Though eating certain foods and avoiding certain foods might have some health benefits, not all of the forbidden foods could be explained by hygienic concerns. Consider, too, that Jesus declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19). This declaration wouldn’t mean that we shouldn’t think about how foods affect us. This declaration does, however, confirm that the clean/unclean categories in the Old Testament were about ceremonial (and not primarily hygienic) matters.
There are instructions in Leviticus and Deuteronomy about certain foods the Israelites were to eat and certain foods they were to avoid. The main places in the Torah addressing Israel’s dietary laws are Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. The instructions pertain to food from the land, from the sea, and from the sky.
Certain foods were “clean” while others were “unclean.” Have you thought much about these instructions? In Mark 7:19, Jesus declared all foods clean, so these Old Testament food laws were temporary. But what can we know about them?
First, notice the timing of the instructions. The clean/unclean food laws (in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14) were given to the Israelites prior to the conquest of the promised land. Part of Moses’s preparation of the people, therefore, involved communicating these dietary regulations.
Second, the food laws were part of holy living. The Israelites were going into the land of Canaan to worship the one true God and to walk in obedience before him. Because the Lord gave these commands through Moses to the Israelites, the people were obligated to follow these commands. The food laws were not optional.
Third, the food laws would set apart the Israelites in the eyes of others. The Canaanites would have eaten certain foods which God prohibited the Israelites from eating. Living consecrated lives among the Canaanites, then, involved a menu that was unlike the land’s pagan inhabitants. The Israelites were to live differently from the Canaanites—and part of living differently involved eating differently.