Meats

MEATS. The Hebrews had several Kinds of Animals which they refused to eat. We have mentioned these under the Article ANIMALS. Among domestick Animals they only eat such as were produced from the Cow, the Sheep, or the Goat. They used also the Hen and the Pigeon, which are domestick Birds, and several other Kinds of wild Animals. It was forbidden them to eat the Flesh with the Blood, and much more to eat the Blood without the Flesh. We may form a Judgment of their Taste for Meat and good Eating, by what the Scripture informs us of 1 Kings iv. 22, 23.Solomon’s Table. Thirty Measures of the finest Wheat-Flower were provided for it every Day, and twice as much of the ordinary Sort; twenty Stall-fed Oxen, twenty Pasture-Oxen, an hundred Sheep, besides the Venison of Deer, Roebucks, Does, and Wild-Fowl. The Lamb and Kid were esteemed as delicious Food. Rebekah prepared some for Isaac, to incline him to give his Blessing to Jacob. Moses appointed it for the Feast of the Passover. Manoah offered a boiled Kid to the Angel, who gave him Notice of the Birth of Samson. Samson carried one to his Wife to make a Reconciliation between them.

The Fat of the Animals that was offered in Sacrifice was reserved to the Lord: It was burnt upon the Fire of the Altar. They offered to him the Fat which covers the Levit. iii. 16, &c.Kidneys and Bowels; and the Rump of the Sheep, which in those Countries were very large and fat. God complains sometimes by Levit. iii 10.his Prophets, that his People only offered him Victims of lean Animals.

It does not appear that the ancient HebrewsMal. i. 13. 14. were very nice about the Seasoning and Dressing of their Food. We find among them Roast-Meat, Boiled-Meat, and Ragouts. They roasted the Paschal Lamb; Meats that were offered were boiled in a Pot; for the Sons of Eli the High-priest h Leo of Modena, Part i. c. 6.

took Flesh out of the Pots of those that offered Sacrifices, saying they would 1 Sam. ii. 15.have it raw, that they might dress it to their own Palates. Rebekkah made a Ragout, or stewed Meat, for Isaac, and served it up to him in the Manner that she knew he loved Gen. xxvii. 4. 14.it. Salt was the only Seasoning that I can find made Use of, in the Meat that was prepared in the Temple. The greatest Part of our Spices we now use, were unknown to the ancient Hebrews. They say that at this Day in Palestine they use Honey in the greatest Part of their Ragouts: Oil, and perhaps some aromatick Herbs were also an Ingredient. The Paschal Lamb was eaten with bitter Herbs, or perhaps with Mustard.

Exod. xxiii. 19. xxxiv. 26.Moses forbids to seeth the Kid in its Mother’s Milk, which may be understood that it was not to be sacrificed as long as it sucked, or else literally, that it should not be boiled in the Milk of its Dam. The Hebrews explain it in this latter Sense. They never mingle Milk in any Ragout or hashed Meat, and eat not at the same Time first Meat, then Milk, or Butter, or Cheese¹, for Fear that any Remains of the Meat should stick in their Teeth, and so mix with the Cheese. But they may eat Cheese some Time before, and then Meat afterwards. And they are so cautious of dressing Meat with any Thing made of Milk, either raw or otherwise, that they do not make Use of the same Implements for Meat, and for Butter, Milk, or Cheese. They have different Knives, Spoons, and Plates for each of these Things; and if it happens by Mistake, that one or the other of these Foods have been prepared or dressed by the Utensils belonging to the other; they not only refuse to eat of it, but if the Vessel be an earthen one, they make no farther Use of it.

They eat no Cheese of which they have not seen the making of the Curd, for Fear that the Milk of any unclean or forbidden Animal may have been mixed with it; or that some Part of the Skin may be mixed with the Curd, which may be taken for Flesh or Cheese; or that it may have been warmed in a Kettle, wherein any forbidden Meat has been boiled. They put a Mark upon that Cheese, of which they have seen the Curd made. In the Mountains of Vosge I have seen Jews, who came themselves to make their own Cheeses in the Houses of Christians, where Cows were kept.

