Many have ASSUMED that when God declared certain animals as unclean and not to be eaten by the Israelites, it was because God knew they were inherently unhealthy and would cause those who consumed them health problems. Not so fast! You put God in a very bad light when you make that assumption. Howso? It was only the Israelite who was commanded to observe God’s dietary laws – not the world at large. Turn to Deuteronomy, chapter 14, beginning with verse 1, we read where God tells the Israelites: “Ye are the children of the Lord your God……for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar (special, different) people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.” (See verses 1 and 2). And then when declaring certain animals to be unclean, God emphasizes “they are unclean UNTO YOU,” and “it is unclean UNTO YOU, and, again and again, God says these animals are unclean “UNTO YOU!” (See verses 7,8,10 and 19, same chapter).
When God commanded the Israelites, “neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee,” it wasn’t because this was inherently an unhealthy practice. It was simply done to declare to the world at large: “These people are different. They are not like you. They are my chosen people.” (See Leviticus 19:19). When a Gentile pulled on woolen socks and then donned linen underclothing or outerwear, He wasn’t being ungodly or risking some odd ailment. But an Israelite was being disobedient to God when doing so, because God had declared the Israelites should not mix and mingle such garments. And the SOLE reason for the practice? It was saying to the world, “Yes, we are different! We are followers of Jehovah alone!”
When God told the Israelites, “Ye shall not round the corners of your heads (trim your hair short), neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard (trim their beards),” there was but one reason and one reason only for such a practice. Again, it was to tell the world, “We are different!” (See Leviticus 19:27). God could care less if the Assyrians or Babylonians trimmed their beards, wore Mohawk haircuts, or sported robes woven from both linen and woolen yarn and thread. They weren’t doing anything ungodly or unhealthy if they did so. Only when it came to the keeping of God’s holy sabbath did God say, “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, NOR THY STRANGER THAT IS WITHIN THY GATES; THAT THY MANSERVANT AND THY MAIDSERVANT MAY REST AS WELL AS THOU” (See Deuteronomy 5:14).
God’s moral law applied to all, not so with the dietary laws and laws separating the Israelites as God’s own special nation and people. People who eat pork products and seafoods forbidden to the Israelites live as long and as healthy lives as anyone else. Again, consider the hog farmers who eat pork products about every day of their lives, in many instances every day. They live into their eighties and nineties just like the vegetarians.
Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley