Dear Petah Tikvah ~

     It seems that pork is everywhere. Is it a sin to eat pork?        Betty A., Pennsylvania

Our Reply:  The short answer is: Yes, eating pork is a sin. Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 give us a list the various critters you are permitted to eat, and which animals you are not permitted to eat. The usual response among many people is, “Oh, but that’s just Old Testament.” Another reply is, “I am a New Covenant believer, and the New Testament says I can eat anything I want.” Be my guest. My cat left a dead mouse on my doorstep this morning as a gift. She apparently believes that I might enjoy that tasty little morsel. She is badly mistaken. However, for those who will eat anything, help yourself. I will save a dead mouse for you.

     First of all, the Bible tells us what the New Covenant is. Jeremiah 31:31-33 tells us:

³¹Behold, the days come, saith YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, ³²Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, saith YHWH. ³³But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHWH, I will put my Law (Torah) in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

First of all, please note that the new covenant is only with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Are you a member of either the house of Israel or the house of Judah? Romans 11 tells us that Gentile believers are grafted into the Jewish Olive Tree by faith. Therefore, the New Covenant is also for the Gentiles who have been grafted into the Jewish Olive Tree as the wild branches. Rav Shaul warns the Gentile believers not to be arrogant against the natural branches (the Jews). He mentions that some natural branches (representing Jews) were broken off, so that wild branches (Gentiles) could be grafted in. He also warns the wild branches that they also can be broken off in Romans 11:21-24 if they don’t continue in faith.

     The new covenant is God’s holy Torah written on our hearts. The old covenant was written on tablets of stone. You can’t claim to be a New Covenant believer if you don’t believe in observing God’s mitzvot (commandments).

There were blessings for obedience (Deut. 28:1-14) and curses for disobedience (Deut. 28:15-68). The new covenant is the Torah written on our hearts. It is God’s Law being internalized. We obey God as a demonstration of our love for Him. You are free to disobey God if you want to. But you are missing out on many blessings. Also, if you choose to disobey Him, you will have an inferior understanding of Scripture. It’s like Adonai says, “Why should I teach you new things if you are not obedient to what I have already taught you.” When you walk in obedience to God’s instructions, He grants you more understanding of the Scriptures.

     You might also say, “Well those quotes for Jews, not Christians.” However, Ephesians 2:19 says, “Now therefore you (the Gentiles) are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” If you are now a fellow citizen of Israel spiritually, doesn’t it follow that you should obey the same Torah as the Jews?

Is eating pork a sin? Let me tell you the Newer Testament definition of sin, (as found in 1 John 3:4): “Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the Law: for sin is the transgression of the Law.” This isn’t a reference to manmade laws. This is a reference to God’s Holy Law. Curiously, this is the same definition of sin that is in the Tanakh (the “Old” Testament). 

1 John 2:3-6 tells us, “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴He that says, ‘I know Him,’ and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. ⁵But whosoever keeps His word, in him truly is the love of God perfected: hereby we know that we are in Him. ⁶He that says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.”

Those are very strong words. If you claim to be in Yeshua, and don’t keep the commandments, the Bible says you are a liar.

However, the most authoritative words come from Yeshua, in Matthew 5:17-19:

“Think not that I have come to destroy the Law or the prophets: I have not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¹⁸For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle shall in any way pass from the Law, until all be fulfilled.  ¹⁹Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Exodus 15:26 tells us, “If you will  diligently hearken to the voice of YHWH your God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that heals you.”

     I don’t know what diseases the Egyptians had, but I don’t want them. The primary reason for keeping God’s mitzvot (commands) is because “God said so.” However, there are indeed many health benefits for keeping the commandments, especially when it comes to food. Trichinosis happens to be very common in pork products, and pork happens to be high in cholesterol. Aside from health issues, modern hog factory farms are incredibly cruel to pigs, which are highly social and intelligent animals. They are crowded into small spaces, where they are fed many antibiotics because of the risk of disease in such inhospitable places. Factory farms are not good for the environment, and are horrid for the animals. 

     Isaiah 66:7-14 prophesies the restoration of the Jews to their homeland, including to Jerusalem, as we have seen being fulfilled in the 20th century. Then Isaiah 66:17 tells us another latter day prophecy: “They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.” These are apparently religious people, because they “sanctify themselves.” They probably also perhaps say a blessing over the food. But no amount of prayer can turn a pig or a dead mouse into something “kosher.” Eating unclean meats is called an abomination even in the future.

     It should also be noted that in Judaism, you never “bless the food.” Instead, you bless God who provides the food. “Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth food from the earth.”

     In Mark 7:2-3, we see the Pharisees criticizing Yeshua’s talmidim (disciples) for eating bread without first doing the ritual washing of hands, thus rendering the bread rabbinically unclean. They were eating bread, not unkosher meats. Yeshua spoke against this rabbinic tradition, quoting Isaiah 29:13. Then in Mark 7:19, we read the words “Thus He declared all foods clean.” Christians use verse to ‘prove’ that you can eat anything you want to eat. Since it is in parentheses in some translations, it might be a scribal addition. However, even if this phrase is indeed in the original writings, it wouldn’t be permission to eat pig meat. They were, after all, eating bread, not pork chops. In some countries, it is common to eat dogs and cats. However, when you see Fluffy and Spot, do you look upon them as being food for your dinner plate? Probably not, although people in some cultures see them as being food. Yeshua lived his life as a Torah-observant Jew. Neither He nor his talmidim ever ate pork. Also, no Torah-observant Jew would consider pig meat (or dogs and cats!) to be food.

     Another passage that often confuses Christians is Acts 10:9-17. Shimon Kefa (Peter) was praying at the sixth hour (noon time, a Jewish hour of prayer) when he went to the housetop to pray. As in some countries to this day, the roof is used as additional floor space. Acts 10:10-14 says that he went into a trance, and had a vision of a sheet being lowered from heaven with all kinds of unclean animals on it. He heard a voice saying, “Arise, Peter, kill and eat.” Peter replied, “Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”

     This happened three times, and Peter was puzzled about the meaning of this vision. In verse 19, three Gentile men were at the door looking for him, asking him to travel to Caesarea to speak to Cornelius, a Roman centurion. Cornelius was a good man. However, keep in mind that he was an officer in the Roman army that occupied Israel at that time. Finally Shimon Kefa understood the meaning of the vision. He said, “God has shown me that I am not to call any man unholy or unclean” (Acts 10:29). Peter shared the Good News, and Cornelius and the members of his household believed, and “the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) fell upon all those who were listening to the message.”

     Peter understood that the vision of the animals being lowered from heaven did not do away with the laws of unclean animals. He understood that he is “not to call any man unholy or unclean.” If you believe Peter was mistaken, keep in mind that he also wrote two epistles in the NT. I believe his interpretation of the vision. How about you?