The Bible frequently mentions wholesome, permitted, or praised foods as part of God’s provision. The following post is going to look at foods in Bible – part 1 of many.
The Promised Land’s abundance from Deuteronomy 8.
Deuteronomy 8
7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
More in depth guidance and law for daily sustenance, or clean and approved items under Old Testament dietary laws are found in Leviticus 11.
On animals that dwell on land
Leviticus 11
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: 3 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.
4“ ‘There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you. 5 The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 6 The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 7 And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
New Testament passages (e.g., Mark 7:19; Acts 10; 1 Timothy 4:4) emphasize that all foods created by God are good when received with thanksgiving, shifting focus from ritual purity to heart attitude and gratitude.
Mark 7:18 “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.”(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.21For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Ancient Hygiene and Public Health
While the text frames the rules around ritual purity rather than medical science, the practical side effects of these laws offered massive health benefits for a community living in a hot, arid climate without refrigeration.
- Safe Herbivores: Animals that chew the cud (ruminants like cows, sheep, and goats) are strictly vegetarians. Their multi-chambered stomachs efficiently break down plant matter.
- The Risk of Omnivores: Animals like pigs are omnivores and scavengers that will eat almost anything, including waste, refuse, and decaying matter. In the ancient world, this made them highly susceptible to transmitting dangerous parasites, such as Trichinella (which causes trichinosis), especially if the meat wasn’t cooked perfectly.
By limiting meat consumption to clean-eating herbivores with split hooves, the law naturally steered the community away from the animals most likely to carry foodborne illnesses. Which is incredible, taking into account these instructions came from God to protect the people.
For the benefit of the reader, I also provide quotes of above mentioned passages from Kings James Bible translation:
Deuteronomy 8:7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9 a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. 10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Leviticus 11:3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. 4 Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. 5 And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. 6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. 7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. 8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.
Mark 7:18. Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? 20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
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