Digging in Deeper: Exodus 22:31

“Be my holy people. You must not eat the meat of a mauled animal found in the field; throw it to the dogs.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I remember visiting Yellowstone National Park when I was growing up. It was pretty incredible. I look forward to being able to take my own family back there someday. Everywhere you looked there was an almost overwhelming natural beauty. We saw so many amazing things that by the end of the trip we had actually started to get tired of it. My parents would announce something from the front seat, and we would hardly look up from our books in the back. At one point on the trip, we took a short hike to see a small waterfall. I had a bottle of water with me that I finished on the hike. When we got to the falls it was empty and I was still thirsty. So, I filled it in the beautiful river in the pristine-looking wilderness and took a nice, long drink. It was satisfying in the moment, but it could have also been deadly if there had been in bacteria in it from further upriver. I got lucky, but I should not have done that. Knowing how to get along in nature and not die from something foolish like drinking in the wrong place is important. Sometimes Israel’s laws had an obvious religious bent to them; sometimes they were really just about good hygiene. Let’s talk here about one of the latter kind.

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