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Hi, Andrew —
Thanks for your question.
The dietary laws found
in the Torah were there for a specific time and purpose.
They were done away with in the Book of Acts. In
that text, we see that Peter, the Chief Apostle entrusted
with the Church, received a Divine Revelation in
which he saw all those animals you mentioned and
was told to kill and eat them.
9 The next day, as they were on their journey
and coming near the city, Peter went up on the
housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 And he
became hungry and desired something to eat; but
while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the Heaven opened, and something descending,
like a great sheet, let down by four corners upon
the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and
reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a
voice to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." 14 But
Peter said, "No, Lord; for I have never eaten
anything that is common or unclean." 15 And
the voice came to him again a second time, "What
God has cleansed, you must not call common." 16 This
happened three times, and the thing was taken up
at once to Heaven.
Acts 10:9-16 (RSV)
In the Gospels, Jesus also mentions that it is
not what goes into to a man's mouth that makes a
man unclean, rather it is what comes out of the mouth
(slander, gossip, and so forth) which defiles a man.
10 And he called the people to him and said to
them, "Hear and understand: 11 not what goes
into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out
of the mouth, this defiles a man."
Matthew
15:10-11 (RSV)
Now as for the purpose of the dietary laws, there
were several purposes. The first and most important
one, was that Israel was to be visibly different
than the other nations. They were to dress differently,
eat differently, and live differently than their
neighbors. This was so they would be seen as separate
and therefore a witness to the Living God.
There are two other important reasons as well.
- While in Egypt, the Israelites had taken
on the pagan practices of the Egyptians.
That included
worshiping bulls, goats, and sheep. This worship
included slaughtering, what Deuteronomy calls,
unclean animals, offering them at the altar of
these pagan deities and then eating their remains;
so God reversed the whole thing on them.
The Israelites were told to slaughter and offer
as sacrifice the very animal gods that
they worshiped in Egypt. In addition, they were
forbidden from eating or sacrificing the animals
(pigs, etc.) they used to sacrifice to the false
gods.
- There is an allegorical understanding of the
dietary laws which you can read in the non-canonical
Epistle of Barnabas. The Epistle is not considered
inspired, but it is an ancient tradition which
many, in the early Church, put much stock in.
Based on what we know about ancient pagan rituals,
they often drank the blood and ate the meat of
certain animals, believing they would drink the
life and acquire the attributes of the animal.
So for example; they might think, if they ate
a gazelle, they would be able to run faster. Well,
the author of the Epistle attributed to Barnabas,
goes through all the forbidden animals and explains
the allegorical meaning of each.
So again, for example, a prohibition against eating
a weasel, actually meant that one should not be
crafty and deceitful.
Again, I'm just giving possible examples to illustrate
the point. If you want the specific allegorical
explanation I'd suggest you read the Epistle
of Barnabas. Here is an Information page on
the epistle:
An Information page on
the Epistle of Barnabas
All that said, for whatever reason the dietary
laws were imposed, we know that they were simply
discipline and not a matter of moral law or natural
law such as the Ten Commandments. We also know that
the authority to impose disciplines was taken away
from Pharisees and Sadducees and given to the Church.
This is clear in several Gospel texts, but in particular
Matthew Chapters 16 and 18.
It is now the Church that has the authority to
impose and remove disciplines for pastoral reasons.
We see the Church doing just that in Acts Chapter
15, when the Church forbade non-Jewish believers
in Christ, entering the Church, from eating certain
meats. She imposed that discipline to help these
Gentiles break the habit of sacrificing to idols
and to avoid causing scandal to Jewish believers.
Later, that discipline was lifted when it was no
longer necessary.
To this day, the Church imposes
and lifts disciplines as She sees fit and beneficial
for the spiritual growth of her members.
I hope that helps,
John D.
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