They might not kill a Cow and its Calf in the same Day, nor a Sheep or Goat and their Young at the same Time. They might not cut off a Part of a living Animal to eat it, either raw or dressed. If any Beast or Bird, of the Number of those that might be eaten, should happen to die of themselves, or should be strangled, and the Blood not run away, they were not allowed to taste of it. Also if in the Birds were found any Thorn, Pin, or Needle, that had gored them, or any Impostume in four-footed Beasts, or that their Entrails were affected, or that they were bit by any Beast, they were not to eat of them by the express Command of the Law. Carnem quæ à bestiis prægustata fuerit, non comedetis, sed projicietis canibus. See also Levit. v. 2. vii. 24. xvii. 15. He that by Inadvertence should eat of an Animal that died of it-self, or that was killed by any Beast, was to be unclean till the Evening, and was not purified till he had washed his Cloaths.

If an Animal, though alive, yet should have a Bone broken in one of the Limbs mentioned by the Rabbins, or was wounded and in Danger of dying; it was not to be eaten, for Fear of eating at unawares the Flesh of some impure Animal. They eat of nothing dressed by any other than a Jew, nor dressed their Victuals with the Kitchen Implements of any other but one of their own Nation; nor did they make Use of another Man’s Knife.

The Rabbins had appointed, that at the same Meal they were not to eat of Fish and Flesh, under Pretence of its not being wholesome; but now this is not observed. And as to Fish, they eat indifferently all that are allowed to be eaten according to the Law, without any Scruple as to the Blood, or the Fat, or to reject such as are dead or imperfect; because the Law is silent in these Matters.

The Prohibition of eating Blood, or Animals that are strangled, has been always rigidly observed by the Jews. They do not so much as eat an Egg, if there appears the least Streak of Blood in it. When an Animal is to be killed, it must be performed by a Person skilled in it, because of the Circumstances that are to be observed. For a Time must be pitched on proper for the Action, the Knife must be very sharp, and without Notches, that the Blood may run away glibly and without Interruption. They let it run out upon the Ground, or upon Ashes, and take it up again afterwards. And the better to perform this, they put the Meat into Salt for an Hour, before they put it into the Pot, that the Blood may quite run out; otherwise they must not eat the Meat, except they roast it. And as the Liver abounds with Blood, they must broil it upon the Coals before they boil it.

They take great Care to cut away the Exod. xxii. 31. Levit. xxii. 8.Sinew of the Thigh of such Animals as they intend to eat, according to what is said, Gen. xxxii. 32. Therefore the Children of Israel eat not of the Sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the Thigh, unto this Day: Because he touched the Hollow of Jacob’s Thigh, in the Sinew that shrank. And in several Places of Germany and Italy, the Jews will not so much as eat any of the hinder Quarter, because great Niceness is required in taking away this Sinew as it should be, and very few know how to do it as it ought to be.

As to the Fat, they forbear eating any Fat of Oxen, Sheep, Goats, and Animals of this Kind, according to the express Text of Moses, Levit, vii. 23. Ye shall eat no Manner of Fat, of Ox, or of Sheep, or of Goat. But as for any other kind of Fat, they think it is allowed them, even that of Animals that die of themselves. Adipem cadaveris morticini habebitis in varios usus, &c. But it was not allowed them to eat it; that is to say the Fat, or rather the Animal that thus died of it self. See the Hebrew of this whole Passage. Omnem adipem bovis & agni & caprae non comedetis, & adeps cadaveris & adeps rapti à bestia fiet in omnem usum, sed comedendo non comedetis illum. They thought therefore that it was not permitted them to eat the Fat of the Animals now mentioned²; but that it was allowed them to eat the Fat of all other clean Animals. As to the Fat of Animals that died of themselves, they might not eat of it, but they might apply it to any other Uses.

Yet there are very good Commentators that maintain, that the Fat of clean Animals was not forbidden the Jews, only when they were offered in Sacrifice; and that the Fat that is intermixed with the Flesh was not forbidden in any Case, but only in that where the Flesh it self is forbidden. See the Commentators upon Levit. vii. 23, 24. iii. 26, 27.

