Richard 'Aharon'

Chaimberlin, Litt.D.

Moshe's Health
RegulationsONE of the "signs" of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures would be the instructions that Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our Rabbi) gave to his people. Today, modern science has come to confirm that the instructions that Moses gave to us are good for our health. However, it took almost 3500 years for modern science to catch up with Moses!

"You shall be holy..."

I would like to qualify the above paragraph just a bit. In Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, we receive the instructions (tarot) of what animals we may and may not eat. However, HaShem never says "I want you to observe these commandments because eating kosher is healthy." Instead, God gives us a different reason for keeping the dietary laws, found in Leviticus 11:44-45, the same chapter that discusses the dietary laws: "For I am YHWH your God. You shall therefore sanctify yourselves and you shall be holy, for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. For I am YHWH that brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." The primary reason given to observe the dietary laws is to be kadosh, normally translated "holy." However, the Hebrew word primarily means "separate." In other words, our lives as Believers should be different from the lives of the non-believers.

     As a side benefit, there are indeed many health dividends for those of us who obey the instructions given to us in the Scriptures. However, even if pork was determined to be a health food (which will never happen!), we should still obey the dietary laws given to us in Scripture.

     Of course, Moshe didn't "invent" these laws; he had the inspiration of the Ruakh (Spirit) of God, who inspired what Moses wrote down. Moses gave us instructions on which animals could be considered as food. He also went into great detail on various washings, some of which were ritual, and others which were for actual physical cleansing. He gave us instructions on "quarantines" to prevent the spread of various infectious diseases.

     Dispensational Theology has tended to "dispense" with these rules and regulations as laws for an earlier "Dispensation." In other words, "before Christ," these rules had validity, but today they can be relegated to the trash can as irrelevant to those who are "in Christ." One result of this warped theology is that many Christians suffered and continue to suffer from many debilitating diseases, and even death, often unnecessarily.

     Today, modern science has come to appreciate many of the laws written down by Moses. They figure that the old man was right after all! These are good and useful instructions! However, many scientists (and even Christians) tend to dismiss the supernatural aspects of Moses' writings. Some simply look upon his writings as being good science! After all, even Dr. Luke (Acts 7:22) told us that "Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." That's pretty simple, right? Moshe was raised as a member of the privileged upper class of Egyptian society, and had the best teachers money could buy! This Jew also had a real good Semitic brain, able to absorb all the teachings that were thrown at him. All he had to do was to simply write it down in a book and say he got these instructions from Adonai. Real simple, right? While, not quite...

Would you go to these doctors?

The Papyrus Ebers was a medical book written in Egypt in about 1332 BCE.[1] It reveals the medical knowledge of that era. Chuck Missler provides the following information from this leading medical textbook of Egypt:

     Are you losing your hair? This often happens when our children become teenagers. However, the ancient Egyptians had the cure (short of shooting your children): "When it falls out, one remedy is to apply a mixture of six fats, namely those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, and the ibex. To strengthen it, anoint with the tooth of a donkey, crushed in honey.” [2] I don't know about you, but even if it did work, I think I would prefer baldness rather than applying that mess to my head!

     Perhaps your hair is simply turning gray. Well, the solution is really quite simple. To bring back that natural color, simply "anoint it with the blood of a black calf which has been boiled in oil, or with the fat of a snake."

     Did you get a splinter under your skin? "Apply worm's blood and asses' dung." Yeah, right. You first!

     Do you want a well-equipped medicine cabinet? The essential ingredients include lizard's blood, swine's teeth, putrid meat, moisture from pig's ears, goose grease, asses' hoofs, animal fats from various sources, and excrement from humans, donkeys, antelopes, dogs, cats, and even flies! This might sound like a lot of crap to you, but this was state of the art medicine in the great civilization of ancient Egypt. I assure you: Moses did not make use of Egyptian knowledge in writing the Torah.

     In Exodus 15:26, Moses wrote, "If you will diligently hearken to the voice of YHWH your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His mitzvot (commandments), and keep all of His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I put upon the Egyptians, for I am YHWH who heals you." I have a hunch that the primary source for many of these Egyptian diseases may have been Egyptian physicians! I don't know all the diseases that the ancient Egyptians had, but I don't want any of them. And if we obey the instructions in Torah, God assures us we will be spared these diseases!

     As mentioned earlier, Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 contain the laws of clean and unclean meats. Today, modern medicine recognizes that the creatures that God told us not to eat really are not good for you. Many years ago, we eliminated these unclean critters from our diet. We no longer eat bats and cats, mice and rats, dogs and hogs, etc. You won't find them in our refrigerator! Aside from cholesterol, most unclean creatures carry various harmful parasites, many of which are microscopic. Some (such as rabbits) carry toxins which are harmful for human consumption.

     We should be willing to obey the commandments of Adonai simply out of a desire to be obedient to the Creator of the Universe. The primary motivation should not be, "What do I get out of it?" or "What's in it for me?" However, there are indeed health benefits to living according to Torah. As mentioned earlier, Leviticus 11:44-45 tells us the primary reason to obey God's laws is to "be holy." It is no coincidence, however, that these verses are in the midst of this chapter on unclean meats. Biblically, these verses tell us that holiness includes abstaining from unclean meats. You cannot be chewing on a pork chop and claim to be living a holy life.

     The Hebrew word for holiness carries with it the connotation of separation. As believers, we are to maintain a separation from the ways of this world, to live differently from others around us. One way of maintaining this separation is with the things we eat. Conceptually, the realm of the holy is distant from this world with its imperfections. Holiness can only operate within the world as long as its integrity is strictly maintained. Our Heavenly Father came to man in redeeming love within the context of regulations designed to maintain the purity of holiness that characterizes God's essential nature.

     In the beginning, Our Heaven Father gave Adam and Chava ("Eve") and their descendants "every green plant" for food.[3] After the Great Flood, mankind was permitted to eat "every moving thing.” [4] The Torah given to us through Moshe greatly restricts the number of creatures we can eat. Rabbi Abraham Kook - the Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel - believed that the laws of kashrut (laws of what is kosher) were designed to gradually lead man back to a vegetarian diet. There may be some logic to this, because in the Messianic Era, most of us will be vegetarians.[5]

     Although some like to believe that Yeshua cleansed all animals when He was crucified, I want you to know that pigs and flies are just as dirty today as were 2000 years ago. Yeshua didn't die to cleanse the critters; He died to cleanse you (from your sins!). "Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow.” [6] In this sense, you have been made "kosher," although you are still inedible!

     Many Christians correctly point out that God considers homosexuality to be an abomination, and quote Leviticus 18:22 to prove it. However, these same Christians ignore the fact that their King James Bibles say that it is also an abomination to eat unclean animals in Leviticus 11:10-13 and Isaiah 66:17. This latter passage from Isaiah is especially significant in that it is prophetic, referring to events yet future (during the Millennial Era).

     Rabbi Kook tells us that the dietary laws were instituted to give us a reverence for life. "Be not among the heavy drinkers of wine, nor among the gluttonous eaters of flesh. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty." Also, "A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast, but the compassion of the wicked is cruel.” [7]     Today’s industrialized meat industry is cruel to the animals, and bad for the environment.



[1] "Before Common Era," equivalent to BC.

[2] Missler's Update, PO Box D, Coeur D'Alene ID 83816, July 1993.

[3] B'reisheet (Genesis) 1:30.

[4] Genesis 9:3.

[5] Isaiah 11:9.

[6] Isaiah 1:18.

[7] Proverbs 23:20-21, Proverbs 12:10