This research paper by Kathryn McIlvaine, submitted for OT516 – Isaiah to Malachi at Reformed Theological Seminary – Charlotte, explores Leviticus 11 as a central component of Israel’s holiness code, emphasizing that dietary laws were not arbitrary but expressions of divine order and separation. McIlvaine examines the Hebrew categories of qadosh (holy), tahor (clean), tame (unclean), and sheqetz (detestable), showing how they structured Israel’s daily life to reflect God’s holiness.
The study surveys multiple interpretive theories—cultic, materialistic, hygienic, morphological, ethical, allegorical, and arbitrary—while ultimately favoring theological readings grounded in Genesis. McIlvaine argues that the kashrut reflects God’s created order, where separation between clean and unclean mirrors divine distinctions between light and darkness. He highlights Nobuyoshi Kiuchi’s insight that the “eating and not eating” motif echoes humanity’s fall in Genesis 3, linking unclean animals with serpent-like traits (creeping, contact with the ground, and consumption of death).
The paper concludes that Leviticus 11’s dietary laws symbolically express opposition to the serpent and the effects of sin. For Israel, dietary holiness was an act of imitation of Yahweh’s own holiness, a continual reminder of separation from death and devotion to life. After Christ’s redemptive work, these laws are fulfilled yet remain valuable for understanding God’s ordered creation and ethical vision for His people.
Course and semester: OT516 Isaiah to Malachi — Fall 2015