When Pork is Beef – Part 1
Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he took everything, even taking all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place [1 Kings 14:25-27].
I recently took my son to a local restaurant. On the menu was a concoction of roast beef with mashed potatoes and vegetables. I’m a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so I ordered it.
When we were served I looked at the meat and thought to myself, “This doesn’t even resemble beef. It looks exactly like pork roast.” So I took a bite to see what it tasted like. As I was chewing my son looked at the meat incredulously and blurted out, “That’s not beef. It’s pork!”
When I finished chewing and swallowing, I verbally confirmed his observation. So I summoned the waitress and told her that I ordered the roast beef.
She looked at me puzzled and stated, “That is the roast beef, sir.”
I retorted, “No, ma’am. It is not. It looks like pork roast and it tastes like pork roast, so it’s pork.”
She didn’t know what to say, so she stumbled over her tongue when she claimed, “Maybe it’s pork roast beef…”
Hilarious isn’t it? Anyway, she sent for the manager. When I was finally able to present my case to him, he told me, “We don’t have any pork in this restaurant. The meat comes in boxes labeled ‘beef veal’. Maybe that’s why it tastes like pork to you.”
Here’s the thing, dear friends. Every item has its specific qualities. Beef tastes like beef and pork tastes like pork. We mustn’t confuse what something is by giving it the name of something else and trying to identify it with the qualities of something else. Otherwise words mean nothing, in which case we can say anything we want and claim our words mean the exact opposite of what we said.
In the verses quoted at the start of this study, we have a detail which is overlooked much of the time, perhaps even all of the time. The reason why it is overlooked is because of the symbolism. We have to be Biblically literate in order to recognize the symbolism in the detail. Otherwise we read the words and just keep right on going like the Eveready Bunny. The teaching simply goes right over our heads.
Yikes! We’re out of time again! We’ll continue this topic in our next study. In the interim why not spend some time alone with the Lord Jesus. He is always a pleasure to be with, and He truly desires to spend time alone with us.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
I recently took my son to a local restaurant. On the menu was a concoction of roast beef with mashed potatoes and vegetables. I’m a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so I ordered it.
When we were served I looked at the meat and thought to myself, “This doesn’t even resemble beef. It looks exactly like pork roast.” So I took a bite to see what it tasted like. As I was chewing my son looked at the meat incredulously and blurted out, “That’s not beef. It’s pork!”
When I finished chewing and swallowing, I verbally confirmed his observation. So I summoned the waitress and told her that I ordered the roast beef.
She looked at me puzzled and stated, “That is the roast beef, sir.”
I retorted, “No, ma’am. It is not. It looks like pork roast and it tastes like pork roast, so it’s pork.”
She didn’t know what to say, so she stumbled over her tongue when she claimed, “Maybe it’s pork roast beef…”
Hilarious isn’t it? Anyway, she sent for the manager. When I was finally able to present my case to him, he told me, “We don’t have any pork in this restaurant. The meat comes in boxes labeled ‘beef veal’. Maybe that’s why it tastes like pork to you.”
Here’s the thing, dear friends. Every item has its specific qualities. Beef tastes like beef and pork tastes like pork. We mustn’t confuse what something is by giving it the name of something else and trying to identify it with the qualities of something else. Otherwise words mean nothing, in which case we can say anything we want and claim our words mean the exact opposite of what we said.
In the verses quoted at the start of this study, we have a detail which is overlooked much of the time, perhaps even all of the time. The reason why it is overlooked is because of the symbolism. We have to be Biblically literate in order to recognize the symbolism in the detail. Otherwise we read the words and just keep right on going like the Eveready Bunny. The teaching simply goes right over our heads.
Yikes! We’re out of time again! We’ll continue this topic in our next study. In the interim why not spend some time alone with the Lord Jesus. He is always a pleasure to be with, and He truly desires to spend time alone with us.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
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