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Essay about Mosaic Dietary Laws

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Mosaic Dietary Laws

Introduction The Mosaic dietary laws, the laws imposed by the directives of Moses on the Israelites, extended from earlier restrictions that had been placed on the eating habits of the human race. The Old Testament is full of directives regarding food consumption and God’s law, and even Genesis addresses limitations imposed on certain types of food consumption. Primarily, the restrictions placed on the consumption of certain types of meat, a limitation that continues in rules for maintaining a Jewish kosher home, relates directly to what is viewed as the rules for the holy people of God. The people of God, then, are expected to recognize that “God is to be obeyed, concluding that circumcision and the …show more content…

In Leviticus 19: 23-25, these restrictions begin with the assertion that consumption of the early fruits of a young tree was forbidden. After the first three years, the fruit was then taken to a temple for worship and to be blessed, after which time consumption could occur on a yearly basis. In Leviticus 23:9-14, there are notes about the forbidden consumption of new corn until 2 days after Passover, when the corn must be placed in the Temple and blessed prior to consumption. Leviticus refers back to the earliest of the restrictions placed on consumption in a vaguer construct from Exodus 23:19, in which it is asserted that the first fruits of the labor of man must be placed in the Temple and worshipped instead of consumed. In both Deuteronomy (22:9) and Leviticus (29:19), limitations were placed on the consumption of fruits and vegetables of mixed seeds, and there were later prescriptions for the use of religious men to bless the food sources, which in turn would lead to the development of Kosher principles. The loss of a great deal of vegetation during the great Flood is a supposition that maintains the reasoning for the consumption of animal products. At the same time, there were some animals that were

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