Commanded to Eat

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

thinking about the weirdly continuing argument about whether it's okay to eat certain foods or not, a question rose up in my mind, that i think is really worth searching out.

what does the scripture actually command to be eaten?

this is not, 'what does the law of Moses say is permissible' -- it's what is required in scripture?

my first thoughts were to spend time researching this exhaustively, then start a thread listing what i find and explaining what understanding i have through them. this was in the middle of the week, and i hadn't had time to sit down and look for hours until now. now, though, i'm thinking, threads in the BDF where someone makes a long speech telling us all 'this is how it is either click like or you are an heretic' are not as useful as threads that involve the reader and ask questions rather than issue proclamations. y'all are smart, you can help me search this out, and we can all bless one another with what we find and what we glean from it. i hope

so i'm not going to preach at ya's. i'm going to start listing instances of commands to eat specific things, in hopes you will add to the list, and then we can start putting the list in order and -- my hypothesis -- seeing these things put together will teach us about Christ, because this is what the Bible is all about.

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

i'm going to add posts to this thread with things that i find or occur to me, in no particular order other than the order in which they occur to me, first, and later, God willing, what i find by researching, if no one else hops in and has instances to add.

first thing that occurred to me -- is this the first command to specifically eat in scripture?

They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ‘Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. ‘And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. ‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste — it is the LORD’S Passover.
(Exodus 12:8-11)

Israel was commanded to eat a paschal lamb - to eat it in a certain way, quickly, dressed ready to travel, and not to have leftovers.

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

connected to paschal lamb of course this occurs to me:

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them."

(John 6:53-56)

and

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying,

“This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
(Luke 22:19)

also with the cup -- and then,

Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed.
(1 Corinthians 5:7)

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

this occurred to me too, almost immediately in my considering the question -

He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.

(Exodus 32:20)

Moses, seeing the Israelites worshiping an idol even at the foot of Sinai, forced them to eat the ground-up idol itself.

commanded to eat the dust of our burned up, shattered idols, scattered on water - what do you see here, friends?

Grandpa · Nov 17, 2018

Acts 10:11-16
11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

this comes to mind soon, too:

Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth."

(Ezekiel 3:1-3)

the prophet is commanded to eat the scroll -- what scroll? what is written on it? the Word of God?
hmm! see post #3 !!

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

extremely similar to Ezekiel, John is commanded by an angel to eat a scroll in the vision of the revelation of Christ:

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more:

“Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me,

“Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’”

I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told,

“You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

(Revelation 10:8-11)

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

posthuman said:

right after passover, the feast of unleavened bread. passover marks the beginning of this week-long feast

In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.

(Exodus 12:18-20)

the people were commanded to eat unleavened bread for 7 days after being commanded to eat the lamb.

((hey what does a vegetarian orthodox Jew do on passover?? lol?))

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

regarding the yearly tithe in the law of Moses --

You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. You shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the Lord your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you, then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.
(Deuteronomy 14:22-26)

under the law, if the journey is too far and arduous for you to bring your tenth to the temple ((which would include firstborn of livestock)) then the law commands to sell your tithe, bring the money to the place God has chosen ((i.e. the temple in Jerusalem, per corporeal context)), and use it to buy & eat 'whatever your heart desires' - ((even, explicitly, strong drink!)) - and to feast and rejoice there in the presence of God, you and your whole household.

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

in the law, Aaron and his sons are commanded to eat the atonement sacrifice made for them - a ram - to ordain them as priests.

Take the ram for the ordination and cook the meat in a sacred place. At the entrance to the tent of meeting, Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket. They are to eat these offerings by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no one else may eat them, because they are sacred. And if any of the meat of the ordination ram or any bread is left over till morning, burn it up. It must not be eaten, because it is sacred.
(Exodus 29:31-34)

this goat ordaining the Levite as priest, and bread with it, is commanded of those becoming priest to eat. leftovers are permissible, but they must be burned up.
compare with the paschal lamb, which must be completely eaten.

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

doesn't everything come back to Genesis 3?

