Food For Thought

Throughout history it has often been claimed that biblical food laws were given for health reasons. One of the earliest to argue this was the medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides, whose Guide for the Perplexed later shaped both Jewish kosher practice and, indirectly, Islamic halal regulations. But when we read the Torah itself, and listen carefully to the way the laws are framed, it becomes clear that their primary purpose was not for health reasons.

Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 repeatedly ground the food laws in Israel’s calling to be set apart to Yahweh (cp. Lev. 11:44–45; Deut. 14:2). The Law itself never says, Avoid these animals because they are bad for your health. In fact, as the ESV Study Bible notes on Leviticus 11:1–8:

“The diet of these animals is apparently not the basis of their cleanness or uncleanness. The passage itself says nothing about what the animals eat, and the camel, rock badger (hyrax), and hare are exclusively vegetarian but unclean.” [bold mine]

The popular “health laws” interpretation creates theological and ethical problems the text itself does not. Deuteronomy 14:21 adds:

“You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the sojourner who is in your town so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to Yahweh your God.” [bold mine]

If the concern were primarily for health reasons, why would Israel be allowed to hand "unclean" meats to a resident alien or sell it to a foreigner? Are we to imagine that God carefully protected the nation of Israel only while being indifferent to the health of everyone else? That would contradict the wider biblical portrait of Yahweh’s compassion and promise to save all the nations (read His Abrahamic covenant, Genesis 12-17).

Similarly, in Deuteronomy 12:21 God speaks of slaughtering certain clean animals “as I have instructed you.” If “clean” simply meant “healthy,” why would God add detailed ritual instructions for their slaughter? And if the Torah were a comprehensive divine health code, why no parallel legislation for a “healthy plant-based diet,” or for numerous other foods and environmental hazards that can threaten human health but are never mentioned?

The fact is food laws functioned as daily, tangible reminders that Israel belonged uniquely to Yahweh. Every meal taught them to distinguish, to separate, to live differently from the nations around them because they were to be a holy people.

Today it is popular to say pork was forbidden because of parasites like trichinella, or that shellfish were banned because they can carry toxins. It is certainly possible that, in God’s providence, some of Israel’s restrictions brought incidental health benefits. But that is very different from saying that health was the stated or primary purpose of His laws. Many “clean” animals and permitted foods can be dangerous if mishandled, and many unregulated aspects of ancient life (water, sanitation, plants, other animals) carried serious health risks that the Torah never addresses. The biblical authors do not appeal to parasites, bacteria, or possible plant-based poisons or toxins. They repeatedly appeal to holiness, obedience, and Israel’s distinct identity as Yahweh’s chosen people.

This is important because if we turn the food laws into a divinely inspired nutritional health diet, we risk missing what God was actually teaching Israel: that every aspect of life, right down to the dinner table, was to express their loyalty to Him. The laws were covenant boundary markers, not a timeless menu for superior health.

Today, in Messiah Jesus, the church is not under the Sinai food laws as an expression of its “obedience of faith.” The New Testament consistently locates holiness not in Torah-mandated rituals—what Paul later terms “works of the Law,” such as circumcision of the flesh and observance of the Jewish calendar (Gal. 5; Col. 2:16–17)—but in the practice and preaching of the Messiah. The food laws should now serve as a reminder that God calls a people to be His own, to live visibly different from the world—not primarily by what we refuse to eat, but by whom we serve and by what He now teaches through His unique Son.

In Mark 7:14–15 Jesus called the crowd to him again and said to them:

“Everyone listen to me and understand this: nothing which is on the outside and goes into you [such as food] can make you unclean. Instead, it is what comes out that makes you unclean.” [bold mine]



With this one remark Jesus pronounced every kind of food clean, thus abolishing the Levitical food laws, as Mark 7:19 later makes clear.