Building on Friday’s discussion about how to understand the Bible, let’s talk a little bit about how NOT to do that!
Grandma Roller (my father’s mother) was Orthodox Jewish. Here’s how her religion interpreted “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk”:
- Of course, you would never actually cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk. That would be cruel, besides being against God’s law.
- To make sure that you would never do that, you would never cook a baby goat in any milk.
- To make sure that you would never do that, you would never cook any meat in milk.
- To make sure that you would never do that, you must classify every meal as either a “meat meal” or a “milk meal.” You never have both in the same meal (no such thing as cheeseburgers!).
- To make sure that you maintain that distinction, you have two complete sets of dishes: one for meat meals and one for milk meals.
- Consequently, you keep your meat-meal dishes and your milk-meal dishes in separate cabinets and wash them in separate sinks.
What does this commandment REALLY mean? That’s a bit difficult, but I’m pretty sure that Grandma’s practice wasn’t what God had in mind. It was probably something more like, “Be kind to animals (even the ones that you’re going to kill and eat)!”
As we read the Bible, we need to understand its guiding principles and learn how to apply THEM to our lives, more than we need rules and traditions.
John H. Roller
Extended Scripture: Deuteronomy 14-15