In the Christian Church, the Custom of refraining from Things strangled, and from Blood continued a long Time. In the Council of the Apostles held at Jerusalem some Years after the Ascension of our Saviour³, it was declared, that the new Converts from Paganism should not be subject to any of the legal Ceremonies, but that it would be sufficient to require from them, that they should refrain from Idolatry, from Fornication, from the eating of Blood, and from such Animals as were strangled, and therefore the Blood not let out of their Bodies; which Decree was observed for many Ages by the Church. Tertullian⁴, Athe-

nagoras, Minutius Fœlix⁵, Justin Martyr⁶, in their Apologies for the Christian Religion, the holy Martyr Biblis, who suffered about the Year seventy nine, in Answer to the Pagans, who accused the Christians of killing Children and drinking their Blood in their Assemblies, made this Defence, that the Christian Religion would not so much as allow them to drink the Blood of any Animal whatever.

The Council of Gangre held in the Year 324⁷, the Council of Trullo in the Year 692⁸, the second Council of Arles in the Year 533⁹, that of Wormes in the Year 868¹⁰, the fifty eighth Constitution of the Emperor Leo; Pope Zachary¹¹, writing to Boniface in 751, unanimously relate, that the Prohibition of eating Blood and Things strangled, was still observed in their Time. St. Jerome takes Notice, that in his Time also they religiously observed the Custom of abstaining from Things strangled and Blood in all the Oriental and Roman Churches. Under Pope Leo the ninth in the eleventh Century, Cardinal Humbert Legate from the holy See to Constantinople¹², making his Reply to the Grecians, declares, that in the Church they refrained from Creatures that were strangled by the Negligence of Men, dead of themselves, or drowned; and that they imposed a severe Pennance on such, who without any pressing Necessity went counter to any of these Rules.

But at the same Time he acknowledges, that they made no Scruple of eating Birds taken in Hunting, and wild Fowls catched with Dogs. That in all this they only followed the Precepts of the Apostles, who appointed that Men should eat indifferently of all Things sold in the Shambles, and of every Thing fit to eat, without asking any Questions for Conscience Sake. St. Austin¹³, who was much more ancient than Cardinal Humbert, affirms, that in the Church they observed the Distinction of certain Foods, so long as the Wall of Separation was kept up between the Jews and the converted Gentiles, and that the Christian Church made up of these two Sorts of People, was not yet intirely formed. But after that there were no longer any Israelites according to the Flesh, there were no longer any Persons that made any Scruple of eating Animals that were killed without letting the Blood run out; and those that have still any Superstition in this Matter, are exposed to the Raillery of others.

This shews what were the Sentiments of this Father, and what was the Practice of the Church of Africa in his Time. In many other Places they did not leave off to observe the Canon of the Apostles, even down to the tenth and eleventh Century. The Greeks even to this Day will not eat the Blood after it is parted from the Flesh¹⁴; and more learned Men than one in the last Age have contended, that this Prohibition ought still to subsist and be in Force. Of this Opinion were Salmasius, Blondell, de Courcelles, Gerard Vossius, and Grotius.

Many of the Ancients¹⁵, speaking of the Prohibition made by the Apostles at the Council of Jerusalem, take Notice only of what is forbid as to the eating of Blood, without mentioning any Thing of suffocated Animals. St. Austin¹⁶, and Gaudentius of Bress¹⁷, look upon the Words à suffocato as a Gloss that has been added to the Text, for the explaining what was meant by forbidding the eating of Blood. But the Greek and Latin Copies, both printed and Manuscript, almost all of ‘em, as well as the Fathers, take them to be two different Prohibitions, that of eating Things that have been strangled, and that of the eating of Blood. Some Ancients, by the Words à Sanguine, would have Murder to be forbidden, or the Effusion of Blood; but such a Prohibition by the Council of Jerusalem must have been needless. There are several Greek Manuscripts, and some in Latin, which after these Words, à suffocato & Sanguine, add, do not to another what you would not have done to your self: Which is a Gloss added without any Manner of Necessity.

