We search in vain throughout this beautiful allegory that God
relates to Ezekiel all that He did to beautify this woman which represented Jerusalem, for
any signs of abhorrence over the use of jewelry. In fact He used a generous
application of jewelry as one of the agents to make her beauty perfect.
Genesis 24 tells the beautiful story of Abraham directing his chief servant to go to
Abraham's homeland to secure a wife for Isaac. We note:
Gen. 24:22 -- When the camels had finished drinking, the
man (Abraham's servant) took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka (about l/5
ounce) and two gold bracelets weighing 10 shekels (about 4 ounces).
Vss. 47,48 -- I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are
you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore
to him.’
Then I put the ring in her nose and the
bracelets on her arms, and I bowed down and worshipped the Lord.
This business of jewelry was apparently well entrenched in the days of Abraham.
No evidence of Divine displeasure is evidenced in this touching story concerning jewelry
and would seem to indicate it to be a highly prized component of a maiden's wardrobe.
In Luke 15 Christ tells the story of the prodigal son. After wasting away his
inheritance he returns to his father's house ill-kept and hungry. Note:
Luke 15:21-23 -- The son said to him, ‘Father I have
sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your
son.’
But the father said to his servants,
‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger
and sandals on his feet. Bring the fatted calf and kill it. Let's have a feast
and celebrate.’
Again we note jewelry made use of in a positive way. The best robe and the ring
on his finger were the things the father used to show that the son had been fully accepted
back into his father's home.
Jer. 2:32 -- Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her
wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.
The Lord here is listing the most unlikely things to happen; A maiden to forget her
jewelry or a bride her wedding ornaments. These must have been considered
indispensable items at the disposal of these ladies.
Song of Songs 1:9,10 -- I liken you, my darling, to a mare
harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh. Your cheeks are beautiful with
earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. We will make you earrings of gold,
studded with silver.
Song of Songs 7:1 -- How beautiful your sandaled feet, O
prince's daughter! Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman's
hands.
No one could say it better than Solomon. Comparing his bride's graceful legs to
beautiful jewelry was the highest compliment that he could think of.
Isa. 61:10,11 -- I delight greatly in the Lord; my
soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of Salvation and
arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and
as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
These are comparisons of the highest order and the wearing of jewelry by the bride
placed in a very favorable light.
Perhaps the most lavish display of jewelry we find on one person noted in Scripture is
found in the following:
Eze. 28:12,13 -- This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
"You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You
were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and
emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings
and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
All this adorning with gold and precious stones was prepared for him on the day he was
created. These ornaments were not the result of an ego gone wild, to draw
attention. It was, in fact, what God prepared for him to enhance his beauty.
John, in Revelation 21, describes New Jerusalem as follows:
Rev. 21:2 -- I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her
husband.
How is a bride to be beautifully dressed for her husband? We should get some idea when
we see how he dresses the Holy City.
Vs. 11 -- It shone with the glory of God, and its
brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
Vss. 18-21 -- The wall was made of jasper, and the city of
pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with
every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire,
the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the
seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh
jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate
made of a single pearl. The street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent
glass.
I believe we can see from all these passages that God created precious metals and
precious stones for a purpose. Certainly one of these purposes was for
jewelry. It is hard to see how tastefully wearing these adornments would make God
angry.
Notice that I stated "tastefully wearing." There is no question that jewelry
can be overdone and often is. When this is carried to an excess we often think of
prostitutes who frequently use this to bring attention to themselves for commercial
reasons. It is also true that some put great sums of money in their jewelry and this
can become a god to them. This can happen with many things; however, such as cars,
homes, fancy and expensive attire, etc.
The point of this study is not that jewelry is necessary and the more the better.
Moderation and common sense holds sway here as in all the other facets of our life.
It is just that a modest use of jewelry is not offensive to God and by all means let God
judge the motives of the heart in using it, and not ourselves.
Meat Eating
I believe all are in agreement that God first sanctioned the eating of flesh foods to Noah
and the inhabitants of the ark following the flood. This was to apply to their
descendents and thus would apply to all the inhabitants of the earth.
There is a misconception by some that God specified that they could only eat the meat
from "clean animals," but what does the Bible say?
Gen. 9:3,4 -- Everything that lives and moves will be food
for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But
you must not eat meat that has its life blood still in it.
The Bible clearly states that everything that lives and moves will be food for you.
How could He state it more clearly? If he really meant to say only the clean
animals, why didn't He say so? I believe we get ourselves into trouble when we keep
trying to read between the lines and put words into the statements to make them say what
we want them to say. God is not illiterate and is fully capable of telling us what
He wants us to know.
To look at that statement in another way. If God really meant for them and us to
understand that this really meant to apply only to clean animals, then the statement was
very poorly crafted and misleading. Anyone who took it at its word would clearly
miss what He was trying to say.
At Mt. Sinai God met with the Israelites and spoke His covenant with them (The Ten
Commandments) face to face. He also, at the same time, gave them civil, health and
religious laws associated with this covenant. These were not given to prior
generations and were made only with the Israelites. Note confirmation of this
statement:
Deut. 5:2,3 -- The Lord our God made a covenant with us at
Horeb (Sinai). It was not with our fathers that the Lord made this
covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.
