Ye shall not make yourselves abominable through any crawling thing which crawleth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby.
This verse bans more than a menu: an Israelite could make himself detestable by what he ate and touched. Behind the ban on crawling creatures lies a question that outlives the food laws — what does contact with the unclean do to a person who belongs to a holy God?
Verses 41-43 ban every creature that crawls. One writer reads them as a picture of a life that never looks up:
Creeping things move quietly, steadily, and with a look of humility. But most of them burrow in the earth and know nothing higher. Jude traces the start of the great falling away to certain men who crept in unnoticed. While the saints were not watching, these men quietly and steadily pursued their aim, and found a way into the assembly of God's people.
The ground itself is part of the symbol:
Everything that creeps on the earth was unclean: the earth is under the curse because of sin, and there must be a moral rising above it.
The verse assumes people will want what God calls detestable. One commentator sees there a verdict on human nature, and a limit on what law can do:
Sin has corrupted man, so he is easily led to feed on what is loathsome. Jehovah takes note of the lowest creatures, the things that crawl on the earth, and forbids them as food for His people… Nature has no power against the fall or its effects. The law has no power either, except to forbid, and to condemn if it is broken. This was Jehovah's attitude in putting Israel to the test by the law… But law gave power no more than it gave life, and both are given only in Christ, received by faith.
Why would God give rules about food at all? One writer answers that eating is never neutral:
Spiritually, our food declares our character, as it also forms it. Whoever eats Christ will not only live by Him; his own life will in practice be made like Christ's. So the food allowed here to the people of God pictures the spiritual life of the people of God… Still, the question of health is never raised. The law does not deal with what is healthy or unhealthy, but with what is clean or unclean.
The verse forbids two things: eating these creatures, and letting them defile you. One writer presses the second:
God did not guard His people only in the matter of eating what was unclean. Even bare contact was forbidden… No member of the Israel of God could touch what was unclean without being defiled by it. Both the law and the prophets unfold this principle widely… Jehovah would have His people holy in all things. They were neither to eat nor touch anything unclean.
But what if the creature is dead and harmless? One writer has an answer:
If anyone pleads that there is no harm in touching a creeping thing when it is dead, or urges us to touch it because it has no power, we are told that it is still defiling… Many would refuse to eat, yet do not hesitate to touch; many reject certain teachings and principles for themselves, yet mix happily with those who hold them.
Careful separation can easily turn into pride. The same commentator shows what keeps it from doing so:
The principle is not "stand by yourself, I am holier than you." It is simply this: God is holy, so everyone He brings into association with Himself must be holy too… Suppose someone had asked an Israelite of old, "Why do you shrink back from that reptile crawling along the path?" He would have answered, "Jehovah is holy, and I belong to Him. He has said, Do not touch." So now, when someone asks a Christian why he walks apart from the ten thousand things the men of this world share in, his answer is simply to be, "My Father is holy."
Commentators point to Peter's vision in Acts 10 as the place where these very categories are overturned — not by lowering the standard, but by cleansing from above:
It is well worth comparing this chapter with Acts 10:11-16. Think how strange it must have seemed to a man taught from his earliest days in the rules of Moses. He saw a vessel coming down from heaven, holding "all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, and wild animals, and creeping things, and birds of the air." Then he heard a voice say, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." How wonderful. No examination of hoofs or habits! There was no need of it. The vessel and its contents had come from heaven… It did not matter what was in the vessel, if God had cleansed it.
- Low — the forbidden creatures burrow in the earth and know nothing higher; the believer is to rise morally above that level.
- Inward — food is never neutral; what a person eats declares his character and also forms it.
- Wide — the guard covers touching as well as eating; even a dead creeping thing defiles, and God would have His people holy in all things.
- Upward — the reason is never "I am holier than you," but "My Father is holy, and I belong to Him."
- Beyond — the law could forbid and condemn, but gave no power; in Acts 10 heaven lets down a vessel, and whatever God has cleansed is clean.
