Jewish Dietary Customs

In Acts 10, Peter has a vision in which he is instructed to dine on "unclean" food.  What food did Peter and the Jews view as unclean?  The teachings on unclean foods were part of the Torah, appearing in Leviticus 11 and repeated in Deuteronomy 14.

The Israelites could eat any animal that "had a divided hoof and chewed its cud."  It had to have both of those properties, as chapter 11 of Leviticus goes on to describe animals that have one property but not the other, forbidding them.

Seafood was acceptable as long as it had scales and fins, that is, was fish.  (Slimy things like oysters would have been unacceptable!)

Some birds were not acceptable.  Those unacceptable were primarily birds of prey (like eagles or owls) or scavengers (like vultures.)  Chicken were acceptable, as were ducks and geese.

Many insects and bugs were not acceptable, but some like grasshoppers and locusts were explicitly allowed.

It is not clear why these various animals were prohibited.  Some have attempted to argue that the prohibitions were hygienic; that the unclean animals were more likely to carry diseases, particularly in a hot middle eastern environment, long before the advent of air-conditioning.

A discussion on clean and unclean foods, from a Jewish perspective, is available here at
http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm.  Several different opinions on unclean foods and Leviticus 11, from various Christian perspectives, are available here and here.  Regardless of one's understanding of the Jewish dietary laws, it is clear that in Acts 10, Peter is being told that the salvation available to the Jews has been opened up the all the world, independent of their understanding and history of the Torah.

A more general discussion on Leviticus 11 and the Torah's emphasis on "clean" and "unclean" is available at this bible.org page.

Tomorrow we will return to Acts and this radical concept of inviting the Gentiles to partake of the Jewish salvation.