These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers–that you may eat. But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales–that shall be an abomination to you. (Leviticus 11:9-12)
No Fins, No Scales, No Good
The Law of Moses is a unique body of laws instructing the nation of Israel in every part of their lives. What is exceptional about God’s law with the Hebrews is the manner it affects every part of their lives. Laws that establish an overriding policy of requirements govern most societies but the Law given at Mt. Sinai was a law of government, family life, personal hygiene, health, foreign policy and clothing. Reading the Law of Moses reveals a detailed keeping of law in every part of the Jewish life. There were certain foods the Jews were allowed to eat and many foods were forbidden. This law was not given as a suggestion but as absolute law that would execute judgments upon those who disobeyed. One such example is the exclusion of anything that swims in the sea that does not have fins or scales. Eating this animal would be an abomination for the people. When the Lord placed the label of abomination upon a matter, it was to be rejected at all cost.
Prohibiting fish without fins or scales would include catfish, eel, clam, crab, crayfish, lobster and oysters to name a few. Many have tried to assume the reasons for God making these distinctions forbidding the Jews from eating animals without fins or scales but the truth remains it remains the truth of God’s word. Whether the Lord was trying to save the people from harmful food or not does not understand the character of His law. The law of God said not to eat shrimp. I like shrimp a lot. If I were a Jew living under the Law at that time, I would not be able to eat shrimp. Why? God’s law said shrimp was unclean. It was to be an abomination only to Jews. A Gentile could eat a whole platter of shrimp, lobster and smoked catfish without sin. The reason is the Law of Moses was given to the Jews alone and they were bound to keep the Law in every detail. It served also to serve as a strict distinction between the Jew and Gentile.
The Law of Moses was given to the Jews alone and when Jesus died on the cross, the Law was taken away. God no longer makes distinction between clean and unclean foods. Paul would later tell Timothy, God created every creature for good and is acceptable with prayer and thanksgiving. Forbidding the Jews from eating any fish that did not have fins or scales was the test of the law above all else. There are many parts of the Law that are strict adherence to the will of the Lord as tests to show the people’s faithfulness. Would eating a lobster kill a Jew? No, but their disobedience would bring about the judgment of the Lord. It is important to see this law as a matter of obedience, not taste. If eating clams were forbidden today, would we have faith in God to refuse to eat them? That is the lesson. Clams are tasty and enjoyable but the question has to do with whether we will follow the will of God or not.
Reading the Law of Moses is a lesson on obeying the Lord whether we understand His commands or not. Many people reject parts of God’s law today because they do not see the value of doing certain things. It does not make sense to them and they cannot see any harm in either doing or refusing to do certain things. Because they do not have an explanation why the command is necessary, they refuse to obey it. The point they miss is it has nothing to do with man understanding God; it has everything to do with man obeying God. Does baptism make sense to the mind of man? Many refuse to accept this teaching because human wisdom cannot understand it. Does that justify refusing to be baptized for the remission of sins? God commanded it and that is all there is for man to understand. The question of salvation, marriage and divorce, worship and church organization are just a few of the points of the law of God that men refuse to obey because they do not understand the why. What they miss is that it does not matter what men think. The only thing that matters is what God commands. If the Jews followed the will of God like most today, shrimp, lobster, and catfish would be on the daily menu. That law has been abandoned. God’s law through Christ remains. Obedience. Saved or lost. That is what matters.
The Heaton File 
You peope need ro READ your bible before you quote it. the laws that Moses gave to ISRAEL came from GOD. It us NOT the law of Moses, but the law of GOD. The food laws which include what animals and fish that GOD listed as clean or unclean are health laws. Those listed as unclean were never intended to be food for human consumption! These laws were given THROUGH Moses to Israel, NOT just to the Jews. There were twelve tribes of Israel of which Juda (the Jews) was only one of the twelve tribes. GOD’S LAWS in Leviticus were given to ALL ISRAEL, Not just to the Jews. With close reading, with understanding, you would find that these laws were given for the benefit of ALL MANKIND.
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I agree with this comment and wanted to add on (Even though its a year later) cause I’ve been studying this a lot and trying to make changes in my own life.
Clean and Unclean animals were not just given to the Jews, but way back in Genesis. During the Flood, God specifically told Noah (who was not a jew) that Unclean animals were to board in pairs but Clean animals in seven pairs (Genesis 7:2)
People love to Quote 1 Timothy 4:4 “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,” But want to end at that verse. Like the previous person said, read closely, read the whole chapter and go beyond that verse, don’t stop there ->
1 Timothy 4:5 “because it is consecrated by the WORD of God and prayer” The food we eat isn’t just consecrated by prayer, it must also be concentrated by the WORD of God. That means only the foods God has written in His word as clean, are CLEAN and should be prayed over and we can eat.
