The other white meat!
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Deut 14 (v. 8) Also the swine is unclean for you....you shall not eat their flesh....( NKJV )
(Verse 8) The pig is also unclean....You are not to eat their meat....( NIV )
Is there any kind of food, that the Lord is displeased with, in this passage?
Isa 65 (v. 2) I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts. (v. 4) Who sit among the graves....who eat swine's flesh, and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels. (v. 6) Behold, it is written before Me, I will not keep silence, but will repay, even repay into their bosom.
What is going to be repaid into their bosom?
Exod 15 (v. 26) ....If you diligently heed the voice of the lord your God and do what is right in His sight....I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.
A team of specialists from around the world gathered at the Manchester Medical School in England in 1975 for the specific purpose of performing autopsies on Egyptian mummies dating back to 1900 B.C. The findings were remarkable. The ancient Egyptians suffered from many illnesses common to us today: heart disease, cancer, vascular diseases, arthritis, hepatitis, tetanus, trichinosis, and others.[1]
Although Egypt was the educational and cultural center of the world during Moses’ lifetime, medical knowledge and remedies were saturated with superstition and folklore. Yet God’s people stood radically apart, following the principles of public health given by God and taught by Moses….[1]
Commenting on the comparison of the people that traveled with Moses, the Psalmist David, tells us that “there was not one feeble person among their tribes.”
Psm 105 (v. 23) Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. (v. 26) He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen. (v. 27) They performed His signs among them, and wonders in the land…. (v. 36) He also destroyed all the firstborn in their land…. (v. 37) He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes. (v. 38) Egypt was glad when they departed….
God has given you light and knowledge, which you have professed to believe came direct from Him,…You know that the use of swine's flesh is contrary to His express command, given not because He wished to especially show His authority, but because it would be injurious to those who should eat it.[2]
Now, you might be thinking: Well, that was all Old Testament, and this all changed in the New Testament with Jesus. Let’s compare 2 different verses.
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John 6 (v. 11) And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them....as much as they wanted. (v. 12) So when they were filled, He said....“Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.”
Jesus was very careful to collect up, the 12 baskets of bread fragments. He did not waste any good food or throw it away. Now let's compare the 2nd verse.
Luke 8 (v. 26) Then they sailed to the country....which is opposite Galilee. (v. 27) And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time....(v. 29) For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.
(Verse 31) And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. (v. 32) Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. And they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them....(v. 33) Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.
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Was that wasteful? If pigs were good for food, then why did Jesus let them goto waste?
Christ once gave His disciples a lesson upon economy which is worthy of careful attention. He wrought a miracle to feed the hungry thousands who had listened to His teachings; yet after all had eaten and were satisfied, He did not permit the fragments to be wasted. He who could, in their necessity, feed the vast multitude by His divine power, bade His disciples gather up the fragments, that nothing might be lost. This lesson was given as much for our benefit as for those living in Christ's day.[3]
Why then is this animal, the pig-swine, unclean to eat for food?
But it is not the physical health alone which is injured by pork eating. The mind is affected, and the finer sensibilities are blunted by the use of this gross article of food.[4] Its use would cause the blood to become impure,…and the whole organism would suffer. Especially would the fine, sensitive nerves of the brain become enfeebled and so beclouded, that sacred things would not be discerned, but be placed upon the low level with common things.[2]
Why would we want a clear mind to discern the sacred things?
Col 3 (v. 1) ....seek those things which are above, where Christ is.... (v. 2) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
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What is the final goal in you obtaining a clear mind?
John 17 (v. 3) And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
So, if your brain is enfeebled and beclouded, how are you going to know Him?
Psm 84 (v. 11) For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
The animals which He cautions us against eating are, in general, scavengers, the garbage collectors of the earth! For some, bacon may be tempting when looked at in the midst....[but] A scavenger, the hog routs around for anything which appears to be edible. Garbage eaten by the hog is digested and converted into [flesh] in a matter of hours. The cow, on the other hand, has a complex digestive system. It takes forty-eight hours for the food it eats to be converted into flesh.[5]
Pork is often infected with trichina larvae, or worms. When a person eats infected pork, the hard cyst surrounding the larva is dissolved. The worm then burrows into the intestinal wall and multiplies. These worms enter the bloodstream and are carried to other parts of the body. Trichinosis can be a fatal disease, depending on the number of larva eaten. Often the disease is wrongly diagnosed as arthritis or food poisoning....Apparently God knew what He was doing when He warned His people to stay away from the flesh of swine.[5]
What other reason did God not allow the eating of this condemned type of food?
It is impossible for the flesh of any living creatures to be healthy when filth is their natural element, and when they will feed upon every detestable thing. The flesh of swine is composed of what they eat. If human beings eat their flesh, their blood and their flesh will be corrupted by impurities conveyed to them through the swine.[4]
So, if the pig-swine is not good for food, then what is it here for?
The tissues of the swine swarm with parasites. Of the swine, God said, "It is unclean unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh,…" This command was given because swine's flesh is unfit for food. Swine are scavengers, and this is the only use they were intended to serve. Never, under any circumstances, was their flesh to be eaten by human beings.[6]
God has made certain animals to clean up the land. Just like the buzzard cleans the streets, the swine was created as a scavenger and that is their only purpose.
References:
1. Mark Finley, (1995). Beyond Orion’s Gates, p.182, Hart Research Center.
2. Counsels on Diet and Foods, p.392, “The Swine Especially Condemned,” par.1
3. Testimonies for the Church (vol.4) p.572, par.3
4. Counsels on Diet and Foods, p.393, par.1
5. Mark Finley, (1995). Beyond Orion’s Gates, p.186, Hart Research Center.
6. The Ministry of Healing, p.313, par.3
Image #1: Chambre.press, (2017). Pork the other white meat. Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/pork_title.gif
Image #2: Author Unknown, (n.d.). Baskets of bread pieces. Retrieved from https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/biAPT6ZGSZF0qGPEdbu5Q6SceokmHQV7z03HUWV2Sh2kqmxZxSaaFR7vgpIi-0CBIqr8vw=s151
Image #3: Kingdom Seekers, (2015). Pigs running off a cliff. Retrieved from http://www.kingdomseekersproduction.com/Jesus%20the%20Man/
Image #4: World Health Org., (2015). Classification of red and processed meat. Retrieved from http://shemakeswaves.com/tag/physicians-committee-for-responsible-medicine/
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