When I was growing up, my cousins lived on a small farm. One summer we went to visit them on their farm, and they had a pig they had been raising. They had given this pig a rather predictive (and for the pig, unfortunate) name—von Bacon.
That summer, I rode von Bacon like a horse…and 6 months later I enjoyed a nice ham on Christmas eve and tasty bacon on Christmas morning.
Maybe I’m wrong, but who doesn’t enjoy fresh ham and bacon?
So why does the Bible say not to eat pork?
And not only pork, but Leviticus 11 lists a number of foods that are prohibited to eat. Some on that list I’m perfectly fine with avoiding. Like vultures and buzzards. I’ve never once had a desire to eat a buzzard! And bats! Thank you, God, for keeping that off the menu. There are also things on the list of edible foods that I’m not so sure about, like locusts and grasshoppers. I’m not a big fan of eating bugs.
But there are a few culinary restrictions that I rather enjoy, and right at the top of the list is bacon and ham. Along with shrimp, lobster, and clam chowder.
So why does the Bible prohibit eating foods like these?
“Leviticus 11 lists a number of foods that are prohibited to eat.”
The first thing we need to remember is that the food laws in the Bible were given as part of God’s covenant with Israel. These laws are not for all people of all time. After God redeemed Israel out of Egypt, he led them to Mount Sinai where he entered into a covenant with them. The Law of Moses, including the food laws, was God’s instructions for how Israel was to live faithfully as God’s covenant people. This covenant that God made with Israel culminated in the coming of Jesus (Galatians 3:19-29), and that’s why those in Christ are no longer “under the Law” (Romans 6:14-15; 7:1-6). The Law of Moses is not our covenant. 
Nevertheless, we are still left with the question, why did God prohibit Israel from eating pork, shrimp, and other foods?
Some have suggested the reason has to do with pagan worship. That is, these animals were used in pagan worship and that is why they were considered unclean. But bulls, sheep, and goats were also used in pagan worship, and they were not considered unclean.
Others have suggested it was a matter of hygiene. Bats, anyone? And today we all know that pork which is not properly preserved or cooked carries all kinds of foodborne illnesses.
But the fact is, Leviticus never tells us why specific foods were deemed clean and others unclean. Is it possible that hygiene was one of the benefits? Yes, but that’s never actually stated in Scripture. So we should honestly acknowledge that we don’t know for sure.
“Leviticus never tells us why specific foods were deemed clean and others unclean.”
But even though we may not know why certain foods were labeled clean or unclean, the overarching rationale for the system of food laws is made clear in Leviticus.
God gave the food laws as part of Israel’s calling to be a “holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). The basic meaning of the word “holy” is set apart, distinct, or different. The food laws were one way Israel would be different. The distinction between clean and unclean foods symbolized their distinction as the holy people of God. Here’s how God explains it in Leviticus 20:24-25:
“I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations. You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds.” (Leviticus 20:24-25, NIV)
So God gave Israel the food laws as part of their covenant with him in order to mark them out as distinct from the nations around them.
That’s why, when God wanted the apostles and early Jewish Christians to see that in the Messiah all the nations were now welcome to join the people of God, he gave Peter a vision of unclean animals and told him to eat (Acts 10:9-16). This wasn’t an arbitrary choice on God’s part. This was directly connected to the rationale for the food laws in the first place. The food laws drew a line between the people of God and those who were not the people of God.
“The food laws drew a line between the people of God and those who were not the people of God.”
It took three attempts from God and a bit of pondering for Peter, but he eventually connected the dots. He realized this vision made a point about the Gentiles, not just food. Speaking to the Roman centurion Cornelius and his household, Peter said, “God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean” (Acts 10:28). Peter made this connection because he understood the symbolic purpose of the food laws as stated in Leviticus 20.
Under the Sinai covenant, not eating pork or shrimp or any of the unclean foods identified Israel as distinct from other nations (“we are the people who eat this and not that”) and thereby marked them out as God’s holy nation. But now that Messiah has come, that covenant has reached its goal and its job is done. Now, in Messiah, all people—Jews and Gentiles alike—are part of God’s family (see Galatians 3:23-26).
And that means, if you like bacon, feel free to eat bacon!
Or clam chowder.
Or a ham and Swiss sandwich.
But if you don’t want to eat that, feel free not to.
And in either case, don’t turn eating or not eating into a measure of who’s more spiritual or more faithful to God. “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but the one who is weak eats only vegetables. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him” (Romans 14:2-3).
“The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.”
Notice that: God has accepted him. Food no longer has any bearing on who’s right with God and part of his people. Now in the Messiah, “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).
For more from John, see johnwhittaker.net and the Listener’s Commentary.