Most importantly the Law of God is not done away with. If what you say is true, then Murder, Rape, Dishonoring our parents, worshiping idols and even the first Commandment to only worship God should be done away with…..
Paul clearly says, only the ceremonies are done away with because they were a Shadow of THINGS to come i.e Christ’s Sacrifice (Colossians 2:7). So no more ceremonies, but God’s law of love and even his health laws hold true, they have existed since Genesis and will exist in Heaven, (Revelations 14:12)
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Ahhhhh sorry, I’m replying back to my original comment cause I was wrong in the last two paragraphs, you weren’t talking about the ten commandments and i went into the ten commandments.
What I should have said is if the Law of Moses was completely separate from God’s laws, then things like Sodomy and Incest should be okay among Christians because they are first mentioned in Leviticus as part of Moses’s Law.
Yet Paul condemns the Corinthians for allowing someone into the church that was practicing incest (1 Cor 5) and calls Sodomy shameful (Rom 1 26-27). These are things from the Law of Moses, so why are they still anti-Christian if they were done away with?
Again, read the texts deeply, read the whole chapter of Colossians 2. Paul isn’t just saying Jesus nailed the laws to the cross, He wiped away the “handwriting of requirements (Verse 14)”.
What are those? “regarding a festival ….. or regulations” which “have an appearance of wisdom, false humility … but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh”
But God’s laws of Health that keep us from the “indulgence of the flesh” were not wiped away, only ceremonies and requirements and festivals. Paul was always arguing against intemperance and telling us that our bodies are the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16-17)
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The Law of Moses was only given to the nation of Israel. “And Moses called all Israel and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.” (Deuteronomy 5:1-3)
Moses said the statutes and judgments were the Lord’s covenant with Israel in Horeb. He did not make this covenant with the Hebrew lineage before (Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham), which would include Noah and Adam. What most people do not understand about the Law of Moses is that this law was not given to the world. It was only given to Israel.
Murder is not a sin because it breaks the Law of Moses. It was a sin to murder someone before the Law of Moses. Cain killed Abel. Were they under the Law of Moses? No. Adultery was sinful before the Law of Moses. You said, “If the Law of Moses was completely separate from God’s law, then things like sodomy and incest should be okay among Christians because they are first mentioned in Leviticus as part of Moses’s law.” Where does the term sodomy come from? Read Genesis 18-19.
Sodom was one of the many cities destroyed by the Lord because of their wickedness. Abraham pleaded with God to find righteous people in the cities, but none were found. Was Abraham under the Law of Moses? Were the people of Sodom and Gomorrah under the Law of Moses? No. God’s law was in place before the Law of Moses.
In the days of Noah, God destroyed the whole world – every human being – untold numbers of people – with the flood. Only eight people were saved. Why did God destroy the world? Did these people break the Law of Moses? No. Romans 1:18-32 is an example of how corrupt the world was in the days of Noah. None of this has anything to do with the Law of Moses.
Sin is a sin because it breaks the law of God. Paul argues in Romans 4 that the Law of Moses did not judge Abraham. The Law was not written until about 1450 B.C. What did people live under before the thousands of years prior? The law of God. When God gave the Law of Moses to the Jews, only the Jews were bound by the Law of Moses. The Gentiles did not keep the celebration of the Passover because it meant nothing to the Gentiles. They were accountable to the same law as Abraham.
What Christ did was to show the Gentiles could not live as a “law to themselves” (Romans 2:14-15) and the Law of Moses could not save the Jews. Today, the Jew cannot keep the Law of Moses to be saved, and the Gentile cannot be saved as their own law. Salvation is in Jesus Christ today. Adultery is a sin not because it breaks the Law of Moses or the Gentile law. Adultery is sinful because it goes against the law of Christ. Keeping the Law of Moses is the wrong law. The book of Hebrews shows why keeping the Law of Moses is a failure.
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Yes! I totally agree with you and actually love all the examples you’ve given and the book of Hebrews does tell us that the Law of Moses could not save Israelite or even us and even us from our sin. Our only salvation is in Christ.
I like that you mention for example that Sodomy is defined before the Law of Moses all the way in Genesis. 18-19, so Sodomy was already defined as a sin and is therefore a sin for us today because God’s law was already in place.
Since this post was talking about Clean and Unclean foods, (No-fins, No-scales), then by the same reasoning, would you not agree that since Clean and Unclean animals were defined to Noah as they entered the ark, (Genesis 7:2), then the animals that were clean for Noah (and therefore the rest of the world) to eat, were defined before the Law of Moses in Genesis and therefore God already gave instructions to the whole world, on what was clean and unclean?
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