|
by
Doug Ward |
Beginning at Jerusalem, the first Christians carried the good news of the
resurrection of Jesus and the arrival of the kingdom of God throughout the
Greco-Roman world. On their journeys they were guided and empowered by the Holy
Spirit, the promised Comforter whom God had sent on the day of Pentecost, seven
weeks after the resurrection (Ac 1-2).
The
Spirit led the Jewish disciples of Jesus into situations that they probably
never anticipated. One such situation is recorded in the tenth chapter of Acts,
which describes the addition of the first Gentiles (non-Jews) to the body of
believers.
|
Creatures
Common and Unclean |
To prepare the apostle Peter to visit the Gentile God-fearer Cornelius, a Roman
centurion stationed at Caesarea, God gave Peter a special vision (Acts
10:9-16). In that vision Peter "saw the heavens opened" (v. 11), an
indication that divine revelation would follow. A sheet covered with all kinds
of creatures descended from heaven, accompanied by a voice that said,
"Rise, Peter; kill and eat." (v. 13)
Peter
protested, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is
common or unclean" (v. 14). Peter's words imply that there were two kinds
of animals on the sheet. Some were animals classified in the Torah as unclean
(Lev 11, Dt 14). Others, the ones he called "common," were clean but
of doubtful provenance. Apparently, Peter's practice was to avoid clean meat
that might be connected with paganism or idolatry-for example, meat that might
have been involved in a sacrifice to a false god. He did not want to eat the
meat from the clean animals on the sheet because they were there together with
lots of unclean animals.1
The
voice then assured Peter that he should not avoid meat from the clean animals
on the sheet. "What God has made clean," it said, "do not call
common" (v. 15). Notice, by the way, that the voice did not tell Peter to
eat the unclean animals on the sheet.
After
the vision had repeated three times, three men sent by Cornelius arrived. The
Spirit directed Peter to accompany them back to Caesarea. On the journey, Peter
had plenty of time to contemplate the vision. He then was able to explain its
meaning: "...God has shown me that I should not call any person common or
unclean" (v. 28). The vision helped Peter to understand that God's new
covenant people would include both Jews and Gentiles.
|
Animals,
Nations, and Food |
We may wonder why God chose such a seemingly indirect way to communicate his
plans to Peter. Why convey a message about people with a vision about animals
and eating? Part of the answer to this question is that for Peter, the vision
was not so indirect. In the Bible and Jewish literature of the Second Temple
period, animals were often used to represent people and nations.2
The
custom of picturing people and tribes with animals begins in the book of
Genesis, where Ishmael is called "a wild donkey of a man," (Ge 16:12)
Judah is compared to "a lion's cub," Issachar to "a strong
donkey," Naphtali to "a doe," and Daniel to "a
serpent" (Ge 49). The prophets continue this practice. Jeremiah at one
point portrays Israel's enemies as a lion, a wolf, and a leopard (Jer 5:6). In Isaiah, passages about animals coexisting
peacefully are also picturing nations dwelling together in peace (Isa 11:6-9;
65:25).
The
use of animals to symbolize nations becomes especially prominent in apocalyptic
literature, beginning with the visions of Daniel 7-8 where beasts represent
empires. The intertestamental book of 1 Enoch includes a vision summarizing the
history of the world. In this vision Israelites are sheep, while people from
neighboring nations are various unclean animals (chapters 85-90).
In
the context of the Bible and Jewish apocalyptic literature, a vision in which
animals stand for people seems perfectly natural, and it is not surprising that
Peter made the connection. In the command to "rise, kill, and eat,"
he may have been reminded of Dan 7:5, where a beast like a bear was told,
"Arise, devour much flesh." In Dan 7:5 an empire was told to
incorporate additional nations, and in Peter's vision, the church was told to
incorporate new people.
Another
reason for Peter's vision to involve food is that issues of food and table
fellowship would need to be addressed as Gentiles were added to the body of
believers. For Jews, the dietary restrictions of the Torah were a way to remain
holy, distinct, and separate from the nations (Lev 20:25-26). Some, like Peter,
observed some additional restrictions to guard against pollution from paganism.
These might include avoiding any meat from a Gentile source. However, for the ekklesia to become a united body, Jewish believers
like Peter would need to learn to trust and accept Gentiles like Cornelius as
full-fledged members, as brothers rather than pagans. They were not to call
"common" those whom God had cleansed.
On
the other hand, the vision did not abolish the distinction between clean and
unclean meats, as some interpreters have claimed. Jewish believers in the
first-century church continued to live a Jewish lifestyle, and Gentile
believers would need to observe some dietary restrictions out of respect for
their Jewish brethren (Ac 15:20, 29). By following Jesus' example of humility
(Phil 2:1-11), Jewish and Gentile believers could grow together in love and
unity.
1On the meaning of
"common," see Clinton Wahlen, "Peter's
Vision and Conflicting Definitions of Purity," New Testament Studies
51 (2005), pp. 505-518.
2On
this point, see Jason Staples, " `Rise, Kill, and Eat': Animals as Nations
in Early Jewish Visionary Literature and Acts 10," Journal for the
Study of the New Testament 42 (2019), pp. 3-17.
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