Obligation to Eat Clean Animals
Shalom!
I’m Andrew. Studying in detail the Genesis creation and history of mankind.
My aim is to establish that the eating of clean animals (i.e. kosher) and avoiding unclean was established after the flood, and not for the first time at Mt Sinai after the Exodus. Some Christians use Gen 9:3 (Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you..KJV) to say that swine was only a rule for Israel, because it was only given to them at Sinai. I don’t believe this.
I first use Leviticus 18:27 to establish that when God uses the word “abomination” it means that it always was and always will be, because God does not change (Malachi 3:6). Therefore when in Leviticus 11 God pronounces the eating of unclean flesh an abomination, it means it always was. Now then Genesis 7:2, speaking of the 7 clean beasts on the Ark, would suggest to me that Noah knew of God’s eating plan and the abomination of unclean flesh, and so Genesis 9:3 would not include the unclean animals.
Am I on the right track? Or would you add or change my study on this?
Thank you,
Answers
Actually I think that both views are correct! The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yoma 28b, teaches that Abraham kept the whole of the Torah even though it had not yet been given. That means that the Torah was kept voluntarily and that the Forefathers would not have eaten any unclean animals even though there was no prohibition for them to do so.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team