Clean and Unclean Meats

Scriptural Proof Law of Unclean Still In Force

"So you don't eat pork and shellfish," someone will say, "you must be Jewish!" I reply, "No, I just try to follow the Bible, both Old and New Testaments."

Besides the Sabbath and Holy Days, no other belief results in one so easily being mislabeled as a Jew. The Bible is clear on these subjects: the Messiah did not come to destroy the law, He came to fulfill, and magnify, the Law of God, Matthew 5:17-20, Isaiah 42:21.

God wants His people to be healthy, III John 2, and eat with enjoyment, Ecclesiastes 3:13, 5:18. God's laws include rules having to do with good health. To be a clean people, God's people should eat clean food. Food that is "clean" doesn't always mean food that has been washed well or free from dirt. Food can be clean from dirt, but still be unfit to eat. When God made animals, birds, fish, and insects, He divided them into two classes, those good for human food, and those unfit for human food. These the Bible calls "clean" and "unclean." The Bible explains clean and unclean animals, birds, fish, and insects in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.

As Basil Wolverton stated, our Creator never does anything without a good reason. Man cannot always figure out why God commands us to do, or not do, certain things. But, nevertheless, the Almighty expects us to obey, regardless of how much or how little we understand. Unclean animals are generally scavengers, and their digestive systems don't carry off enough poisons.

But the main reason why any animal is unclean is that it was not made to be eaten in the first place. . . .  if man could naturally prove that these animals were not fit for food, God would not have needed to tell us about them in the Bible. God had to put these laws in the Bible so that we could know certain creatures are harmful (The Bible Story, Volume III, pages 20-21).

Mankind, however, has a carnal (fleshly) mind, which is diametrically opposed to God's spiritual laws. The carnal mind, with which we were born, cannot be subject to God's law, Romans 8:7. Just as unconverted humans naturally want to curse God, lie, steal, and commit adultery, so those without God's Holy Spirit lust after forbidden food. If God had not forbidden us to eat pork, crabs and oysters, we might not have the desire to eat them!

The Law of Clean and Unclean, found in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, was in force long before Moses. Abel was a keeper of sheep, not of pigs, Genesis 4:1-5. Jabal, of the line of Cain, specialized in raising cattle, Genesis 4:20. The Eternal told Noah to take unclean animals onto the ark by twos, but clean animals by sevens, Genesis 7:1-3. After a safe arrival on Mount Ararat, Noah built an altar and sacrificed of every clean animal and clean fowl, Genesis 8:20. By this we learn that Noah already knew which animals were clean and which were unclean, and that he knew that sacrifices to the Eternal must only be with clean animals and clean fowl.

Numerous Old Testament scriptures confirm how the Almighty feels about us eating unclean meats:

Leviticus 10:10 The duty of the priests was to teach the people the difference between holy and unholy, between clean and unclean.

Leviticus 11:44-47 The purpose of the law of clean and unclean is so that God's people shall be holy, even as He is holy. This law teaches personal cleanliness and righteousness.

Leviticus 20:25-26 We need to put difference between clean and unclean beasts and fowls, so we shall be holy unto the Lord, severed from other people.

Leviticus 27:11 Unclean beasts are not to be sacrificed to the Lord.

Numbers 18:15 Firstborn of man and firstlings of unclean beasts are to be redeemed.

Deuteronomy 14:2-21 The purpose of the law of clean and unclean is that God's people are to be an holy people unto Him.

Judges 13:4,7,14 Mother of Samson was admonished not to eat any unclean thing.

Job 14:4 Man cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean.

Ezra 9:11 Canaan was an unclean land [and Israel became unclean just like the Canaanites].

Isaiah 65:1-5 God's people are rebellious, provoking God by their idolatry, eating swine's flesh and abominable broth, and yet still say "I am holier than thou."

Isaiah 66:3 God's people are so bad that he who offers an oblation is as if he offered swine's blood, the ultimate insult to the Eternal.

Isaiah 66:14-17 At the Day of the Lord, He will devour His enemies with fire and sword; those who eat swine's flesh, the abomination, and the mouse shall be consumed together.

Ezekiel 22:26 False prophets have violated God's law, put no difference between the unclean and the clean, and profaned God's Sabbaths.

Ezekiel 44:15, 23-24 The sons of Zadok shall teach God's people to discern between the unclean and the clean.

Hosea 9:3 Ephraim shall eat unclean things in Assyrian captivity.

Haggai 2:13-14 God's people are unclean spiritually.

John the Baptist ate "locusts and wild honey," Matthew 3:4, and wore a garment of camel's hair. Jesus called John the greatest human being, Matthew 11:11, so John obviously followed Biblical laws of health. He ate locusts, which are clean, and wore garments made from camel's hair, an unclean animal.

Jesus condemned the Pharisees who literally strained out a little gnat (unclean insect), but figuratively swallowed a huge camel, an unclean animal, Matthew 23:24. This illustration makes no sense at all if the Savior came to destroy the law of clean and unclean.

Unclean fish are compared to sinful people who are cast into gehenna fire in Matthew 13:47-50. The fisherman casts his net, and when he draws the net in, he keeps the clean fish, and throws the unclean fish away. Likewise, in the Kingdom of Heaven, the angels shall separate the just from the wicked. This parable makes no sense to those who do not understand the difference God places between the clean and the unclean.

The prodigal son was brought down so low that he had to feed swine and wanted to eat the husks he fed the swine, Luke 15:15-16.

In Mark 5:1-17, Jesus cast out a Legion (name for Roman army of 1,000) of demons from a man. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into a herd of nearby swine. So, He allowed it, and the herd of pigs ran violently down a steep place and drowned in the Sea of Galilee. The Savior knew what the demons would do to the swine, and He allowed it, again showing that He supported the Law of Clean and Unclean.