As we come to the list of clean and unclean animals found in Deuteronomy 14:3-20, if we do not remember the context of Genesis 1-3 we will read this and be confused. We will toss this out as some meaningless ceremonial law, or be more concerned about our diet than the true message of the passage. For the message of the unclean animals is actually closely related with the example above from John the Baptist I just gave. You are to be holy in Christ, and not arrogant in a false self-righteousness.

Reading recently from Deuteronomy 14 about the unclean animals, I remembered a few things about them. I recalled that a distinction between clean and unclean animals had been made since the the time of the fall. For on the ark there were both clean and unclean animals. Also, from Peter’s vision in Acts 10, I know that the church is not obligated to observe the laws of unclean animals. Yet the question remains. What are we to gain from reflecting on this list of animals?

I was reminded of an important lesson in interpreting the Bible from my Old Testament professor in seminary. The lesson is:

Genesis 1-3 is the context for every passage of Scripture.

This was the repeated teaching of Dr. Clark Copeland in my Biblical Interpretation class in seminary. Everything in the Bible must be understood in the themes and the symbols of those themes that are first introduced there. For the great subjects of the Bible are there: the creation of the heaven and earth; the perfection and glory of God; the formation of man and woman; commands regarding marriage, children, worship, and work; the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the temptation by Satan in the form of the serpent; the fall of man into sin and the curse God pronounces; and the message of grace found in Genesis 3:15, as God pronounces the seed of the woman shall triumph over the seed of Satan.

We must not forget these main threads of redemptive history when we come to difficult passages of Scripture. Like trying to read a book without the introduction, without understanding these first three chapters, the rest of the Bible will not make sense, or will be wrongly interpreted.

Let me give an example of how the last theme I mentioned above helps us to understand the rest of Scripture.  In Matthew 3, John the Baptist is proclaiming that the Messiah will come. Flocks of people are journeying out into the wilderness to hear John and be baptized by him in order to prepare them for the coming Christ. Among them are Pharisees and Sadducees, and when John the Baptist sees them he first says to them in Matthew 3:7, “You brood of vipers!” He then accuses them of trusting in their religious duty for salvation rather than true repentance. If we read John the Baptist’s statement out of the context of the Bible, then calling these people vipers amounts to name-calling. But if we remember that Genesis 3:15 calls those who are under the darkness of Satan sons or seeds of the serpent, then we grasp the covenantal force behind John’s words. “You devils! You slithering, deceiving people! Who warned you of the wrath to come?”

As we come to the list of clean and unclean animals found in Deuteronomy 14:3-20, if we do not remember the context of Genesis 1-3 we will read this and be confused. We will toss this out as some meaningless ceremonial law, or be more concerned about our diet than the true message of the passage. For the message of the unclean animals is actually closely related with the example above from John the Baptist I just gave. You are to be holy in Christ, and not arrogant in a false self-righteousness.

For right before the list of unclean animals is given, in Deuteronomy 14:2 an explanation is offered for avoiding them.

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Following the list, Deuteronomy 14:21 concludes with a similar reminder: “You are to be a holy people to the LORD your God.” In Leviticus 11, where a similar list is given, the same emphasis on holiness is made.

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