Why Were There Such Strict Dietary Laws in the Old Testament? (Leviticus 11)

This article is part of the Tough Passages series.

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¹And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, ²“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. ³Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. ⁴Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ⁵And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ⁶And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ⁷And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. ⁸You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

⁹“These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. ¹⁰But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you. ¹¹You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. ¹²Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.

Holy and Common

Because the Lord dwells among his people, it is critical that they learn to guard against violating his holiness. The priesthood is entrusted with teaching Israel to make distinctions in their daily lives “between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean” (Lev. 10:10–11). The first topic of Israel’s discipleship is how to eat in holiness by distinguishing between clean and unclean animals. At the conclusion of this teaching the charge is given to the people themselves: “Make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten” (Lev. 11:47). Eating expresses relationship with the Lord and shapes the identity of those who feast with him (cf. Rev. 3:20).

Dietary laws serve as “a sign of Israel’s identity and calling, a wall of separation between Israel and the nations. Israel had been chosen of God and cleansed, and so possessed, with his dwelling in their midst, fullness of life; the Gentiles were still exiled from the divine Presence, unclean and in the realm of death.”¹ A variety of approaches have sought to explain the dietary laws, many that can be traced back to antiquity. In brief the most common include the following:²

(1) Hygienic: unclean animals carry diseases that pose health concerns; for example, pigs could carry trichinosis or shellfish could be contaminated. This view reflects mainly modern health concerns and has not found strong support among interpreters who point out the ritual (not medical) interest of these laws. If hygiene was of primary concern, it is doubtful that Jesus would have abolished the distinctions of clean and unclean (Mark 7:19).

(2) Creational order: clean animals display characteristics compatible with their creational realms, whereas unclean animals do not fit the pattern; for example, aquatic animals that do not swim but instead scuttle along the bottom are unclean.³ Much remains unaccounted for, such as why anomalous animals like the donkey are prized for labor but not for lunch.

(3) Ethical: by avoiding certain animals Israel learned the sanctity of life and how to restrain their appetite.⁴ This reading notes a progression from humanity’s original diet (Gen. 1:29) to the concession of meat (Gen. 9:3–4). The dietary laws restrict Israel’s fare further to only clean animals. But if restraint is the goal, is this achieved simply by limiting Israel’s choices of what it can eat (but putting no limits on how much it can eat)?

(4) Arbitrary: there is no discernible rationale to the division of clean and unclean, but these laws nevertheless teach the valuable lesson of obedience.⁵ Without question obedience is at the heart of relationship with the Lord. Yet the dietary laws are in close conversation with God’s work in creation and redemption, both thematically and by repeated phrases, thus suggesting intentional theological reflection in how they are conceived.

While we may not understand fully the rationale behind the dietary laws, staying close to the biblical text allows us to find their ultimate purpose. The theological reason for making distinctions between clean and unclean is for Israel to be holy as the Lord is holy so it may remain in life-giving fellowship with him (Lev. 11:44–45). Therefore it is best to approach these laws as the original hearers did, making redemptive-theological connections. The dietary laws are for Israel’s discipleship and training in godliness. In their every meal Israelites consecrated themselves to the Lord and separated themselves from the nations (Lev. 20:24–26). With each act of obedience they set themselves apart as the Lord’s holy people, envisioning the world as a sanctuary with themselves as the new humanity within it.

Covenant identity has always been meant to be enacted around a shared meal.

Clean Eating and Created Order

Since the Lord now indwells creation in the midst of his people, creatures from each of the days of creation are related to his holiness and deemed clean or unclean. The Lord’s instructions thus reach beyond a mere patterning after creation to address the human vocation of stewarding creation. As Adam named the animals because he understood something essential about their nature (Gen. 2:19–20), Israel discerns whether those animals may be brought to table fellowship. The Lord’s table is connected to his people’s: offerings made at the altar put meat on the menu for Israelites (Lev. 17:8–9).⁶ In light of God’s revealed will the people must discern whether the flesh of a living being facilitates communion with the Lord or draws them apart. A meal eaten in fellowship with family and community strengthens spiritual bonds and identity as a people while at the same time serving to distinguish Israelites from those outside the cove­nant community.

