Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing forbids eating anything God designates as abominable or unclean, including swine's flesh or pork and certain other animals. The prohibition on swine is connected with the law against eating or touching it. The animals permitted for food were those least objectionable for that use.
The restriction was not arbitrary but was given to preserve health and life. It guards against foods that pollute the blood and shorten life. Pure blood maintained through simple, healthful food helps preserve the faculties of mind and body. These divine requirements are distinct from the excessive traditions added by the Pharisees and priests, who went beyond what God specified and burdened people with constant scrutiny of food and drink, such as straining drinking water to remove the smallest insect. Fixation on such trivial purity rules while neglecting the far greater seriousness of sin stands condemned.
Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing forbids eating anything God designates as abominable or unclean, including swine's flesh or pork and certain other animals. The prohibition on swine is connected with the law against eating or touching it. The animals permitted for food were those least objectionable for that use.
The restriction was not arbitrary but was given to preserve health and life. It guards against foods that pollute the blood and shorten life. Pure blood maintained through simple, healthful food helps preserve the faculties of mind and body. These divine requirements are distinct from the excessive traditions added by the Pharisees and priests, who went beyond what God specified and burdened people with constant scrutiny of food and drink, such as straining drinking water to remove the smallest insect. Fixation on such trivial purity rules while neglecting the far greater seriousness of sin stands condemned.