BibleBackStory

​For God so loved the world...

Passover Tidbits #20:  Sheep, and Goats, and Pigs ... Oh My  

Scripture is unlike any other book we read, or class we take.  Certainly, it is words on a page and we read it like a regular book.  It does contain some history, some moral guidance, and some advice on becoming a better person.  It provides promises to give us hope, and encouragement to keep us strong. 

Like most other books we read, or shows we watch, the Bible has wars, deceit, adultery, and lasting marriages.  We see kids being born, old men dying, unlikely heroes, and faltering leaders.  The Bible, when read as a novel, is an all time bestseller and forms the storyline for about every novel and movie to follow for the next 3,000 years or more. 

We have talked a bit already about the Hebrew alef-bet and how every letter is a picture, and the pictures have meanings.  To understand the words one should first understand the pictures.  We discussed how the numbers in Scripture often have meaning far past the meaning of the number in the text of the account. 

In Scripture animals also often have meaning past their obvious use as an animal.  We know for instance that sheep can represent God and often His people.  If you were fortunate enough not to have lived in a large city all of your life, you will probably know something about sheep.  Basically, docile most of the time, they tend to stick together, but every now and again one goes wayward and the shepherd must go find it.  Over all, they don't seem to be the brightest animal in the barnyard, but they are happy enough and seem a good fit as a picture of us, the children of God.  The sheep in the form of a lamb also take on the attributes of God Himself, and we often read Jesus described as The Lamb of God.

The goat, on the other hand, is another barnyard animal with a different personality and slightly different uses.  On the farm the goat provides milk, meat and help to keep the farm yard weed free by munching down anything that grows, crops or weeds.  While many offerings, including Passover I might add, can use a sheep or a goat as a sacrifice, because to paraphrase King David, the offering is worthless if it does not cost me something.  Both the sheep and goats are heard animals, used for meat and milk, similar in size and value, so the sacrifice of either has a similar cost to the owner.  But the goat has taken on the characteristic of the people of the land who do not really belong to Him.  Think of the 5 virgins waiting for the wedding feast, but who were excluded with the most frightening words in Scripture, "depart from me I never knew you”.

Just as the sheep figures prominently in the Passover, the goat figures just as prominently in the feast of Atonement, as the sins of the people are ceremonially placed on a goat, the scape goat, and he sent out of the camp.  Basically you don't want to be a goat, and to this day the word goat carries a bad connotation.

But what about the poor pig?  Porky has the misfortune to be one of the unclean animals, and as such, is ostracized from the people of God.  When most Christians are asked about the whole clean/unclean thing, they seem to have no real answer.  It is just God throwing His weight around and making nonsensical rules that must be followed or else.  Look, a pig is just another barnyard animal, the other white meat as I recall the commercial from the 70's, and who exactly does not like bacon?

Looking back to the beginning we see YHWH creating everything.  He created a universe and placed in it a blue planet and upon that planet He created us, and all we see and know.  When He created everything He created in such a way as to run perfectly with us or with out us.  Without spending many years of college to bear this all out, lets just cut to the chase.  Everything on earth is born and dies, and in between, lives life.  In order to make that life pleasant and livable, God created everything needed for His children and His creatures to thrive and one of those things He created was a way to deal with the garbage.  He created some animals to clean up the place, as Vail HoneyWagon was not yet on the scene.  He created animals on land and under the sea to eat and dispose of dead things, bad things that would make His children sick, or worse.  Shellfish clean the bottom of the ocean; fish with out scales eat dead or dying sea life so as not to pollute the oceans. 

Vultures and similar birds perform the same sort of service above the water, and the creepy crawlies remove decay and make the ground new.  Porky is one of the animals assigned to eat garbage. Pigs eat anything, and they eat things that would make us sick, or even kill us if we ate the things they eat.  They are among the legions of garbage eaters designed expressly to keep us healthy and the planet in tune.

These animals perform this important work day and night because they were created with bacteria, parasites, and a whole host of interesting bodily functions to do exactly that, and with out them, in  fairly short order God's House, this earth, would be come uninhabitable to us, His children.  YHWH in His wisdom, created everything for the enjoyment of mankind, but as science would not catch up to His wisdom for quite some time He had to leave some guidance.  It would be thousands of years before we understood the jobs of these creature and exactly how they are able to preform it with out becoming ill themselves.

In the intervening six thousand years or so, God needed a way for His people to be able to tell the difference between the clean animals "of which you may eat", and the unclean animals "of which you may not eat.”  It was quite ingenious really. The unclean animals in the sea, that is the animals designed to eat the garbage, sewage, dead sea creatures, and such, will not have scales.  OK that is simple enough, no shell fish, no sharks, no eels, etc.  Easy to figure out with the simple instructions given, and no real argument about what is clean or unclean.

Of the acceptable land animals you are to look for any who both chew the cud and have cloven hoofs.  Again easy enough for anyone to figure out with out a picture book.  Pigs do have cloven hooves, but do not chew their cud so they are off limits.  Would you really want to serve for dinner an animal who’s only job is to eat the dead, dyeing, decaying stuff, and garbage from the earth? 

Ditto the birds, if it eats dead things leave it alone, no roast vulture for Thanksgiving, and of course the creepy crawlies from the face of the earth are not designed to be good for food, they eat the stuff we would never consider eating, so why would we eat them?

Which brings me to this.  Obviously, porky is off limits for Passover; please do not bring deviled eggs with bacon bits, or roasted veggies with hunks of pork, or pork green chile.  But I find it interesting that among those who choose to celebrate Ishtar, now Easter, and the pagan fertility festival on the Sunday after the first Friday after the spring equinox the preferred meal is ... ham.

Passover is this Friday.  We look forward to you and yours celebrating with our extended family, and please no pork.

 


CB