Jacob Chanikuzhy

“If God did not intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?” asks John Cleese, English comedian and producer. Non vegetarians are grateful to God that he gave humankind “every moving thing” for food (Genesis 9,3). Nevertheless, God made a distinction between clean and unclean animals and forbade the Jews from eating the unclean animals. According to the divine standard, the unclean animals are those that do not ruminate or do not have divided hoofs (Leviticus 11, 3ff.). The category of the unclean animals includes swine, rabbits and camels. This gave subsequent generations enough food for thought regarding the reasons why these animals were regarded as unfit for eating.

A major argument is that God wanted his people to be different from gentiles. As his own people, God wanted Israel to observe different sets of commandments, different mode of worship, and even a different form of diet. So, even when the Israel choose their food they have to remember and remind others that they are the chosen people of God and as such they have to be discreet in choosing their food. This implies that to be the people of God has implications even in the very ordinary aspects of life like eating and drinking.

Some take recourse to scientific knowledge and hold that hygienic reasons stand behind the prohibition. It is true that some of these animals can be carriers of certain diseases but when the meat is well cooked the risk can be greatly minimized. However, the Bible does not make a distinction between pork that is well cooked or badly cooked. Pork is unclean in all its forms.

Another explanation stems from the pagan religious practices. Pagans sacrificed swine before their idols and ate it as sacrificial meat. Israel was also tempted to eat this meat. So, God banned swine altogether as unclean to dissuade the people from getting attracted and involved in pagan religious celebrations. However, it may be observed that the pagans sacrificed oxen and goats to their gods and the bible does not brand them as unclean.
The Christian believers are relieved from this dietary law when Jesus announced all foods clean (Mark 7,19). However, even among the Christians there are people who doubt whether Jesus really made such a drastic change in the dietary rules of the Old Testament. Had Jesus said this, why was Peter embarrassed when he was asked to eat unclean food in a vision (Acts 10)? Others reply that as Peter was a Jew to the core of his heart, it was difficult for him to understand and accept the position of Jesus in this regard, and it took long before Peter could understand the full meaning of the teachings of Jesus.

After all, how can we say some animals, birds, fishes and insects are unclean because they have certain inborn features? Some ruminate others do not; some have scales others have not; some are predators and other are not. It is how they are created. If we brand them as unclean it is an affront to God himself who created everything and saw that it was good. It may be also noted that the so called “unclean” creatures were taken in the Noah’s ark according to the divine instruction which means God deemed them useful. Hence, it is necessary that we look for explanations that are palatable to our tastes today.

It is true that Jesus liberated us from the literal practice of the dietary rules of the Old Testament. Still eating matters, because Jesus opens up a new understanding of these dietary rules – It is not what go inside but what comes out that makes man clean or unclean (Mark 7,18ff.). And what comes out is the result of rumination. From a symbolic point of view, rumination refers to reflection, pondering on what one has heard. Some people hear a lot of inspiring messages but they neither reflect on it nor speak about it. A non-ruminating animal is a symbol of such kind of people. Avoiding pigs as unclean animals means to avoid a stained life style that is resulted from lack of sufficient reflection. As some Fathers of the Church further explain, the animals with cloven foot symbolically represent the balanced walking in the path of wisdom. Thus, not eating the animals with single hoof means not assimilating a culture of wayward life. Thus, from a different perspective, eating matters still matters.