Israelites are to make distinctions (Hb. badal) as the Lord did when dividing light from darkness, the waters above the heavens from those below, and day from night (Gen. 1:4, 6–7, 14). Similarly, the Lord created a holy nation by setting it apart (badal) from the nations as a distinct people (Lev. 20:24). In imitation of its Sovereign, Israel must continue to enact divisions in its daily lives to keep itself set apart: “I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean” (Lev. 20:24–25).

By eating in obedience to the Lord’s commands Israel is to live out its identity among the nations. Its meat comprises domesticated animals because Israel is the Lord’s flock. Ruminants that bring up the cud perpetuate the memory that Israel had been brought up out of Egypt. Israelites avoided carnivorous scavengers as they themselves were commanded to avoid touching carcasses or ingesting blood. They kept separate from “whatever goes on its belly” in remembrance of the enduring enmity between themselves and the serpent’s offspring (Gen. 3:14–15).

Response in the New Covenant

The dietary laws given to Israel prepare us for the invitation to come to that table where we find our true identity in the consummate meal prepared by the Lord. We eat the bread and drink the wine to commemorate Christ’s death and to enact bodily our belief that we have been redeemed by the broken body and shed blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Through a sacred cove­nant meal we proclaim his coming and the hope of eternal life in him (John 6:50–55).

Jesus uses meals, a deeply embedded symbol in Israel’s cultural life, to draw people to himself. He feasts with those on the margins, eating with sinners and welcoming them into the kingdom of God by welcoming them first to the table (Mark 2:15–17). He uses the Passover meal to explain his sacrificial death to his disciples, showing them that it is soon coming to fulfillment in himself as he will inaugurate the new cove­nant (Matt. 26:26–29). Those who eat at table with him feast in fulfillment of prophetic anticipations of commensality with God (Isa. 25:6–9). After his resurrection Jesus chooses to reveal his identity through a meal: “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luke 24:30–31). Meals define identity. As the banquet host, the Lord invites us to partake in the meal of his flesh and blood that defines our belonging to his body.

In the new cove­nant dietary regulations that once separated Israelites from the surrounding nations are no longer binding. The inclusion of the Gentiles is revealed to Peter in a vision that a faithful Jew living out of Leviticus would understand: a sheet descended at mealtime filled with all kinds of unclean animals for him to kill and eat (Acts 10:10–16).⁷ Peter’s objection testifies to how strong a cove­nant boundary-marker the dietary laws had become and how effectively they had separated Jews and Gentiles for generations. But through this vision Peter understands that the nations have become clean through faith in Christ: “God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” (Acts 10:28). Gentiles have been granted “repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18), cleansed from all unrighteousness, and filled with the Holy Spirit, just as Jewish believers have been (Acts 15:8–9). Israel’s election had always been for the sake of the nations, who are now invited to the table as full participants in the cove­nant community.

The church wrestled with the nature of this multicultural table fellowship, as chronicled in the book of Acts and Paul’s letters. The Jerusalem Council agreed on four nonnegotiables to bring Jewish and Gentile believers to the same table, drawn in large measure from Leviticus’s laws on holy living for the resident alien. Gentiles had to refrain from things polluted by idols (1 Cor. 8:1–13; 10:18–22), sexual immorality (Lev. 18:6–30), anything strangled (Lev. 7:24; 17:15), and the ingesting of blood (Lev. 7:26–27; 17:10–16). Covenant identity has always been meant to be enacted around a shared meal. The meal that is now of eternal significance is the one made up of the body and blood of Jesus, the meal that levels all boundaries to create a new redeemed people, called to “come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 8:11).

This article is by Christine Palmer and is adapted from ESV Expository Commentary: Genesis–Numbers (Volume 1) edited by Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar.

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