For I am Jehovah your God; and ye shall hallow yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy; and ye shall not make yourselves unclean through any manner of crawling thing which creepeth on the earth.
Leviticus 11 spends most of its length listing animals Israel could eat and animals that defiled anyone who touched them. At verse 44, God gives the reason behind every line: His own character, and the relationship His people already stood in.
Israel's separation was never a claim to be better than other nations.
It is good to see where the personal holiness of God's people comes from. Their complete separation from every kind of uncleanness flows out of their relationship to Him. The principle is not "stand by yourself, I am holier than you." It is simply this: "God is holy," and therefore everyone God brings into association with Himself must be holy too. Suppose someone had asked an Israelite long ago, "Why do you shrink back from that reptile crawling along the path?" He would have answered, "The Lord is holy, and I belong to Him. He has said, Do not touch." The same holds now. If someone asks a Christian why he walks apart from the ten thousand things the men of this world share in, his answer is simply to be, "My Father is holy."
What does "holy" mean when God says it of Himself?
God is holy in Himself, holy by His very nature. He is pure, He is clean, and He is different from every other person. He is apart from all else and from all other persons, and we need to keep that in mind. Anything or anyone else that God counts holy must take on, in some measure, this particular characteristic that God Himself has completely. That thing or person must be clean, pure, and entirely apart from any pollution or contamination.
The instructions reach down even to creatures that crawl.
How wonderful to think of the condescending grace of the Lord! He could stoop to give directions about a crawling reptile. He would not leave His people at a loss about the most trivial matter. They were not their own, and so they were not to do as they pleased. They belonged to the Lord; His name was called on them. His word was to be their great regulating standard in every case. In such matters they were not to think their own thoughts, use their own reasoning, or follow their own imagination.
The demand rests on something God had already done for them.
These instructions were given to Israel on the basis of the holiness of their God (vv. 44-45). God's name is to be set apart from everything inconsistent with His character. Because He is holy, Israel was commanded to be holy. For God had brought them out of the unclean bondage of Egypt so that they should belong to Him. They — and we — should therefore love what is good and hate what is evil.
Why food, of all things?
By eating, in a spiritual sense, we understand communion. Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, so we are occupied with the things that suit this fellowship. The Father loves the Son, and we love the Son. So in Scripture, looked at spiritually, what is "clean" must set forth Christ. What is "unclean" must be unlike this perfect model, who knew no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.
Does the command still stand, now that God deals with people differently?
The apostle quotes the law to insist on holiness (Leviticus 11:44). God's way of dealing with people may change, but His nature cannot change. God is absolute in holiness. That was true under law, and it is still true under grace. So those in relationship with God, whether under law or grace, must be holy.
What changed when Christ came?
In His own person Christ brought in grace and truth, and redemption enables us to walk in the Spirit in keeping with them. It is now the children — not of the fathers, but of God the Father — whose standing is not in flesh, but in Christ. The holiness rises according to the place and the relationship.
There is a limit to what a command by itself can do.
Nature has no power against the fall or its effects. The law has no power either, except to forbid — and to condemn anyone who breaks it... But the law gave power no more than it gave life. Both come only in Christ, and faith receives them.
- Because — the command rests on one reason: God is holy. Not Israel's merit.
- Belonging — He had already redeemed them out of Egypt so they would be His. The rescue comes first; the call to holiness follows from it.
- Boundaries — being holy meant being set apart, right down to what they ate and touched. His word, not their own reasoning, drew the line.
- Bread — God set the test at the table, because what we feed on is what we have fellowship in.
- Beyond — the same words come to Christians, because God's nature has not changed. Law could command holiness. Only Christ supplies the power for it.
For I am Jehovah who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
God gives the reason for the whole list of clean and unclean creatures in one sentence: He is the One who brought Israel up out of Egypt to be their God. Their food, their contacts, their whole daily life had to match the God who rescued them — so what do these rules mean now?
The verse names redemption before it names holiness. God never asks for holiness from people He has not first rescued and brought near to Himself.
