This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

In this part of his speech to Israel, Moses
reminds the people that God has chosen them.

More than that, Israel is God’s possession
because he has rescued them from Egypt.

This makes Israel holy to God.

She must be distinct, set apart, and different.

Seeing Israel as holy to God
is necessary if we are going

to understand the food
laws in this passage.

These laws allow Israel to eat certain
animals but forbid them from eating others.

Israel has been chosen by God, so they
are only to eat the food that has
been chosen by God.

Israel’s diet was a symbol of their status
as chosen, and the rest of the nations as unchosen.

So, even in the kitchen,
Israel has a daily reminder

that they are set apart and
chosen exclusively to Yahweh.

After the food laws, Moses
gives commands about tithes.

When we think about tithes, many
of us start thinking about money.

But Moses is still talking about food.

Every year, each family is supposed
to take a tenth of their harvest,

go to God’s temple, and throw
a feast with joy before Yahweh.

If the journey is too long to travel with
all that food, then the family can sell the

food, bring the money to God’s temple, and
buy their favorite food and drinks for the feast.

God doesn’t only want food to be a reminder
of how Israel is set apart to take the new

land, but also how God has given
Israel things to enjoy in the new land.

Enjoying God’s blessing with thankfulness
is one of the main ways God reminds
us to fear and remember him.

Jesus also used food as a
way of reminding Christians

that we are set apart
to no one else but him.

In the book of Acts, we learn that the symbol
of chosen and unchosen food is no longer needed

because all nations are
invited to be God’s people.

That is because the wall that divided Israel
from all other nations was destroyed in the

cross by Jesus earning the
promises of Israel to all people.

So, for Christians, our unrestricted diet needs
to daily remind us of God’s unrestricted grace.

Where Israel’s diet should have reminded
them of their task to drive the nations out,

each time we eat we should remember
our task is to call all nations in.

The New Testament also constantly
calls us to eat with gratitude.

God’s presence is no longer
separated to one location

because the Holy Spirit
now lives in all believers.

So, we can eat every
meal before the Lord.

Each bite can become a
celebration like the tithe.

Not only do we remember
the physical blessings of food,

but symbolically we taste
and see that the Lord is good.

I pray that the Holy Spirit would give you
eyes to see the God who graciously reminds

us who and whose we are
through things like food.

And that you would see Jesus as the one who
allows us to partake of the spiritual blessings

of Israel and be reminded of them daily through
the physical act of something as simple as  eating.