And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.
The verse marks the pig as unclean because while it has a divided cloven hoof it does not chew the cud, so its flesh is forbidden as food as abominable and defiling. It was given through Moses to Israel as part of health laws that limited animal food to lessen its harm, for the swine was made as a scavenger to consume filth and waste and was never intended to be eaten under any circumstances. The ban was not arbitrary authority but protection, because filth is its natural element and its flesh is formed from what it eats, conveying impurity into the blood and flesh of eaters to corrupt health, shorten life, spread disease to offspring, and cloud the mind so sacred things are not discerned. What was unclean in Moses' day still binds, since God has not changed, man has not changed, and the hog's nature has not improved, and the later vision of unclean animals meant Gentiles share equally in Christ rather than removing the food prohibition. Faithfulness like Daniel's requires a decided stand on eating and drinking even at risk of favor and life, by regulating habits and teaching children to preserve health, yet without imposing abstinence as a test of faith unless made clear to the church as a whole.
The Verse's Meaning
The swine is unclean because though it divides the hoof and is clovenfooted, it does not chew the cud, and its flesh is therefore forbidden as food and is to be regarded as abominable and defiling. The law given through Moses forbade the Hebrews to eat it or to touch it. The prohibition was not merely a display of authority, for swine's flesh is unsuitable and unhealthful food, and the animal's natural association with filth makes its flesh unhealthful.
The prohibition belongs to health and sanitation laws taught to Israel during the wilderness training before entering Canaan. Those laws specified the animals least objectionable for food and restricted animal food in Canaan in order to lessen its harmful effects. They were given to protect life and health and to preserve purity of blood and soundness of mind and body through simple, healthful food.
The swine was not made to be eaten under any circumstances, just as dogs, cats, rats, mice, toads, lizards, and rattlesnakes were made but not to be eaten. It was made useful as a scavenger where much decayed upon the ground and would otherwise poison the atmosphere, devouring decaying substances, filth, and waste as a means of preserving health. Its scavenging and eating of what is defiled is linked to the prohibition on eating its flesh, and the safest course is to obey the instruction not to eat pork.
In Babylon swine's flesh and other meats pronounced unclean by the law of Moses were placed before Daniel and his companions from the king's table. To eat them would have violated the requirement, violated conscience, defiled them, and weakened their fitness for God's service. Daniel and his companions therefore avoided them and chose simple food.
The later vision of animals including unclean ones did not remove this food prohibition. Its meaning was that Gentiles through Christ could share equally in the promises and privileges of God's people.
Reasons for Prohibition
The prohibition was not given merely to display divine authority but because swine's flesh is unfit, improper, and injurious food for man, never intended or designed to be eaten under any circumstances or in any climate. Though pork is one of the most common articles of diet, it is one of the most injurious, and no living creature can yield healthful flesh when filth is its natural element and it feeds upon every detestable thing. The command expressly forbade Israel to eat it even while the heathen around them used it as food, because it fills the system with humors and was never the best article of food. Its influence was especially destructive in the warm climate where the Hebrews lived, where it often produced leprosy with far more injurious effect upon the system than in a colder climate, yet the ban was not limited to that climate.
The swine cannot yield healthy flesh because filth is its natural element and it feeds upon every detestable and defiled thing, and since its flesh is composed of what it eats, the impurities it consumes are conveyed through it to corrupt the blood and flesh of those who eat it. It was made as a scavenger to gather filth and devour decaying substances and putrid matter that would otherwise poison the atmosphere, a work that preserves health by disposing of waste, not to be food for human beings. To obey the instruction not to eat pork is therefore the safest course.
Eating pork fills the system with a most deadly humor, makes the blood impure and bad above all other flesh meats, brings scrofula and diseases of various kinds, and with free use of other flesh meats and unhealthful food violates the laws established in the human body. In the warm climate of the Hebrews it often produced leprosy, polluted the blood, shortened life, brought disease and premature death, and transmitted disease to offspring, robbing them of vitality before they are born. Not one morsel of its flesh should be placed on the table, for its use is likely to put impurities into the blood and shorten life, as with certain other forbidden animals.
The harm reaches beyond the body to mind and discernment, weakening and clouding the sensitive nerves of the brain so that sacred things are confused with common things and are not discerned, injuring the finer sensibilities and the whole organism. This light about disease from eating swine's flesh brings responsibility to heed it, lest fitness for God's service be weakened. Had Israel submitted to these wise prohibitions, everything injurious to health would have been removed and no sickness suffered among them.