This covenant, with its associated rules and regulations, was not made with their
ancestors and it only applied to those alive and present at the Mount (and to their
descendents) when the covenant was spoken by God and written on the tables of stone.
A part of these associated laws dealt with classification of clean and unclean
meats. They were restricted to eating only meats from the clean list.
These rules and regulations were to apply to the Israelites and even with them it had a
time limit on it. Note the following:
Gal. 3:19 -- What purpose then does the law serve? It was
added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was
made.
After the coming of Christ these rules and regulations would reach their fulfillment in
Christ and be replaced by the New Covenant, the ministry of the Spirit. Did Christ
make any statement relevant to a change in dietary meat restrictions? Note the words of
Jesus:
Mark 7:14-19 -- And Jesus called the crowd to him and
said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.
Nothing outside a man can make him
‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that
makes him ‘unclean.’
After he had left the crowd and entered
the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
"Are you so dull?" he
asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make
him ‘unclean?’
For it doesn't go into his heart but into
his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all
foods "clean.")
Was Paul aware that Christ had changed the dietary restrictions?
Rom. 14:2,3 -- One man's faith allows him to eat
everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.
The man who eats everything must not look
down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man
who does, for God has accepted him.
Vs. 14 -- As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am
fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards
something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
Vss. 17,18 -- For the kingdom of God is not a
matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
Vs. 20 -- Do not destroy the work of God for the sake
of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that
causes someone else to stumble.
Vs. 22 -- Blessed is the man who does not condemn
himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats,
because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
In communicating to the Corinthians by way of his letter to them, Paul discusses their
dietary restrictions. These are converts from a pagan nation and most of them with
pagan backgrounds.
1Cor. 10:25-30 -- Eat anything sold in the meat
market without raising questions of conscience, for "The earth is the Lord's
and everything in it."
If some unbeliever invites you to
a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of
conscience.
But if anyone says to you, "This has
been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told
you and for conscience sake -- the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For
why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience?
If I take part in the meal with
thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?
Col. 2:20-23 -- Since you died with Christ to the
basic principles of this world, (the law) why, as though you still belonged to it,
do you submit to its rules:
"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not
touch!"
These are all destined to perish with
use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
Such regulations indeed have an
appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their
harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
This leaves no room for the idea that meat eating stirs up the animal passions.
Paul gives some prophetic advice to Timothy concerning forbidden foods and how to deal
with it.
1 Tim. 4:1-5 NKJV -- Now the Spirit expressly says that in
latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and
doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a
hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to
be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
For every creature of God is good,
and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is
sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Now we are back to the question that was raised at the beginning of the study.
The plain and clear statement by Christ that it was no longer defiling to eat that which
was previously considered unclean. The subsequent passages by Paul are very clear
and concise that all meat is clean and may be eaten without restrictions.
There is no question that this is the clear intent of these quotations. If we
have to twist them by saying "what he really meant to say" or "You must
understand that he was taking for granted" etc., etc. How easily we fall into
the same old habit of trying to read between the lines to make it say what it obviously is
not saying. If that is true, then all of these passages are grossly misleading and
the great percentage of those who read them will miss their intent.
When these texts are accepted as clearly stated, it requires no twisting or bending to
make them fit what they say.
It seems that the perfect time for the disciples to clear up this whole matter of clean
and unclean meats was with new converts, both Jews and Gentiles alike, when making
proselytes to Christianity. Did they do it?
Acts 15:20 -- Instead we should write to them, telling
them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of
strangled animals and from blood.
Acts 15:28,29 -- It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and
to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:
You are to abstain from food sacrificed
to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual
immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Acts 21:25 -- As for the Gentile believers, we have
written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols,
from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.
This study on meat eating is not to encourage any one to eat all types of meat. I
believe a vegetarian diet is probably the best diet.
Paul, in speaking of the believers freedom in regards to this very topic says,
"Everything is permissible," (1Cor. 10:23) but not everything is
beneficial. "Everything is permissible" -- but not everything is
constructive.
He is saying it is not forbidden to eat any type of meat, but that this does not mean
that all meats are equally healthful to eat. Common sense and moderation are
essential in all the foods we eat.
Lev. 11:21,22 -- Those (insects) that have jointed
legs for hopping on the ground, of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid,
cricket or grasshopper.
Matt. 3:4 -- John's (John the Baptist's) clothes
were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was
locusts and wild honey.
How would you like to have lunch with John the Baptist? I doubt if there would be
many takers. It is like seeing a friend kneel down at a muddy water hole in a
pasture and take a good drink. When it was pointed out that that might be hazardous
to his health he states that he hadn't had any problems so far.
"It's not a sin, is it?" he asks. That's the whole thought behind this
study. It is not a sin; but that doesn't necessarily make it beneficial.
That's where we are to use our judgment. After a study of the health problems that
may be involved, we are to decide for ourselves. We are not to decide by a
comprehensive list of may or may nots. Certainly we are not to judge someone who may
eat something that we don't approve of. This is the behavior of which the Lord says,
stop it!