The purpose of Dietary Laws in the Old Testament

The Purpose of Dietary Laws

Leviticus 11:41-47 

⁴¹ ‘Now every swarming thing that swarms on the earth is detestable, not to be eaten. ⁴² Whatever crawls on its belly, and whatever walks on all fours, whatever has many feet, in respect to every swarming thing that swarms on the earth, you shall not eat them, for they are detestable. ⁴³ Do not render yourselves detestable through any of the swarming things that swarm; and you shall not make yourselves unclean with them so that you become unclean. ⁴⁴ For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. ⁴⁵ For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
⁴⁶ This is the law regarding the animal and the bird, and every living thing that moves in the waters and everything that swarms on the earth, ⁴⁷ to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the edible creature and the creature which is not to be eaten.

Thoughts on the Passage

There are certain things God did not want the Israelites to eat.  These included anything that “swarms” on the earth. There are things that do swarm that elsewhere God okays for eating – birds, locusts, etc.  So, it is only those things that swarm and crawl on their bellies, or walk on all fours, or have many feet – it is those swarming things that God says are ‘detestable’.  Eating any of those things would make people detestable and unclean.

But it is more than that.  God told the Israelites to do that because He was the Lord their God. Instead, He wanted them to consecrate themselves in order to be holy because He is holy. And being holy is what is required He says by the God who brought them up from the land of Egypt where they were slaves.

The passage ends by Moses saying, that this is a law that enables God’s people to distinguish between what is clean and what is unclean; and thus, between what can be eaten and what cannot (or should not) be eaten.

On this passage, David Guzik says, “God claims the right to speak to every area of our life, including what we eat. He had the right to tell Israel what to eat and what not to eat. One great purpose of the dietary laws of Israel was to sanctify – to set them apart – from other nations. It made fellowship with those who di dnot serve god far more difficult.”

This also reminds us of the story in Daniel chapter 1 where Daniel and his friends refused to eat the unkosher food at the king of Babylon’s table – and God blesses them for being set apart for His righteousness. 

Guzik quotes Harris in saying, “"In general it can be said that the laws protected Israel from bad diet, dangerous vermin, and communicable diseases."

Are we expected to follow a strict kosher diet today?  No, that issue was settled in Acts 15 where it was decided that this was not necessary to follow Jesus. In I Timothy 4:1, 3-5, Paul further gives us the liberty to eat what we want. Having said that, however, we also have to deal with the wisdom of I Corinthians 9:24-27 where we are shown that some things are not beneficial to us for certain personal reasons. Each person knows his or her own dietary needs to stay healthy or to be able to sleep well at night. Guzik reminds us that “no one should think themselves more right with God because they eat or don't eat certain things.”

Matthew Henry reminds us that the key objective of all this was first and foremost to make us holy as our God is holy, not necessarily to dictate our diet.  We need to know the difference between good and evil, clean and unclean. We need to be constantly aware of divine laws in our lives. And to be different from, or set apart from, our neighbors in these respects.

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