The restriction as given was right, intended to protect life and health and to preserve purity of blood and soundness of mind and body through simple, healthful food, specifying the animals least objectionable for food. The Pharisees and rabbis perverted it by going beyond what was required into burdensome rules and constant anxiety over food and drink, such as requiring all water to be strained lest the smallest insect classed with the unclean be swallowed. These trivial exactions were contrasted with great actual sins, exposed as straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.
Faithful Obedience Today
What was pronounced unclean in the days of Moses still binds Christians, for God has not changed His mind about the swine. Man has not so changed that what was unclean food for Hebrews has become clean food for Christians, nor has the hog's nature been improved by the change from the Jewish dispensation. The worldwide freedom of the gospel gives no liberty to eat what was an abomination for Hebrews to eat. That God made the swine does not make it proper food, just as dogs, cats, rats, mice, toads, lizards, and rattlesnakes were made but not to be eaten, for swine were never made to be eaten.
Daniel met a severe test in refusing to defile himself when swine's flesh and other meats expressly forbidden to Hebrews were placed before him from the king's table in Babylon. Keeping the commandment risked offending the king and losing position and life, while breaking it promised favor, intellectual advantages, and flattering worldly prospects. He stood firm in integrity and refused to defile himself with the king's meat and drink. Eating and drinking is not too small a matter to require a decided stand, for God's express requirements must be sacredly obeyed on the rule Thus saith the Lord, not set aside for human opinion of right and wrong nor kept only when convenient without lowering the standard of right.
Abstaining on this ground should not be made a test of faith or imposed as a duty on the church unless that duty is made clear to the church as a whole, and individuals should not run ahead of the church's guidance. Keeping the command requires regulating habits of eating and teaching children how to preserve themselves in the best condition of health, so that not one morsel of its flesh is placed on the table. Eating pork violates the laws established in the human body, arouses and strengthens a most deadly humor in the system, makes the blood impure and bad, allows humors and scrofula to corrupt the body, and with free use of other flesh meats and unhealthful food brings disease and premature death. That disease is transmitted to offspring, robbing them of vitality before they are born. The harm reaches the whole organism, especially weakening and clouding the brain's sensitive nerves so that sacred things are not discerned and are treated as common, and the light given about this disease from eating swine's flesh is a responsibility to be heeded.
The verse marks the pig as unclean because while it has a divided cloven hoof it does not chew the cud, so its flesh is forbidden as food as abominable and defiling. It was given through Moses to Israel as part of health laws that limited animal food to lessen its harm, for the swine was made as a scavenger to consume filth and waste and was never intended to be eaten under any circumstances. The ban was not arbitrary authority but protection, because filth is its natural element and its flesh is formed from what it eats, conveying impurity into the blood and flesh of eaters to corrupt health, shorten life, spread disease to offspring, and cloud the mind so sacred things are not discerned. What was unclean in Moses' day still binds, since God has not changed, man has not changed, and the hog's nature has not improved, and the later vision of unclean animals meant Gentiles share equally in Christ rather than removing the food prohibition. Faithfulness like Daniel's requires a decided stand on eating and drinking even at risk of favor and life, by regulating habits and teaching children to preserve health, yet without imposing abstinence as a test of faith unless made clear to the church as a whole.
The Verse's Meaning
The swine is unclean because though it divides the hoof and is clovenfooted, it does not chew the cud, and its flesh is therefore forbidden as food and is to be regarded as abominable and defiling. The law given through Moses forbade the Hebrews to eat it or to touch it. The prohibition was not merely a display of authority, for swine's flesh is unsuitable and unhealthful food, and the animal's natural association with filth makes its flesh unhealthful.
The prohibition belongs to health and sanitation laws taught to Israel during the wilderness training before entering Canaan. Those laws specified the animals least objectionable for food and restricted animal food in Canaan in order to lessen its harmful effects. They were given to protect life and health and to preserve purity of blood and soundness of mind and body through simple, healthful food.
The swine was not made to be eaten under any circumstances, just as dogs, cats, rats, mice, toads, lizards, and rattlesnakes were made but not to be eaten. It was made useful as a scavenger where much decayed upon the ground and would otherwise poison the atmosphere, devouring decaying substances, filth, and waste as a means of preserving health. Its scavenging and eating of what is defiled is linked to the prohibition on eating its flesh, and the safest course is to obey the instruction not to eat pork.
In Babylon swine's flesh and other meats pronounced unclean by the law of Moses were placed before Daniel and his companions from the king's table. To eat them would have violated the requirement, violated conscience, defiled them, and weakened their fitness for God's service. Daniel and his companions therefore avoided them and chose simple food.
