Leviticus 11:44, commentary and pictures

For I am the Lord your God calls His people to sanctify themselves and be holy because He Himself is holy, reflecting His glory in response to His deliverance of them from Egypt. Holiness means being holy in every part of all manner of conduct, with sanctified speech, behavior, hearts and lives shaped by His word as obedient children no longer fashioned by former lusts. It requires guarding the avenues of the soul, keeping the mind from forbidden and trifling themes and from reading, seeing or hearing what suggests impurity, lest evils without awaken evils within. God makes this holiness possible by His grace and power through Christ, who is made sanctification and gives strength of purpose as people cooperate by seeking strength in His Word. The same command forbids defiling the body by eating what He declares unclean, which is no arbitrary rule but wise training for His people, since those meats fill the system with impurity and enfeeble physical and moral powers.

Holiness in All Conduct

For I am the LORD your God calls His people to sanctify themselves and be holy because He Himself is holy, reflecting His glory, a call grounded in His deliverance of Israel from Egypt. God's holiness is the reason His people must be holy, requiring holiness in every part of life and in all manner of conduct. That holiness means more than outward profession, for those who bear Christ's name must have holy hearts and lives shaped by God's word, including sanctified speech and behavior. It is learned from Christ the divine Teacher, whose treasures of truth open the great love of God.

It means living as obedient children no longer fashioned by former lusts in ignorance, but girding up the loins of the mind, being sober, and hoping to the end for the grace to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It means passing the time of sojourning in fear of the Father who without respect of persons judges every man according to his work. This holy life follows redemption not by corruptible silver and gold from vain tradition received from the fathers but by the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot.

It requires guarding well the avenues of the soul and faithfully sentinelling the heart, lest evils without awaken evils within and the soul wander in darkness. The mind must be kept from wandering to forbidden themes or spending its energies on trifling subjects, and not left to dwell at random upon every subject the enemy of souls may suggest. What would suggest impure thoughts must be avoided in reading, seeing, or hearing. God makes this holiness possible through His grace and power, while people cooperate by seeking spiritual strength in His Word and having heart and mind cleared of what leads to wrong and brought into conformity with His will. For He is made wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, giving strength of purpose and moral courage.

The call includes reverence for parents and keeping God's Sabbaths. In everyday home life it means remaining to pray and surrender the will to God rather than spreading home troubles from lack of connection with God and objectionable traits of character. It means falling on the Rock and being broken and dying to self so Jesus can make the person a vessel unto honor with fervent and noble affection that gives fragrance to the character. Holiness is revealed in mercy, truth, kindness, and forgiveness, shown by those who love God in helping people who suffer and lack life's necessities. God permits suffering and calamity to awaken compassion, tenderness, and love, and to draw people out of selfishness so they may reveal Christ's character.

It requires subduing the natural desires of the unrenewed heart. God's people in the latter days must keep their bodies and clothing clean and their minds, thoughts, and words pure as they prepare for translation to heaven, for God remains particular about cleanliness and commands His people not to defile themselves. This holiness prepares people to stand in the coming time of testing. Meeting this requirement makes believers the light of the world, representing Christ to the world as living epistles known and read of all men, with watchfulness and untiring diligence and with every member sharing in active work for the salvation of souls so the church is preserved healthy and thriving.

Unclean Food and Health

The verse belongs to the laws given through Moses distinguishing clean animals that may be eaten from those unfit for food, forbidding defilement by eating creatures God declares unclean, including swine's flesh and the flesh of certain other animals and every creeping thing. These food restrictions are express divine requirements and not matters to dismiss as unimportant. They were part of God's training of Israel as His own people after coming from slavery with unhealthful habits and before entering Canaan, given as careful instruction in health and sanitation to preserve life and health, not as arbitrary commands. The animals specified as allowable were the least objectionable for food, and a simple, healthful diet helped keep the blood pure and preserve the faculties of mind and body.

The prohibited meats are hurtful and not the best articles of food, filling the blood with impurities and the system with humors, enfeebling brain and muscle and imperiling physical and moral powers for the indulgence of appetite, and shortening life. In that warm climate they often produced leprosy and kindred ills, with influence far more injurious there than in a colder climate. Swine were never designed to be eaten under any circumstances but were useful as scavengers, permitted to run free in a fruitful country to devour decaying substances upon the ground which would poison the atmosphere, thus preserving health. If Israel had manifested submission to these wise prohibitions, God would have removed from them everything injurious to health and suffered no sickness among them, but because they would not submit He gave them what they lusted for. Departing from His appointed plan brought loss and kept them from reaching His ideal of character and fulfilling His purpose for them.

Intemperance in eating and drinking and indulgence of base passions benumbs the fine sensibilities so that sacred things are placed on a level with common things, and when appetite is left to control reason sacred things are not discerned. Refusing unclean food by temperance in eating and drinking keeps mental powers clear and undimmed and physical health sound, giving clear intellect and strength to honor and glorify God, to perfect Christian character, and to stand as representatives of true religion amid false religions, with the will of God as the supreme law of life. Daniel's refusal of the king's unclean meat shows obedience to these requirements even when it risks worldly favor and advantage. The command was perverted when unwarranted extremes were added beyond what God specified, such as requiring all water to be strained lest an invisible insect classed with the unclean animals be swallowed, and extending food regulations into constant scrutiny of minute details and burdensome ceremonies, which distracts from true religion.