Issue 917 – Turtles – November 23, 2022
When we lived in Clearwater, we used to dine at the Painted Turtle Restaurant. The food was excellent, and you could often see Western Painted turtles if you sat on the outdoor patio.
The Western Painted turtle (a subspecies of the painted turtle, and endangered in BC) makes Dutch Lake, in Clearwater, its home. This image was sent to me by a reader; I haven’t managed to get a good closeup.
One of the greatest threats to the turtle is automobiles. The turtles often move about during the breeding season, looking for a good place to lay their eggs. Being small, drivers often don’t see them and run them over. There are now areas designated and signed as turtle crossings warning drivers to slow down in many areas.
Turtles and tortoises don’t appear in most translations of the Bible. The KJV is an exception …
These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, these are unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even. Leviticus 11:29-30 KJV
And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, the mouse, the great lizard of any kind, Leviticus 11:29 ESV.
I’m not too worried about the translator’s opinions on whether it the text should read as turtle, tortoise or great lizard. They would agree that the Levitical Law contains many dietary and other restrictions that were (and are) applicable to the Jewish people.
Those laws don’t apply to the Gentiles. The moral code of the law (contained in the ten commandments) applies universally. It is a precise codification of how we are to relate to God and others.
Groups of Christian believers believe Christians should obey the Old Testament Law or portions thereof to have salvation. That is a perversion of the gospel.
We have been set apart from observing the Law (other than the moral code) by being non-Jewish. Our salvation is not now, nor has it ever been, by keeping the Law. It is and always has been by grace through faith.
If you read Hebrews 11, the Heroes of the Faith list, you will see that the Old Testament saints were saved by one thing only. They were saved by faith. They did not know the name of Jesus, but His sacrifice transcended time. They were saved by a faith that trusted in God.
We change the message when we try to add anything to the truth of salvation by grace through faith. True faith is repentant and acted upon. It isn’t simply a wishy-washy hope.
In our faith, we draw closer to Him. We seek to please the Lord, not out of the hope that our growth and works somehow buy favour, but realizing we want to please the one who loves us.
I am praying that you walk in faith and trust.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2022 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin Gleanings From The Word.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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