This is an interesting observation about Clean and Unclean laws of the Old Testament and possible look into God’s reasoning. Excerpted link below…<\/p>\n
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In commanding complete destruction of the Canaanites, the Lord says, I spoke once with an Indian missionary who told me that the Eastern mind By setting such strong, harsh dichotomies God taught Israel that any This is an interesting observation about Clean and Unclean laws of the Old Testament and possible look into God’s reasoning. Excerpted link below… In commanding complete destruction of the Canaanites, the Lord says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons, or taking their daughters for your sons, for they … Continue reading “the eastern tendency toward amalgamation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-studies-in-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rodsawatsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rodsawatsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rodsawatsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodsawatsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodsawatsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodsawatsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":400,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodsawatsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions\/400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rodsawatsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodsawatsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodsawatsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their
\nsons, or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away
\nyour sons from following me, to serve other gods\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Deut 7.3-4)<\/span>.
\nThis command is part and parcel of the whole fabric of complex Jewish
\nritual law distinguishing clean and unclean practices.\u00c2\u00a0 To the
\ncontemporary Western mind many of the regulations in Old Testament law
\nseem absolutely bizarre and pointless:\u00c2\u00a0 not to mix linen with wool, not
\nto use the same vessels for meat and for milk products, etc<\/em>.
\nThe overriding thrust of these regulations is to prohibit various kinds
\nof mixing.\u00c2\u00a0 Clear lines of distinction are being drawn: this <\/em>and not that<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 These serve as daily, tangible reminders that Israel is a special people set apart for God Himself.<\/p>\n
\nhas an inveterate tendency toward amalgamation.\u00c2\u00a0 He said Hindus upon
\nhearing the Gospel would smile and say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sub ehki eh, sahib, sub ehki eh!<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n(\u00e2\u20ac\u0153All is One, sahib, All is One!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d [Hindustani speakers forgive my
\ntransliteration!]).\u00c2\u00a0 It made it almost impossible to reach them because
\neven logical contradictions were subsumed in the whole.\u00c2\u00a0 He said that he
\nthought the reason God gave Israel so many arbitrary commands about
\nclean and unclean was to teach them the Law of Contradiction!<\/p>\n
\nassimilation to pagan idolatry is intolerable.\u00c2\u00a0 It was His way of
\npreserving Israel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spiritual health and posterity.\u00c2\u00a0 God knew that if
\nthese Canaanite children were allowed to live, they would spell the
\nundoing of Israel.\u00c2\u00a0 The killing of the Canaanite children not only
\nserved to prevent assimilation to Canaanite identity but also served as a
\nshattering, tangible illustration of Israel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being set exclusively
\napart for God.<\/p>\n