How Far Can Mankind Go in Eating Detestable Things?
How far must mankind go in violating the laws of food to provoke the wrath of the Creator? We read thus from the Book of Leviticus,
Do not make yourselves abominable with any swarming creature that swarms, and do not make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them. For I am Yehovah your Elohim, and you shall set yourselves apart. And you shall be set-apart, for I am set-apart. (Lev 11:43-44)
Although sin has its origin and seat in the soul, it affects the whole body as the temple of the soul and the life to its death. While the sin has spread from man to the whole creation, the Creator Himself made the animals subject to corruption because of the sin of man (Rom_8:20-21), so that not only does the earth bring forth thorns and thistles and produce poisonous plants (see Gen_3:18), but the animal kingdom also will bear the sin and death man brought into the world.
It is because of the corruption of the plants and the animals that from the very earliest times men have neither used every kind of herb nor every kind of animal as food. For this reason men have instinctively avoided certain plants and also many of the animals as hurtful or destructive to life until the Creator gave the laws of food, and even the laws that prohibit a contact with dead animals (Lev_11:8, Lev_11:11, Lev_11:24), so that men can cleave to the Creator and separate themselves from uncleanness by guarding the laws of food which men do and live by them (Lev_18:5).
Now, let us consider the prophecy of YHVH in Isa 66:17.
For by fire and by His sword Yehovah shall judge all flesh, and the slain of Yehovah shall be many–they that sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, after one in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the detestable thing, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, says Yehovah. (Isa 66:16-17)
For years the present author had been puzzled by the obscurity of this prophecy. One can easily understand why the eating of swine and mice is repulsive and abhorring for the Lord, because this is an abominable act of breaking the laws of food.
But, what is the third thing shekets which JPS translates detestable thing and KJV: abomination? Shekets in any way means something that is filthy, repugnant, disgusting, repulsive, loathsome and abhorring. Is the eating of swine’s flesh and mice not abominable enough that YHVH had to say it again, or we are missing something here?
The time came for the prophecy of Isa 66:17 to be revealed.
Isa 66:16-17 and the whole chapter 66 are a predicted judgment. This judgment is a judgment that falls not only on the heathen, but also on the great mass of those who call themselves “of the Lord” but have fallen away from their election of grace and become like the heathen by eating what is filthy, repugnant, disgusting, repulsive, loathsome and abhorring to YHVH.
The laws of what is food and what is not food are regarded in Leviticus 11 as absolute. They are not to be commented, much less disputed. Nor are they pick-and-choose laws. If one respects YHVH as Lord and Savior, it behooves him to guard and do all He has commanded: the laws of food included. Until the heaven and the earth pass away (Mat 5:17-20), every willful attempt to break through the laws of food is considered a sin, because any sin is a transgression of the Torah. And the transgression of the Torah is a transgression against YHVH.
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (1Jn 3:4 KJV)
Having said that, as it may sound hard for some to accept, but the violation of the laws of food in Leviticus 11 will bring down His wrath and indignation, as prophesied here in our verses in Isaiah 66.
A few things we should note in order to unlock the hidden prophecy in Isa 66:16-17. First, those who violate the Word of YHVH concerning eating flesh that is forbidden, set themselves apart at the gardens where the abomination will take place.
The Hebrew word for a garden is gannah, garden, a feminine form of gan, a garden as fenced. Gan comes from the verb ganan, to hedge about, that is, (generally) to protect, to defend. Hence, a garden is a place for growing seeds and is often surrounded by a hedge for protection. Therefore, the garden where the abomination that will take place is a special place with protection.
In the phrase in verse 17 after one (echad) in the midst, is in all probability one who leads those people in eating the abomination, and as he is represented as standing in the midst of the crowd that surrounds him, but also in the midst of the garden.
“Achar” in the phrase after one in the midst can be understood to mean “behind”, but also “after” in the way of imitation. In other words, he who stands in their midst performs the abomination before them, and they follow him in the way of following his instructions.
Therefore, what we see in this setting is that while, they readily adopt the specified ritual of doing abomination, they set themselves in the most daring way above everything that is sacred to YHVH, by eating swine’s flesh, mouse (or any of the small rodents), and shekets, the abomination.
The prophecy of Isa 66:17 is very precisely and clearly communicated to those who eat swine’s flesh, and the detestable thing, leaving nothing to implication: they shall be consumed together. Thus says YHVH!
In 4 January 2011 BBC posted the article “GM pigs: Green ham with your eggs?” by Jeremy Cooke. In the article the author wrote about a scientific project of genetically modified pigs called Enviropigs. The project was conducted in a small complex of barns (gardens) in Ontario, Canada, where the GMO pigs were created and breeding for human consumption.
The goal of the project was to create a new species of swine that would digest the food in such a way that the waste would be environmentally safe; hence Enviropigs. The GMO pigs would be less polluting and cheaper to feed, claim the proponents of Enviropigs.
Evidently, Canada is emerging as a leading power in the genetical engineering, since the Canadians also created GMO salmons, not to mention fruits and vegetables.
Upon having read the article, the reader should have noticed by now a few things: the workers in the Canadian barns (genetical engineering labs), as all workers in such labs, are to cleanse themselves completely by putting on special clothes. Thus, they sanctify and purify themselves, as the prophecy describes, to create what is abominable to the Creator: the GMO swine for human consumption.
According to the article, each GMO swine contains genes from mice and E.coli bacteria, which have been inserted into their DNA, in order to fulfill what has been predicted thousands of years ago. Thus, we see the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isa 66:17: the creation of GMO swine, mice, and shekets, which nothing less than the abomination in our verse–E.coli bacteria.
It was impossible for us and much less for the ancient to understand shekets (abomination) in this prophecy, until its fulfillment in 2011 in Ontario, Canada. The E.coli bacteria are shekets. And if the eating of swine’s flesh and mouse, and other creatures, that have never been called food is the repugnant, disgusting, repulsive, loathsome and abhorring thing to do, how much more repugnant, disgusting, repulsive, loathsome and abhorring is to play God creating GMO swine for human consumption.
Should we ever wonder why the Creator has forbidden in His Torah even planting of different crops together? Or, interbreeding different species to create hybrids? The sin spread from man to the whole creation and the Creator made the animals subject to corruption because of the sin of man. He created animals according to His will and design; some animals He created for food, but many He created to serve different purposes in His creation.
Pigs, mice, shrimps, lobsters, are good creatures; their purpose is to clean the nature. But, they are not food. Eating them and even worse genetically modifying them is a violation of the laws of food and is an abomination to the Creator. He will not leave unpunished those who eat abominable things and those who play God in creating creatures contrary to the laws of nature.
In conclusion, let us read from Antiquities of the Jews, Book 4, Chapter 8, Verse 20, by the first century Temple priest and later Roman historian Flavius Josephus.
… The seeds are also to be pure, and without mixture, and not to be compounded of two or three sorts, since nature does not rejoice in the union of things that are not in their own nature alike; nor are you to permit beasts of different kinds to gender together, for there is reason to fear that this unnatural abuse may extend from beasts of different kinds to men, though it takes its first rise from evil practices about such smaller things.
How could Josephus have known about GMO in the twenty-first century?
This article has been prompted by the news that a Chinese scientist has created for the first time in history of mankind genetically modified babies. If this is true, it brings to mind Josephus’ warning concerning such smaller things (bacteria) that this unnatural abuse may extend from beasts of different kinds to men.
How far will mankind go in doing abominations before the coming of the Messiah?
Navah
May we merit seeing the coming of our Mashiach speedily in our days.