For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
Peter repeats this command of God from Leviticus in 1 Peter 1:15-16. However, let's widen the context a bit.
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' Leviticus 11:44-45 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear respect of the Father throughout the time of your exileAssyrian exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
SPECIAL NOTE: Before we take these passages apart, there is an underlaying thought that I want to bring into your view. You are in the 21st century and think with a 21st century mind, understanding, and worldview. You also (like me) were trained to think "Christian thinking" based on the last 1,700 years of Christian thought, traditions, and syncretism—a blending that happened by force in the 4th to 5th century and beyond.
Peter is writing this as a first century disciple of Christ in the context of Second Temple Era beliefs and worldviews. His audience is equally filled with a mind of a first century Jew and Gentile worldviews, thinking, beliefs, understanding, and reasoning. Held within all of their thinking is a world of God vs. gods and demon unclean spirits, where Gentiles think they are good guys and Jews think otherwise.
If you're going to "get" these scripture passage above, you're going to have to put off your 21st century mind and take up a first century mind; a welded together Jewish and Gentile worldview. Therefore, put your Age of Enlightenment, rationalistic, scientific, 21st century mind on a shelf as you read and ponder the words of scripture.
Our goal in this article is to go beyond what we think of as the obvious plain (literal) reading of the texts above. So, allow me to demonstrate an ancient near eastern read of the passages in our view.
Swarming things
Dr. Heiser used to like to say, "If it's strange and weird, it's probably important." How does that apply here? Let's start with Leviticus and God's command: "You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground." To me, this drips of strange and weird. What do swarming things have to do with being holy and (per Peter) holy conduct? And—what are swarming things in the first place? When an ancient Jew fresh out of Egypt hears these words or reads them, what pops into their minds eye?
When you think of swarming things that crawl upon the ground, what pops into your 21st century mind? For me—bugs, but is that the thought of an ancient Jew coming out of ancient near eastern Egypt? Let's look at some examples of creepy-crawlies in the mind of an ANE post-exile Jew in the time of the writing of Leviticus.
- - The scarab beetle was especially significant in Egyptian religion. It was a symbol of Khepri, the early morning manifestation of the sun god Ra. The scarab beetle was seen as the embodiment of the cycle of life, death, and resurrection because of the insect's habit of rolling dung into a ball for its eggs, similar to Khepri's role of rolling the sun across the sky.
- - The serpent, an animal that 'swarms' the ground, also held various connotations - from protective forces to embodiments of chaos and evil. Wadjet, the protective serpent goddess, was depicted as a cobra, and the Pharaohs' headdresses often featured a cobra to portray the protection of Wadjet.
- - Frogs were linked with the goddess Heket, who was a deity of childbirth and fertility.
In Leviticus 11:44 God declares: "For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy." Thus, being consecrated from God's view is what Israelites were to do because He is the Lord their God. And what is consecrate?
The term "consecrate" generally means to make or declare something as sacred, or to dedicate officially for a religious or divine purpose. It can also refer to the act of solemnly dedicating oneself or committing oneself to a particular role or service, typically within a religious context. It derives from the Latin "consecratus," which means "dedicated" or "sanctified."
Peter in his first epistle runs this out a little further by explicitly linking it to conduct: "you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" And if we stop right here, we are left as children to "do-as-I-say" without understanding why. And we can be obedient children, but it is God's desire (I believe) for us to be obedient adult children—where we understand why we do what we do rather than just doing it, which is what we do when we are children (immature).
Therefore—let's put the adult understanding on the line: God is pointing out that the Jews (His people) have been in Egypt and have been surrounded by the gods, demons, and paganism of Egypt for four hundred years. Such things have overwhelmed them. They have learned to bow and be obedient. They've learned the mindset of a slave to pagan gods. Now—God is asking them to purposefully put those gods away and dedicate themselves to Him as the Lord their God as people freed by Him for Himself.
Upon asking them to dedicate themselves, He then turns immediately to point at the gods of Egypt (swarming things that creep on the ground) and following after what they learned of those gods as defilement—that is—"follow Me, not them". The warning is that if the people of Israel slip back (i.e., backslide) into the ways of the Egyptian gods, then from God's point of view, they are as unclean as those gods and defiled. Whereupon, they will need to be mentally, spiritually, and bodily cleansed and rededicated back to God after suffering a bit. Simple, right?
The exile
... And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile ...
Note that Peter quotes Leviticus primarily to Jews living away from Judea in the pagan nations where the Assyrian exile ultimately put them. The core message here from Peter to them is simple: "You're not coming back until the Lord draws you back in His timing." Thus, the phrase: "throughout the time of your exile". He's giving them the news that this is going to take awhile and they need to stay focused on the Father as obedient children who are highly respectful of Him in Christ.
Peter is also linking the ongoing, but also coming judgment of God. After all, it is the will of the Father that counts and the will of the Father is obedient children in Christ who respect Him and hold Him above everyone in the universe—men or angels, or fallen angels and their demons for sure!
The Watchers Template
What about this issue of conduct as it relates to being holy and consecrated or dedicated to God with a high and sober respect for the Father? It is here that I want to point out Peter's statement of gold and silver vs. the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. I want to draw a link from what we've talked about above (swarming things), silver and gold, and the Enochian Watchers Template, which is this:
- - The Watchers did not maintain the holiness they had.
- - The Watchers rebelled against God, violating their dedication to Him—especially the Father, which they had seen face-to-face.
- - The Watchers became the unclean defiled "swarming things"; objects of pagan worship by Gentiles.
- - The Watchers and Nephilim conducted themselves with every form of sin and violence.
- - The Watchers and Nephilim then violated humanity taking them deeper into sin, judgment, and the ultimate consequence of destruction.
The silver and gold is part of the template. It is a part of the secret knowledge brought by the Watcher from heaven. The Watchers not only taught people about metals and metallurgy, but how to purify it, fashion it, and turn it into implements of worship of the Watchers by men (idolatry). Thus—Peter is juxtaposing what Watchers did and what they taught men to find valuable against what is truly of value: Treasure in Heaven and that by the blood of Jesus Christ!
Wrap up
I am hopeful that after all of this, your mind is now triggered and filled with the worldview of a first century Messianic Jew like Peter. My hope is that you see his communication and mind from his point of view and context, not yours alone.
My own personal takeaway is that this story of fallen Watchers and Nephilim giants and demons is always framing the text. It is always enhancing and giving background and context to the story. And more than this—it is giving us the strong meat for adult Christians fully prepared with adult teeth to rip into the meat, learn, and live in the reality of what it means to be an adult Christan.