The later vision of animals including unclean ones did not remove this food prohibition. Its meaning was that Gentiles through Christ could share equally in the promises and privileges of God's people.
Reasons for Prohibition
The prohibition was not given merely to display divine authority but because swine's flesh is unfit, improper, and injurious food for man, never intended or designed to be eaten under any circumstances or in any climate. Though pork is one of the most common articles of diet, it is one of the most injurious, and no living creature can yield healthful flesh when filth is its natural element and it feeds upon every detestable thing. The command expressly forbade Israel to eat it even while the heathen around them used it as food, because it fills the system with humors and was never the best article of food. Its influence was especially destructive in the warm climate where the Hebrews lived, where it often produced leprosy with far more injurious effect upon the system than in a colder climate, yet the ban was not limited to that climate.
The swine cannot yield healthy flesh because filth is its natural element and it feeds upon every detestable and defiled thing, and since its flesh is composed of what it eats, the impurities it consumes are conveyed through it to corrupt the blood and flesh of those who eat it. It was made as a scavenger to gather filth and devour decaying substances and putrid matter that would otherwise poison the atmosphere, a work that preserves health by disposing of waste, not to be food for human beings. To obey the instruction not to eat pork is therefore the safest course.
Eating pork fills the system with a most deadly humor, makes the blood impure and bad above all other flesh meats, brings scrofula and diseases of various kinds, and with free use of other flesh meats and unhealthful food violates the laws established in the human body. In the warm climate of the Hebrews it often produced leprosy, polluted the blood, shortened life, brought disease and premature death, and transmitted disease to offspring, robbing them of vitality before they are born. Not one morsel of its flesh should be placed on the table, for its use is likely to put impurities into the blood and shorten life, as with certain other forbidden animals.
The harm reaches beyond the body to mind and discernment, weakening and clouding the sensitive nerves of the brain so that sacred things are confused with common things and are not discerned, injuring the finer sensibilities and the whole organism. This light about disease from eating swine's flesh brings responsibility to heed it, lest fitness for God's service be weakened. Had Israel submitted to these wise prohibitions, everything injurious to health would have been removed and no sickness suffered among them.
The restriction as given was right, intended to protect life and health and to preserve purity of blood and soundness of mind and body through simple, healthful food, specifying the animals least objectionable for food. The Pharisees and rabbis perverted it by going beyond what was required into burdensome rules and constant anxiety over food and drink, such as requiring all water to be strained lest the smallest insect classed with the unclean be swallowed. These trivial exactions were contrasted with great actual sins, exposed as straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.
Faithful Obedience Today
What was pronounced unclean in the days of Moses still binds Christians, for God has not changed His mind about the swine. Man has not so changed that what was unclean food for Hebrews has become clean food for Christians, nor has the hog's nature been improved by the change from the Jewish dispensation. The worldwide freedom of the gospel gives no liberty to eat what was an abomination for Hebrews to eat. That God made the swine does not make it proper food, just as dogs, cats, rats, mice, toads, lizards, and rattlesnakes were made but not to be eaten, for swine were never made to be eaten.
Daniel met a severe test in refusing to defile himself when swine's flesh and other meats expressly forbidden to Hebrews were placed before him from the king's table in Babylon. Keeping the commandment risked offending the king and losing position and life, while breaking it promised favor, intellectual advantages, and flattering worldly prospects. He stood firm in integrity and refused to defile himself with the king's meat and drink. Eating and drinking is not too small a matter to require a decided stand, for God's express requirements must be sacredly obeyed on the rule Thus saith the Lord, not set aside for human opinion of right and wrong nor kept only when convenient without lowering the standard of right.
Abstaining on this ground should not be made a test of faith or imposed as a duty on the church unless that duty is made clear to the church as a whole, and individuals should not run ahead of the church's guidance. Keeping the command requires regulating habits of eating and teaching children how to preserve themselves in the best condition of health, so that not one morsel of its flesh is placed on the table. Eating pork violates the laws established in the human body, arouses and strengthens a most deadly humor in the system, makes the blood impure and bad, allows humors and scrofula to corrupt the body, and with free use of other flesh meats and unhealthful food brings disease and premature death. That disease is transmitted to offspring, robbing them of vitality before they are born. The harm reaches the whole organism, especially weakening and clouding the brain's sensitive nerves so that sacred things are not discerned and are treated as common, and the light given about this disease from eating swine's flesh is a responsibility to be heeded.