Diet Code: Unclean and Clean Animals

The lord revealed to Moses a strict and specific diet code regarding unclean and clean animals, which had both spiritual and temporal purposes. Temporally, the code protected the Israelites from disease and from unwise economic practices. “The vast majority of foods prohibited [in the law of Moses] are those that (1) are more likely to carry disease in the arid climate of the Sinai desert and/or the land of Canaan; or (2) are foolishly uneconomical to raise as food in the particular agrarian context of the Sinai desert and/or the land of Canaan.”[1]

Spiritually, the diet code prepared the people to sanctify themselves and to become holy, even as the lord God is holy: “For I am the lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy. . . . This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth: To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten” (Lev. 11:44, 46–47).

Accordingly, the core of the matter pertaining to the “law of the beasts” is its spiritual aspects, which focus on the lord and His holiness! He is holy, and He required ancient Israel to sanctify themselves and to be holy.