Leviticus 11:39

Leviticus 11:39 says, And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even.  This would mean just dies instead of being killed to eat.  Even the animals that were clean to eat could become unclean if they died from some other cause.  We are so blessed to not to have to worry about these laws today.  Verse forty adds, And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.  Touching an animal that died like this to remove it from the camp, for instance, had the same penalty as eating the animal.  The person doing either was to wash his or her clothes and be considered unclean until evening.  Someone could have broken this law with no one the wiser, except God, but that person could have also made others unclean without them knowing it, since touching something unclean made the person touching it unclean in the eyes of God.  Verse forty-one continues, And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten.  Again, the people of Israel were told that things that crawled were to be an abomination and were not to be eaten.  Verse forty-two states, Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination.  I believe this would include snakes and lizards for example.  Verse forty-three adds, Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby.  God through Moses warned the people against making themselves unclean by touching or eating any creeping thing.  There are things today that God calls us to do and things that He warns us not to do, even if they do not concern dietary laws, and we need to be very serious about obeying Him so that we do not make ourselves spiritually unclean.  As stated many times, if we do so if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord we do not lose our salvation, but we lose the joy of our salvation.  Verse forty-four continues, For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  The people of Israel were to do these things because the LORD was their God, so they were to sanctify themselves and be holy.  They were not to defile themselves with any creeping thing.  We today are sanctified and made holy by our faith in Christ, and since we are, we are do our best to keep things that defile us from coming into our lives.  God will let us know what these may be.  Verse forty-five says, For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.  God didn't bring us out of the land of Egypt, but He did free us from the bondage of sin.  Verse forty-six adds, This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth:  Verse forty-seven concludes, To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.  God said that these were the laws concerning the clean and unclean animals.  I am glad that I do not have to be concerned with them today but am set free by my relationship with Christ as my Savior and Lord.