| “These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat” (Leviticus 11:9). |
| Here we find another rule that the Israelites had to follow, and it too has a lesson for us. Many people in this world love to go fishing, and there are quite a few varieties of fish in the lakes, rivers, and oceans of this world. But some of these fish were unclean to the Israelites, and some were considered clean. |
| First of all, the fish that they could eat had to have fins. Perhaps you have seen fish with fins, and most fish who have fins have seven of them. They usually have a fin on top, called a dorsal fin, and others called caudal, pectoral, and adipose fins, etc. These fins help keep the fish from rolling over, and help it to steer itself through the water. |
| Fins on the fish are a picture to us of having direction in our Christian life, and being able to go where the Lord wants us to go. Without fins, a fish would have a hard time directing itself properly. It would tend to roll over easily, and would have a hard time changing direction, or even stopping, if it needed to. The Lord wants us to have purpose and direction in our Christian life. |
| But the fish that could be eaten also had to have scales. When I used to clean fish that other people had caught, I never liked fish with scales, as those scales had to be scraped off with something rough and sharp, before you could get at the good meat underneath. But scales speak of protection, like the armor of God. We read about this armor of God in Ephesians, chapter 6. |
| As we go through this world, Satan is going to attack us. We need the whole armor of God for protection, and the scales on the fish speak to us of this. |
