And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.
As part of the longer dietary list in Deuteronomy 14:3-20, every creeping thing that flies is declared unclean and forbidden to be eaten. The prohibition was not an arbitrary exercise of authority but was given to preserve the life and health of the people. In specifying what might be eaten, God selected the animals least objectionable for food, so that by keeping the blood pure through simple, healthful food the people might retain their faculties of mind and body.
Jewish religious leaders, the leading teachers and administrators of the law, distorted this prohibition together with the other prohibitions about eating and drinking by carrying them to unreasonable lengths with excessive added rules. They thus made life a burden of ceremonies and restrictions, keeping the mind under continual strain in discriminating between clean and unclean and in following the multitude of injunctions imposed by the priests. A characteristic example of that excess was straining all the water lest the smallest insect or speck might render it unclean and unfit to use.
As part of the longer dietary list in Deuteronomy 14:3-20, every creeping thing that flies is declared unclean and forbidden to be eaten. The prohibition was not an arbitrary exercise of authority but was given to preserve the life and health of the people. In specifying what might be eaten, God selected the animals least objectionable for food, so that by keeping the blood pure through simple, healthful food the people might retain their faculties of mind and body.
Jewish religious leaders, the leading teachers and administrators of the law, distorted this prohibition together with the other prohibitions about eating and drinking by carrying them to unreasonable lengths with excessive added rules. They thus made life a burden of ceremonies and restrictions, keeping the mind under continual strain in discriminating between clean and unclean and in following the multitude of injunctions imposed by the priests. A characteristic example of that excess was straining all the water lest the smallest insect or speck might render it unclean and unfit to use.