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Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods
Upon their settlement in Canaan, the Israelites were permitted the
use of animal food, but under careful restrictions, which tended to
lessen the evil results. The use of swine’s flesh was prohibited, as also
of other animals and of birds and fish whose flesh was pronounced
unclean. Of the meats permitted, the eating of the fat and the blood
was strictly forbidden.
Only such animals could be used for food as were in good condi-
tion. No creature that was torn, that had died of itself, or from which
the blood had not been carefully drained, could be used as food.
By departing from the plan divinely appointed for their diet, the
Israelites suffered great loss. They desired a flesh diet, and they reaped
its results. They did not reach God’s ideal of character or fulfill His
purpose. The Lord “gave them their request, but sent leanness into
their soul.” They valued the earthly above the spiritual, and the sacred
preeminence which was His purpose for them they did not attain.
The Facts of Faith 2:15-18
God continued to feed the Hebrew host with the bread rained from
heaven; but they were not satisfied. Their depraved appetite craved
meat, which God in His wisdom had withheld, in a great measure, from
them. “And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting;
and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us
flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely,
the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the
garlic. But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides
this manna before our eyes.” They became weary of the food prepared
for them by angels, and sent them from heaven. They knew it was just
the food God wished them to have, and that it was healthful for them
and their children. Notwithstanding their hardships in the wilderness,
there was not a feeble one in all their tribes. Satan, the author of
disease and misery, will approach God’s people where he can have
the greatest success. He has controlled the appetite in a great measure
from the time of his successful experiment with Eve, in leading her to
eat the forbidden fruit. He came with his temptations first to the mixed
multitude, the believing Egyptians, and stirred them up to seditious
murmurings. They would not be content with the healthful food which