God intended for Israel to be different from other nations. To this end, He gave them the Ten Commandments and hundreds of other laws to follow. Many of these laws prohibited the eating of certain foods.
Certain foods were “unclean” to Israel. Leviticus 11 mentions several, including the hare, swine, fish without fins and scales, and birds such as eagles and ravens (11:6–15). Among the clean foods were locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers (11:22). God explained that for the Israelites to be holy, they had “to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten” (Leviticus 11:45–47).
Two primary reasons for God’s dietary restrictions were to keep them separate from surrounding nations and to protect their health. Leviticus contains numerous laws that deal with health issues. Many were in conflict with the customs of Egypt, where Moses had been trained. We now know, for instance, that pork was very unhealthy then because it carried diseases that only modern science has been able to detect and control.
Following this diet would not be wrong or unhealthy today, but these laws are no longer bound on Christians. Jesus freed us from the Old Law, including food restrictions (Colossians 2:14). Paul said, “Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16–17).
Peter received a vision of a vessel filled with “unclean” beasts and a voice saying, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” He was then told, “What God has cleansed you must not call common” (Acts 10:13–15). Peter thus understood that the gospel included Gentiles, and that Gentiles would not have to keep Jewish food laws. The only restrictions placed on Christians were “that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well” (Acts 15:29).
