A Short Thought on Shemini: Kosher Before Israel

The Kosher Laws Are Not Jewish — They Are Universal

Parashat Shemini contains an extended and detailed section on clean and unclean animals — what may and may not be eaten by those who fear God. Most Christians assume this is a purely Jewish concern, not relevant to them. They are wrong. The concept of clean and unclean animals, permitted and forbidden for consumption, is already in the story of Noah and the flood — thousands of years before there was a Jewish people. God commanded Noah to bring seven pairs of the clean animals that are for human consumption and only two pairs of the animals that are not clean. This indicates that the so-called "kosher laws" are not connected with Israel or Jewish identity — they have universal reasons and universal application.

Here is the text of the law as given in Leviticus 11:

Acts 15 — The Four Commands Gentile Disciples Must Keep

In the Acts chapter 15 text, the four commandments obligatory on Gentile disciples of the Messiah include two commandments that are connected with food. The source of these commandments is given by God to all of humanity right after Noah's flood in Genesis chapter 9. The two food-related commandments that Gentile Disciples of Yeshua are obligated to keep are to avoid "meat strangled" and "blood." In other words, any meat that disciples of Yeshua — whether Jewish or Gentile — can eat must be killed in a kosher way. There is no text in the New Testament that allows Gentiles to eat anything they like to eat. On the contrary, the apostolic injunctions in Acts for the non-Jewish disciples are clear: the animal must be killed by cutting the main vein from the heart to the brain and allowing the heart to keep beating and pumping the blood out of the body. Acts 15 does not erase God’s food instructions; it rather gives Gentile disciples the minimum starting point/ requirements and from there encourages people to grow, each one individually.