Leviticus 11:1-8: a reflection

1The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, 2“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. 3Whatever parts the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and chews the cud among the animals, that you may eat. 4“‘Nevertheless these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those who part the hoof: the camel, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. 5The hyrax, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. 6The hare, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. 7The pig, because it has a split hoof, and is cloven-footed, but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you.

God gives Israel detailed laws distinguishing clean animals from unclean, which they might eat and which they might not. These laws reached into the most ordinary part of daily life, what they ate, marking even their meals as a matter of belonging to God. Whatever else these laws meant, they served this: to remind Israel, even in the ordinary act of eating, that they were God's people, set apart, called to be discerning and holy in all of life, not only in obviously religious acts. God's claim reached into the everyday details.

Notice how God's claim reached into the ordinary details of daily life. These were not laws about worship or sacrifice, but about eating, the most ordinary daily activity; and yet even here God laid his claim, marking Israel as set apart, calling them to discernment even in this. God's claim on his people was not confined to the obviously religious parts of life; it reached into the everyday, the ordinary, even the food they ate. They were to be God's, set apart, in all of life, not only in worship; and even their meals reminded them of it. God's claim touched the ordinary.

That is worth taking to heart, for God's claim on us reaches into the ordinary details of our lives, not only the obviously religious parts. We can confine our sense of belonging to God to the religious parts of life, worship, prayer, church, while treating the ordinary, everyday parts as unrelated to him; but God's claim on Israel reached even into their eating, and his claim on us reaches into the ordinary too. You belong to God in all of life, not only in the religious parts; his claim reaches into the ordinary, everyday details. Do not confine your belonging to God to the obviously religious parts of life; let his claim reach into the ordinary details, living as his in the everyday as well as in worship, as even Israel's meals reminded them they were set apart to God; for God's claim on us touches all of life, even the ordinary, and we are his in the everyday as well as in the sacred.

Lord, you give Israel detailed laws distinguishing clean animals from unclean, which they might eat and which they might not. These laws reached into the most ordinary part of daily life, what they ate, marking even their meals as a matter of belonging to you. Whatever else these laws meant, they served this: to remind Israel, even in the ordinary act of eating, that they were your people, set apart, called to be discerning and holy in all of life. Your claim reached into the everyday details. Show me how your claim reached into the ordinary details of daily life. These were not laws about worship, but about eating, the most ordinary daily activity; and yet even here you laid your claim. Your claim on your people was not confined to the obviously religious parts of life; it reached into the everyday, even the food they ate. They were to be yours, set apart, in all of life. Take that to my heart, for your claim on me reaches into the ordinary details of my life, not only the obviously religious parts. I can confine my sense of belonging to you to the religious parts of life, while treating the ordinary parts as unrelated to you; but your claim on Israel reached even into their eating. I belong to you in all of life. Keep me from confining my belonging to you to the obviously religious parts of life; let your claim reach into the ordinary details, Lord, living as yours in the everyday as well as in worship.