And the Lord God said unto the serpent,

Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field;

upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life

(Genesis 3:14)

is this a command to the Serpent that he must eat dust?
compare with Moses grinding up the golden calf into powder and forcing those who sinned by it to eat the dust of their idol, mixed with water!

garee · Nov 17, 2018

I think the main focus is not so much what we are to eat revealed in the various parables used as ceremonial law to preach the suffering of Christ beforehand . Even though the clean foods are more healthier choice it does not provide us the spiritual understanding.

Food like animals are to be looked at as to the spiritual unseen understanding, the gospel hid from natural unconverted man. I would think in the end of the matter to show God is not served by human hands as a will . Ultimately he can use a unbeliever to bring the gospel as well as one that does have faith .He alone causes the growth if any.

The food used in parables is the food the disciples knew not of. The food of the will of the father our daily bread. Which is also called the hidden manna in Revelation ...with the word manna without adding another meaning "what is it?". Something not of us as in "no familiarity" with God who is not a man as us. Again the kind of food or will the disciples knew not of. It was hidden from them.

posthuman · Nov 17, 2018

garee said:

my wife brought up manna when i told here what i'd been thinking about, but is manna commanded to eat? in Exodus 16 the people were commanded to 'gather as much as they need' -- i suppose if you didn't need any, you needn't gather any. but who doesn't have need?
still i thought, maybe this doesn't really qualify.

some of what i have found so far, what we must eat:

the lamb slain to save your life ((passover)) / the goat sacrificed to atone for you if being made priest
the dust of your destroyed idol ((golden calf)), mixed with water
if set apart to prophesy, the scroll ((the word of God?))

this is paralleled in the NT

the flesh and the blood of the Lamb of God

i am remembering and holding in mind, He is the bread of life, He is the word of God, He is the Propitiation and the Life

also the commands in the law to eat of the tithe, and the unleavened bread -- how do these testify also of Christ? y'all see it? feel free to write

JaumeJ · Nov 17, 2018

All food is clean if it is blessed with thanksgiving……….Do not fault another for what he eats with good conscience in the sight of the Father….Just as we do not fault a brother for holding one day above another…… Jesus Christ, Yeshua, is all in all, amen.

maxwel · Nov 17, 2018

I'm having a bacon sandwich...

because I completed the 3rd grade,
and that gives me enough education to read the New Testament.

...

JaumeJ · Nov 17, 2018

maxwel said:

Had you believed the New Testament you would not be goading brothers who may have something personal against eating pork……..I love a good ham and cheese sandwich, but if people love the Lord, Jesus, Yeshua, and wish to honor Him by abstaining from pork, they are a blessing within the Body of Christ.

It is not of love to ridicule anyone nor is it a high form of dialogue.

Grandpa · Nov 17, 2018

maxwel said:

I think the KJV is 5th grade level reading... Maybe a couple more years of elementary school is required... lol

maxwel · Nov 17, 2018

JaumeJ said:

Hmmm... so...

1. It's bad to ridicule anyone... unless it's YOU doing the ridiculing?

Because it's obviously fine for you to ridicule me and accuse me of "not believing the New Testament".

2. It's not a high form of dialogue, and loving, to disagree, or ridicule anyone... unless YOU are the one doing it... and then it's a high form of dialogue and quite loving?

3. You can mysteriously read my mind, and know my post was intended to "goad" someone in some pernicious way... even though a) you have no way of knowing my actual intentions and b) goading could, by definition, mean to move someone to an action that is actually good for them.

4. So what you actually did was read my post, then simply presume a lot of ill intentions (shown in point 3) which then made you culpable of ridicule (shown in point 1) which ultimately brought you to a low form of dialogue that is unloving (shown in point 2).

Guys, do we really need to have a HUGE ORDEAL every time someone MAKES A JOKE?

Do you see where this ends up?

Locutus · Nov 17, 2018

I command you to eat and make some provisions for the flesh ----------->

maxwel · Nov 17, 2018

Locutus said:

Please stop making jokes.

Jokes are unspiritual.

Now, jokes aren't quite hate speech yet... well, actually they are in some countries... never mind.

...

...

Commanded to Eat

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