Through our years of sharing Scriptural truths with Jewish people, we have found one notion planted almost universally in the Jewish mind: the New Testament can't be the Word of God and Yeshua can't be the Messiah because the New Testament and Yeshua taught that Jews should eat pig.

I categorically deny that the New Testament teaches such a doctrine, and we will go through the Scriptures to prove this point.

First, let us examine what the Old Testament says. Under the Law of Moses, Israel was to eat types of animals that were clean unto God and could also be used as sacrifices. Those animals had to chew the cud and have split hooves. Oxen (the cow, bull, heifer), sheep, goats and various deer (moose, antelope, gazelle, etc.) were appointed by God as food.

These animals, through their double stomachs, were able to separate and prevent most disease ridden substances from entering the flesh. But a pig, which does not chew the cud, literally becomes what he eats. This is why pork can be dangerous for humans to consume and why the growth, feeding and marketing of pigs must be carefully supervised.

The animal with a split hoof is protected from disease-causing substances which otherwise might enter through his feet. An animal without a split hoof has less protection from impurities on the ground. For example, a lion--which has no split hooves--can become infected with parasites through his paws.

The same principles apply to certain scavenging birds and to fish that do not have both fins and scales. One such fish is the catfish--a popular food, but a born scavenger! Shrimp and lobsters are also scavengers.

Creeping things--such as rats, snakes, roaches and other bugs (except locusts and grasshoppers)--were forbidden to Jewish people. (See Deuteronomy 14 and Leviticus 11.)

It is interesting to note that the animals God permitted Israel to eat are not instinctive killers. They do not eat the flesh of other animals.

The animals approved by God for human consumption are thus the same ones Israel was to offer as atoning sacrifices for sins. Indeed, when we kill an animal to eat, we are taking its life so that we may live (through eating). In this sense, killing an animal for food is a type of substitute sacrifice.

We have pointed out that, in many different ways, Israel is God's model through which he dramatizes His principles and truths.

We could illustrate this repeatedly through the Old and New Testament Scriptures. For example, every time a Jew eats an animal with a split hoof and a divided stomach, he is testifying of God's commandment that we divide the unclean and the filth of this world from the clean.

Furthermore, Jews have been instructed by God not to eat the blood of an animal. Under the Law of Moses, the Jew who partakes of the blood is cut off from the people of Israel. The blood represents the soul of the animal, and the soul (blood) is the substitute atonement that God provided to take away the sins of a human being (Lev. 17:10-14).

This law was later passed on to be observed by Gentiles. (Acts 15:19-20). So when Jew or Gentile does not eat the blood of an animal, he is illustrating on the earth-stage that the blood belongs to God. It is precious to Him, because He gave it to us as an atonement for our sins.

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