Meats offered to Idols, called in Greek, Idolothyta¹⁸: At the first setling of the Church there were great Disputes concerning the Use of such Meats as had been offered to Idols. Some newly converted Christians, being convinced that an Idol was nothing, and that the Distinction of clean and unclean Creatures was quite abolished, after our Saviour had procured for us the Liberty of being the Children of God; they eat indifferently of whatever was served up to ‘em, even among Pagans, without troubling themselves to enquire whether these Meats had been offered to Idols or no. They took the same Liberty in buying Meat sold in the Markets, not regarding whether they were pure or impure, according to the Notion of the Jews, or whether they had been offered to Idols. For among the Heathen, as well as among the Jews, there were several Sacrifices, in which only a Part of the Victim was offered upon the Altar, all the rest belonging to him that offered it, which he disposed of at his Pleasure, or eat it with his Friends.

1 Cor. x. 23, 24.But other Christians being more weak, or not so well instructed, were offended at this Liberty, and thought that to eat of Meat that had been offered to Idols, was a kind of partaking of that wicked and sacrilegious Sacrifice. This Diversity in Opinions and Practice produced some Scandal, and some Diminution of Christian Charity, to which St. Paul thought it behoved him Rom. iv. 20. Tit. i. 15.to provide some Remedy. He determined therefore, that all Things were clean to such as were clean, and that an Idol was 1 Cor. viii. 4.nothing at all. That a Man might safely eat of whatever was sold in the Shambles, 1 Cor. x. 25, 26, 27, &c.and need not scrupulously enquire from whence it came. That if an Unbeliever should invite a Believer to eat with him, the Believer might eat of all that was set before him, without any Scruple of Conscience to know from whence it came.

But at the same Time he enjoins, that the Law of Charity and Prudence should be observed; that Men should be cautious in scandalizing or offending weak Minds; and that though all Things may be lawful, yet all Things are not always expedient. That no one ought to seek his own Accommodation or Satisfaction, but that of his Neighbour. That if any one should say to us, This has been offered to Idols, we may not then eat of it, for the Sake of him that gives the Information, not so much for Fear of wounding our own Consciences, but his: In a Word, that he that is weak, and thinks he may not indifferently make Use of all Sorts Rom. xvi. 1, 2.of Food, should forbear, and eat Herbs.

And yet it is certain, that generally Christians abstained from eating Meat that had been offered to Idols. See Revelations ii. 20. where the Holy Ghost reproves the Bishop of Thyatira for suffering a Jezebel in his Church, who called her self a Prophetess, seduced the Servants of God, prevailed with them to commit Impurity, and to eat of Meat that had been consecrated to Idols. Tertullian says¹⁹, that St. Paul has put the Key of the Flesh-Market into our own Hands, by allowing us the Use of all Sorts of Meat, except that which has been offered to Idols. Ad constituendam Idolothytorum exceptionem. We know that in the Persecutions of the Roman Emperors²⁰, they often polluted the Flesh sold in the Shambles, by consecrating it to Idols, that they might prevent the Christians from buying of it.

2 Macc. vi. 23.As to the Jews, it is needless to mention with what Resolution they refrained from Meat consecrated to Idols. We know with what Constancy old Eleazar rather suffered Martyrdom than even to pretend to touch Meat that had been offered in Sacrifice to false Gods. Rogabant afferri carnes quibus vesci ei licebat, ut simularetur manducasse de sacrificii carnibus.

When the Israelites offered Peace-Offerings in the Temple, which were Sacrifices of Thanksgiving to God for Benefits, or to obtain others from him; they might eat a Part of their Flesh, after they had given to the Priests what was due to them, and after they had burned upon the Altar what was appointed by the Law. They might eat of the Flesh of these Victims the first or second Day after; but if any Thing remained to the third Day, they were obliged to burn it in the Fire. And if any unclean Person eat of it, his Fault was punished Levit. vii. 18, 19, 20.very severely.

But in Holocausts, there was no Part that belonged to him that offered the Sacrifice; it was intirely consumed in the Fire of the Altar. As to the Sacrifices for the Expiation of Sin, the Flesh of the Victim belonged to the officiating Priest; none but the Males of the House of Aaron had a Right to eat of them, nor could they eat them but within the Precincts of the Temple.Levit. vii. 1, 7, 8, 10.

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