Have you ever wondered why God told the Israelites not to eat certain animals?
The ambiguity is right in front of us. In these verses (part of a larger chapter about clean and unclean animals), God tells the people to “not eat any detestable thing,” and then calls animals “detestable” by virtue of two seemingly random qualities: Whether or not they chew the cud, and whether or not they have a divided hoof.
Without sounding flippant, we could make the same type of distinguishing remarks with a bunch of other things. Why not animals with floppy ears and those without? Why not ones who have long hair instead of short hair?
I’m not trying to insult God; instead, I want us to focus on the reason these qualities were chosen. If someone were to ask you, what would you say?
A lot of scholars have speculated that there’s a health difference between the two, that animals who chew the cud are inherently safer to eat than those that aren’t. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with any of these. Other cultures eat cows like they eat pigs, and it doesn’t seem to have any ill effect.
Others might connect these animals to pagan rituals, or reflect a popular aversion to species with joint hooves. Those are possibilities too, I guess.
To me, it doesn’t seem like there is a specific reason. God certainly doesn’t give one in the Old Testament. And maybe that’s the point.
If God had wanted us to know why certain animals were clean or unclean, certainly, He would’ve told us.
But He doesn’t tell us. Instead, He just tells us to avoid certain animals, and that’s the end of the discussion.
Consider the very simple prohibition God gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden. All He told them was to “not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” We can speculate—like Satan did—that eating the tree would do something, but God never specified that to His people. Instead, He just told them not to eat it. Done. Conversation over.
For that reason, these verses seem to speak more to our willingness to submit to God’s will, rather than understanding every single nuance. Even if we don’t “get it,” are we willing to trust God? Are we willing to “be separate” and “be holy,” even if we don’t always know the why behind it?
Self-restriction has always been a part of God’s will for us, and it continues into other areas (lust, anger, pride). Are we willing to restrict our appetites for God’s will, or will we not?