout, and many others. The issue that came up in the household is this: pretty much all clean fish eat unclean creatures. Do a quick search as to what a particular clean fish eats and you’ll turn up menu items like: unclean fish of all kinds, lobster, crab, krill, shrimp, and other crustaceans, and squid. But Yah said we are free to eat anything with fins and scales, regardless of what they eat, right? While I believe this is true, and we can trust wholly in Yah without question, some may still have reservations concerning this knowledge.
Now, as concerns clean fish that eat unclean creatures, know that that particular trait is not exclusive to fish. Chickens, turkeys, and all sorts of animals declared clean are known to eat those deemed unclean. For instance, chickens love to eat mealworms, which become darkling beetles, an unclean insect despite the mistranslation of Leviticus 11:22 in the 1611 KJV. More than that, free range chickens eat frogs and even mice! Turkeys, on the other hand, are known to eat spiders, caterpillars, snails, and small lizards. It has been this way since death and killing entered the world. Yah is well aware of this. As long as we are not directly eating the unclean or touching it, we are free to eat the flesh of animals designated as clean. Whatever they eat is absorbed into certain organs, not unlike our own liver and kidney. This is what Stanford Children’s Health had to say about the liver:
Functions of the Liver
The liver regulates most chemical levels in the blood and excretes a product called bile. This helps carry away waste products from the liver. All of the blood leaving the stomach and intestines passes through the liver. The liver processes this blood. It breaks down, balances, and creates the nutrients. It also breaks down medicines into forms that are easier to use for the rest of the body. More than 500 vital functions have been identified with the liver.
https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=how-the-liver-works-90-P02006
This is why those particular parts of the animal were offered to Yah and burned on the altar.
14“Then he shall offer from it, as his offering for a food offering to Yah, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 15and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 16And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is Yah’s. 17It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”
—Leviticus 3:14 – 17
The flesh is what we are permitted to eat. Even if you decide to become vegan and forego meat, chicken, and fish altogether, the same eating-the-unclean trait resides in plants. Gardeners routinely fertilize plants with blood meal or bone meal derived from clean and unclean animals. Of this, Gardening Know How writes:
What is Blood Meal?
Blood meal is pretty much as the name says. It is dried animal blood, typically cow blood, but it can also be the blood of any animal that goes through meat packing plants. The blood is collected after the animals are killed and then dried to make a powder.
What is Blood Meal Used For?
Blood meal is a nitrogen amendment that you can add to your garden. Adding blood meal to garden soil will help raise the level of nitrogen and will help plants to grow more lush and green.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/blood-meal-fertilizer.htm
Gardeners add blood meal or bone meal in part to replicate what happens in nature, like on the Serengeti plains or in woods and forests near you, where animals are constantly dying, and their blood and bones absorbed into the soil and converted into essential nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous. A few years ago, scientists at the University of Queensland in Brisbane also discovered that plants eat bacteria!
https://www.permablitz.net/articles/plants-eat-bacteria/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180917111527.htm
In this sense, even plants eat what is unclean! Yet we are permitted to eat plants, because the blood, bone, and bacteria they dine on is merely converted to needed nutrients and is not passed onto us when we eat the plants. The same goes for clean animals. But the command was given to us, not them. This just goes to show that Yah knows best. Selah.
Keywords: clean animals, Levitical diet, chickens eat mealworms, clean fish eat unclean, liver, kidneys, burned on the altar, blood meal, bone meal, selah, living Hebrew, kingdom preppers, kp
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TESTIMONIALS
Mr. and Mrs. Kingdom Prepper, thank you for the work that you are doing! I garden and never used blood/bone meal because I thought it was unclean. I use Epsom salt for nitrogen. The info you provide has blessed me in too many ways to be outlined in this message. May the Most High continue to bless you and your loved ones!
—Jeanette M.
All praise to the Most High Yah. I discovered chickens eat mice almost a year ago. I completely stopped eaating because I thought the exact same about clean eating unclean, yet I prayed and researched for a definitive answer. I compared chickens to quail, but never once did I think to search what clean animals eat.
—Cynthia E.
Shalom again, Kingdom Prepper Family. I just want to send a message of appreciation for your new Selah series! I just watched episode 1, and I am about to show it to our children. It was fabulous - and such a GREAT topic, too! As you know, children ask these types of questions all the time. We have spoken in our home about these topics before. What great visuals you’ve provided with connected Scriptural reference and explanation. Just like all of your other materials — we are truly thankful.
—YahMashiach’s Daughter
Yah is amazing. HalleuYah! My daughter and I just had a scriptural study on this yesterday and now I’m up at 3am and discover one of the points that we lacked understanding on. Thank you for your continued efforts and contribution to the lives of Yah's people.
—Michael P.
