The Israelites saw the world much differently. Eels are unclean because they are fish without scales. Ostriches because they are birds that don t fly. The Israelites are dealing with out of place symbols. And in dealing with symbols Leviticus isn t outdated, it isn t irrelevant.
Symbols are a very important part of our society.
I d be carrying two examples with me this morning. Symbolically, he s here. These are symbols, and they aren t just symbolic. They are very, very important to me they are very important to my wife. And symbols are important to everyone.