What does EGW write about...
Ellen Gould White über: "Why are insects prohibited to be eaten according to the Bible, but locusts are allowed to be eaten?"
Answer
The biblical distinction between clean and unclean animals is not based on arbitrary rules, but on health principles to protect the body. Unclean things, which include most insects, were prohibited because they were considered unhealthy and could fill the blood with impurities. Locusts are mentioned in the scriptures as a simple food that, for example, John the Baptist used in the desert to lead a life of moderation and self‑control against general gluttony.
Health Principles and the Distinction of Food
»The distinction between foods as clean and unclean was not a purely ceremonial and arbitrary regulation, but was based on sanitary principles. The wonderful vitality that has characterized the Jewish people for millennia can be largely attributed to observing this distinction.«
»No arbitrary distinction was made. The prohibited things were unhealthy. And the fact that they were declared unclean taught the lesson that consuming harmful foods is contaminating. What corrupts the body tends to corrupt the soul.«
»In the instructions given through Moses it was forbidden to eat anything unclean. The consumption of pork and the flesh of certain other animals was prohibited because they would likely fill the blood with impurities and shorten life.«
»John separated himself from friends and from the luxury of life. [...] His diet, purely plant‑based, consisting of locusts and wild honey, was a rebuke of the indulgence of appetite and the gluttony that prevailed everywhere.«
»He ate the "locusts and the wild honey", that were found in the desert, and drank the pure water from the hills.«
- Clean and Unclean Principles
- Diet of John the Baptist
- Moses' Health Rules on Insects
Original Sources (English)
