Dietary Laws in the Old Testament

Because food goes into a person’s body, it is an important cause of impurity according to the Bible. The food laws indicate which food is unclean and therefore must not be eaten by the Israelites.

The majority of the dietary laws are recorded in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14:3-21. However, the book of Genesis also contains rules about food (the covenant with Noah; Genesis 7:2-8; Genesis 8:20).

Unclean Animals

The following animals were among those regarded as unclean and were therefore not to be eaten:

Animals that have not died a natural death or have been torn apart by wild animals.
Animals that have divided hooves, but do not chew the cud. Also, animals that chew the cud but do not have divided hooves, for example the pig, the camel, the hyrax and the hare.
All water animals that do not have fins and scales.
Various birds such as vultures and birds of prey, probably because they are meat or carrion eaters.
Most winged insects.
Animals that crawl along the ground.

Unclean Meat

Meat could also be unclean for a number of other reasons:

if there was still blood present in the meat;
if the meat had been in contact with something that is unclean;
if the meat of a goat was cooked in its mother’s milk (which could contain blood).