UNDERSTANDING “KOSHER” (Leviticus 11:1-47)

Oct 25, 2021 | Partner Nuggets

Moses records forbidden and permitted foods, introducing certain dietary regulations for Israel. Today, Torah- observant Jews eat kosher—a term known by Jews but seldom understood by most Gentiles, including Christians. The word kosher, or kashrut, means “fit” or “proper.” Kosher is not a style of food or a style of cooking, but it is actual food preparation that meets the requirements of Jewish dietary laws, including laws about food to be avoided altogether. God revealed these “kosher commandments” to Moses in the wilderness in Leviticus 11 and in Deuteronomy 14:1-21. The basic kosher requirements in the Law and those followed today are:

• Milk, meat, and eggs of certain species are permitted and others are forbidden
• Animals must be slaughtered in a certain manner and only certain parts are to be eaten
• Milk and meat are never combined, and separate utensils are used for each
• Most grains and vegetables are kosher but must be examined for insects prior to preparation
• Animals with split hooves and that chew the cud are kosher, such as cows, sheep, deer, and goats
• Most domestic birds (chicken, turkey, duck, and geese) are kosher
• Fish with scales and fins are permissible, such as salmon, tuna, flounder, pike, and herring
• Fish with no scales are not kosher and should be avoided

Removing Blood from Meat

God gave specific instructions about the slaughter of a kosher animal such as a cow, goat, or sheep. He told Noah not to eat its blood: “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat” (Gen. 9:3-4). This requirement is also found in Leviticus 7:26: “Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.” The Jewish manner of preparing kosher meat is to use a sharp knife and kill the animal with a quick stroke, making a deep cut to its throat. In a Jewish kitchen, all the blood must be drained from the animal and the meat soaked in water for half an hour. Afterwards, the meat is sprinkled with salt, left to stand for about an hour, then rinsed and cooked.

God gave a second instruction about meat: avoid eating the animal fat (see Lev. 7:23). The Almighty knew that when humans consume animal fats loaded with cholesterol, trans fats, and saturated fats, their health is at risk. Eating the fat increases a person’s chance of heart problems since the human body has difficulty processing trans fats that create cholesterol buildup in the arteries. Scientists have discovered biochemical differences between this fat and the fat permissible for consumption, the fat surrounding the muscles and skin. A Jewish butcher also removes the sciatic nerve and the fat surrounding an animal’s liver and vital organs (source Kashrut: Jewish Dietary Laws). Two parts of the animal are forbidden as food to be eaten: the blood and the fat (see Lev. 3:17).

Moses recorded another unusual dietary requirement: humans are not to consume meat and milk (or dairy) together (see Deut. 14:21). The Jewish mystics explain that milk represents life and meat represents death; thus, combining them creates a spiritual clash. Plants contain the right type of nutrients to keep people healthy, whereas the “red” meats can take hours to digest and can remain in the colon for an extended time. It is believed the Egyptians used to boil the animal in the mother’s milk; thus, God was separating his people from pagan Egyptian customs. When the Torah forbids the wearing of wool and linen together (see Deut. 22:11), it may be because pagan priests would mix the two fabrics in their garments and wear them during idol worship. In our contemporary society, some of these dietary requirements make little sense. However, in giving the Law, God was protecting His people by giving them knowledge of the animal kingdom that surpassed what they knew; He was separating His people from the “unclean,” and from creatures whose consumption could cause sickness.

From Page 219 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible

The First Seven Phrases in Genesis (1:1)

Oct 25, 2021 | Partner Nuggets

In the English Bible, Genesis 1:1 reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This ten-word statement consists of seven Hebrew words in the Hebrew text. Below is the verse with the Hebrew words above the English:
Bereshit barah Elohim Alef-Tav hashamayim vehat haeretz.
In the beginning created God the heaven and the (earth).
The King James Version (KJV) says “heaven,” but as we continue to read we discover that the “heavens” were formed, meaning that there are several levels of heaven. These include the “third heaven” identified in the Scriptures (see 2 Cor. 12:2). The same Hebrew word for heaven here is also translated in the plural form as “heavens” in the Old Testament (Gen. 2:1, 4, etc.).
Some suggest that this seven-word Hebrew phrase portrays an image of the ancient temple’s golden candlestick: the menorah. The temple menorah had seven branches, the center shaft called the “servant branch.” Notice that at the very center of this Hebrew phrase are the two Hebrew letters, Alef and Tav, which are left untranslated. These two letters, Alef and Tav, are found throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and are often pronounced “et.” These two letters are used in Hebrew grammar as a marker to point to the word that follows as the definite direct object. However, as recorded in Revelation 1:8, Jesus is standing in the midst of seven gold candlesticks (a menorah) and announcing, “I am Alpha and Omega,” which are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In Hebrew, Christ would have said, “I am the Alef and the Tav,” the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. If we read Genesis 1:1 this way, “In the beginning God created the Alef-Tav,” then this phrase can be understood that God declared the beginning from the ending at the very beginning, and that Christ was with God in the very beginning.
Looking at it again in the form of the menorah, the center is the Alef-Tav, or the same place of the “servant branch” (the center shaft) on a menorah. The oil of the anointing flows from Christ who promised to send the Holy Spirit to all believers.

From Page 2 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible

Pharaoh’s Dream (Exodus 1:11-12)

Oct 25, 2021 | Partner Nuggets

Josephus wrote about a dream Pharaoh supposedly had, which explains why he wanted the Hebrew infants killed. Pharaoh slept, and saw in his sleep a balance, and behold the whole land of Egypt stood in one scale, and a lamb in the other; the scale in which the lamb was, outweighed that in which was the land of Egypt. Immediately he sent and called all the chief magicians and told them his dream. And Janes and Jambres (see 2 Tim. 3:8) who were chiefs of the magicians, opened their mouths and said to Pharaoh, “A child is shortly to be born in the congregation of the Israelites whose hand shall destroy the whole land of Egypt.” Therefore, Pharaoh spake to the midwives . . .

“One of those sacred Scribes (said to be Jannes or Jambres in the Targum of Jonathan) who are very sagacious in foretelling future events truly, told the king, that about this time there would be a child born to the Israelites, who if he were reared, would bring Egyptian domain low, and would raise the Israelites: that he would excel all men in virtue, and obtain a glory that would be remembered through the ages . . . which thing was so feared by the king, that according to this man’s opinion, he commanded that they should cast every male child which was born to the Israelites, into the river and destroy it . . . that if any parents should disobey him and venture to save their male children alive, they and their families should be destroyed.” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book 2, chapter 9)

From Page 130 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible