Leviticus 11:39 starts out with saying that if anyone touches the carcass of an animal that he or she may eat, then the person becomes unclean until the evening. Verse 40 basically says in this instance to just wash his or her clothes and remain unclean until evening. The person who also carried the carcass, possibly a hunter or helper is supposed to wash his or her clothes and remain unclean until evening.
I don't really understand the whole being unclean part here, dealing with touching dead animals that we may eat. It looks like God didn't really mind His people eating other animals that He said were okay to eat. It goes back to the dietary Jewish laws. However, I recall from the New Testament that Peter was commanded by God to eat unclean animals so he would be able to witness to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are basically people who are not physically born Jews, so they are basically everyone else. How God didn't propagate His wraith on the Gentiles for breaking Kosher laws all the time is such a mystery to me. Maybe some could claim that it's because God isn't real or make some type of doubt like that. The Bible hasn't really mentioned about God killing off Gentiles for not following Jewish tradition. The whole promised land thing where God commanded Joshua to attack the people living in the land with milk and honey did some detestable things, which I don't know the description of yet. It's probably not because those people were making themselves unclean until the evening!
What's interesting is that how there's always a purpose with what God is doing. The Bible says that God's ways are higher than ours, meaning that there's no way to fully understand God. A verse in the New Testament says that we only know things in part, dealing with God's glory. Still, it's encouraging for me that such a thing like the Bible exists today, and there's something to look into each day and try to grow from. My buddy was being prideful over some ideas and happy over feeling like he was better than everybody else from having the most understanding. It was a type of false security that he developed from his own loneliness; it was really annoying to me so I ended up telling him that I'm taking a break from him. He doesn't really talk about those types of weird things anymore with me. He's actually been getting better at keeping to himself and being more realistic about life, like describing the drama that he is around with the women in his life.
I'm basically referring to how no one can know God completely, but His Word and teaching is available through the means of reading the Bible. I guess the Old Testament feels archaic especially with these old laws that we hardly practice. I wonder if there are any more Jews out there who will be very strict about following these ancient laws set forth during the time of Moses. I can see how easy it would be to just doubt based on feelings alone because it's a little out there. However, my faith is in Jesus, so that's what's keeping me going with trying to read and understand the Bible daily.
Academy of Scrappy Credible Undergraduate Desire
