Do not eat any detestable thing. – Deuteronomy 14:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 31, 2015): Deuteronomy 14

The Arrogant Worms a number of years ago released their song “Carrot Juice is Murder.” I have a weird sense of humor, so I immediately played the song for all my friends. The Chorus of the song is quite straightforward –

I've heard the screams of the vegetables (scream scream scream)
Watching their skins being peeled (fates in the stir fry are sealed)
Grated and steamed with no mercy (you fat gourmet slob)
How do you think that feels (leave them out in the fields)
Carrot Juice constitutes murder (V8's genocide)
Greenhouses prisons for slaves (yes your compost's a grave)
It's time to stop all this gardening (take up macramé)
Let's call a spade a spade (is a spade is a spade...)

Unfortunately, every time I read Deuteronomy 14:3, this is the song that plays in the background of my mind. For me, Deuteronomy 14:3 provides the reason why no one should make me eat my vegetables (okay – I admit that I am going a little overboard here).

But the reality is that what we eat speaks volumes about how we intend to live our lives. Vegetarian and Vegans not only adopt a specific eating pattern, they also share a common outlook on life and life issues. I recently met a Vegan who really wasn’t a Vegan (at least not as evidenced by what we ate for lunch.) What she did do is have a Vegan outlook on life without being chained to a specific eating pattern. For her, being a Vegan was more about her political and social beliefs than it was about the food she put in her body. (To be fair, I am sure that most of the time she also ate a strict vegetarian diet, but she allowed herself to take a vacation from the diet on occasion – but not from the ethical philosophy that comes with the diet.)

Much has been written on the health benefits of the food restrictions placed on Israel by strict adherence to their food laws. Books like “Daniel’s Diet” has even been used as a weight loss plan. But what we sometimes miss is that the health benefits of the dietary laws of Israel was only part of the reason for the food laws. They also produced a very specific lifestyle. The people of Israel could be easily identified by their eating patterns. They had a specific worldview that came along with the diet – and a different idea of what it was that was considered to be “detestable” than those of their neighboring nations. The diet was just another way of being holy and set apart. It was another reminder that they were a people under the command of God.

And this might have been one of the more significant ways in which  the dietary laws influenced Israel – that even the food they ate was an act of worship that that were giving to the God that they served.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 15