To be taken as a people, Israel is redeemed out of the world. Until that redemption there is no dwelling of God with man — not in paradise, not with Abraham. When redemption is even pictured in figure, it says (Ex. 29), "I have brought them out of the land of Egypt that I may dwell among them." So God's dwelling with man is never seen before that, and holiness is never spoken of till then. Redemption is necessary for man to be near God, and that nearness, morally understood, is holiness.
The command is not "be holy because you are better." It rests on who God is and on the tie He has made with His people.
The personal holiness of God's people — their complete separation from every kind of uncleanness — flows out of their relationship to Him. It does not rest on the principle of "stand by yourself, I am holier than you." It is simply this: "God is holy," and everyone He brings into association with Himself must be holy too... Suppose someone asked an Israelite of old, "Why do you shrink back from that reptile crawling along the path?" He would have answered, "Jehovah is holy, and I belong to Him. He has said, 'Do not touch.'" In the same way now, a Christian may be asked why he walks apart from the ten thousand things the men of this world share in. His answer is simply to be, "My Father is holy."
The rules were never about food poisoning the soul. Their purpose lay elsewhere.
After the flood, God gave man every moving living creature for food (Gen. 9:3). Here, under the law, He brings in restrictions. Were men, then, defiled in their souls by eating animal food freely? Was that a source of moral defilement? Demons would put that idea into man's mind. But the Lord has taught us (Matt. 15:18) where moral defilement comes from — out of the heart of man. So abstaining from foods will not produce true godliness... But why these restrictions? Because the law does two things. It puts man at a distance from God and makes him aware of it. It is also meant to teach him the great difference between standing on the ground of keeping the law and standing on the ground of grace.
The safeguard went further than the table. Even contact with what was unclean passed the defilement on — and the same principle appears elsewhere in Scripture.
It was not only about eating anything unclean that God's people were so carefully guarded. Bare contact was forbidden... It was impossible for a member of the Israel of God to touch what was unclean without contracting defilement... The Lord would have His people holy in all things. They were neither to eat nor to touch anything unclean.
The two marks of a clean animal — chewing the cud and a split hoof — are read as a picture of the believer's inner life and public conduct, and neither counts alone.
The inward life and the outward walk must go together. A man may claim to love and feed on the Word of God, to study it and turn it over — the pasture of the soul; but if his footprints along the pathway of life are not what the Word requires, he is not clean. On the other hand, a man may seem to walk with a blamelessness no one can fault; but if his walk is not the result of the hidden life, it is worse than worthless.
The demand was right, but the system that carried it could not produce what it asked for.
Nature has no strength against the fall or its effects. The law has no power except to forbid, and to condemn anyone who breaks it... But the law gave power no more than it gave life. Christ alone gives both, and faith receives them. So it all came to nothing for unbelieving Israel, who were themselves the most unclean of all.
The same writer then marks the change Christ brought to clean and unclean.
The change brought in by Him who came in love, and who went down to the dust of death for the guilty and lost, is vast and fundamental... God showed this to Peter in a vision, and it bore directly on the Gentiles. Peter saw heaven opened, and a great sheet let down to the earth, holding the animals and creeping things of the earth and the birds of heaven. A voice came to him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." And the voice said, "What God has made clean, do not call common."
Peter takes this very sentence and applies it to Christians.
The Bible speaks of a once-for-all sanctification — our position — which applies to all believers. It also speaks of practical sanctification, which applies to our walk... But God's desire is that we should match in practice what we are in position. "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy'" (1 Pet. 1:14–16).
- Rescued first. God does not ask for holiness in order to redeem; He redeems, comes near, and then calls His people to be holy.
- Reasoned from God. The ground is His character, not our merit — "My Father is holy," never "I am holier than you."
- Reaching everything. Food, contact, daily company — holiness covered the ordinary, because the people belonged to a holy God.
- Revealing the limit. The law could forbid and condemn, but gave neither life nor power; both come only in Christ, and in Him God has cleansed what the law called common.
- Repeated to us. Peter quotes the words to believers already set apart, so that practice may catch up with position.