“Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud...that shall ye eat." Lev. 11:3.
“That with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord." Acts 11:23.
Cleave is one of two words in English which is its own antonym. (Can you think of the other one?) We can learn a lesson from this.
The young man in love leaves father and mother and cleaves to his wife. (Gen. 2) The Hebrews left Egypt and its leeks and garlic, embracing Canaan with its milk and honey. The sinner, converted, ceases to do evil, learning to do well. (Isa. 1:16, 17.) The pilgrim separates from the world, unto Christ. The call to depart from evil is affirmed by a positive call to blessing.
CLEAVING FROM
The first cleaving is separation from: the winnowing of wheat from chaff, the laying aside of every weight (Heb. 12), the putting away of childish things at maturity. (1 Cor. 13:11.) Nearly every worthwhile accomplishment in life involves first a clean-up, a bench clearing, a hoeing of weeds, a shedding of pounds before the race. The discipline to do this calls for a review of priorities, and, perhaps, a brief backward look at the laziness and cowardice that led to the present sorry state of affairs.
Some of the past is not to be deplored—it was prologue. Chaff was important during development of the kernel. Now, no longer needed, let it fall.
The Jew, called to a holy walk, was to eat only of cloven-hoofed cud-chewers. Typically, it is a separated walk and a meditative (ruminant) conscience, both marking "the people of the Book.”
CLEAVING TO
The second cleaving is to: of Ruth the alien to her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:16), of the 400 in the cave of Adullam to David (1 Sam. 22), of the twelve disciples to their rejected Christ (John 6:68).
The believer is called to more than a sterile asceticism he is invited into the presence and companionship of Christ Himself. The growing child reaches out, grasping for a shiny button, a butterfly, a new bike, a car, a wife. Alas, while some of these, God-given, are good and necessary, the world and all that is in it, are too small to fill my reaching heart. Or is my heart too large?
Trading one pebble for a shinier one, after 20-30-60 years, the heart cries out, "Lord, is this all there is?" Indeed not!
A PERFECT MAN
Christ Jesus, presented in the Old Testament as the desire of women, the coming Prince, the Messiah, is presented in the New Testament as a real, yet perfect, man. The humble son of the carpenter, the prophet out of Galilee, the root out of a dry ground, has come down to do the will of the Father, to put away sin and to call out a people to share the Father's house.
He is the Redeemer, and more than that, He is the embodiment of everything the Creator had in mind when He said, "Let us make man in Our image." Gen. 1:26. Suppose yourself fallen off some ferryboat on a dark night and about to drown. A late-night carouser on a pleasure craft sees your plight, steers an inebriated course to your location and hauls you out, soaked but alive. Naturally you are deeply grateful, and even years later you may send a letter or make a phone call of thanks to mark the anniversary of your salvation. However, gratitude is not admiration. Your rescuer is, after all, somewhat less than a prince of a man. Note the contrast! God, seeing our lost condition, sent an able rescuer, more than that, a perfect man. His call to us is not merely to shed weight and hoe weeds, nor even a positive adherence to a worthy cause, but a clarion to follow a perfect man the only one to walk this earth.
Let us cleave then cleave the true from the false, but best of all, cleave unto Jesus with purpose of heart.
D. Lunden
He Clave to the Lord
The story of Hezekiah, king of Judah. is precious to many for his pious zeal in the reformation of his people at the beginning of his reign. We see in him how true it is that God honors those who honor Him and that those who despise Him shall be lightly esteemed. (1 Sam. 2:30.) Of Hezekiah it is written that, "He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following Him, but kept His commandments." 2 Kings 18:5, 6. Next it says, "The Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went.” 2 Kings 18:7.
How very encouraging such an example is to Christians today when we see how God rewarded Hezekiah for honoring and cleaving to Him. Ed.