Symbolic Interpretations of Food Commandments

1 But since Moses said, ‘You shall not eat the seine, nor the eagle, nor the falcon, nor the crow, nor any fish that does not have scales upon it,’ he received in his understanding three decrees. 2 Yes, and further He says to them in Deuteronomy: ‘And I will lay My ordinances on this people as a covenant.’ Therefore, it is not a command of God not to bite with their teeth; Moses spoke it spiritually. 3 Accordingly, he mentioned the pig with this intent: ‘You shall not cling,’ he says, ‘to people who are like pigs; that is, when they are living in luxury, they forget the Lord, but when they are in need, they remember the Lord—just as a pig, when it is eating, does not know its master, but when it is hungry, it cries out, and once it is fed, it is silent again.’ 4 ‘Neither shall you eat the eagle or the falcon or the kite or the crow.’ ‘You shall not,’ He says, ‘cling to or resemble such men who do not know how to get food by their own toil and sweat but, in their lawlessness, seize what belongs to others, keeping watch to see whom they may rob in their greed,⁠a just as these birds do not provide food for themselves but hover idly, looking for how they might eat what belongs to others, being agents of evil in their actions.’ 5 ‘And you shall not eat,’ He says, ‘the lamprey or the octopus or the cuttlefish.’ ‘You shall not,’ He means, ‘become like people who are already condemned to death, just as these fish are cursed and swim in the depths, not swimming on the surface like the others but living on the bottom of the deep sea.’ 6 Moreover, ‘You shall not eat the hare.’ Why so? ‘You shall not be found corrupting young boys, nor become like such persons; for the hare gains one more passage in its body every year, and as many years as it lives, it has that many openings.’ 7 Again, you shall not eat the hyena. ‘You shall not,’ He says, ‘become an adulterer or a fornicator, nor resemble such people.’ Why so? Because this animal changes its nature each year, sometimes male and sometimes female. 8 Moreover, He has hated the weasel as well, and rightly so. ‘You shall not,’ He says, ‘become like those of whom we hear do evil with their mouth for impurity, nor shall you associate with impure women who commit sin with their mouth.’ For this creature conceives through its mouth.⁠b 9 Concerning foods, then, Moses received three decrees with this meaning and spoke them in a spiritual sense; but they accepted them in accordance with fleshly desire, as if referring to actual eating. 10 David also understood these same three decrees and says: ‘Blessed is the one who has not walked in the council of the ungodly’—just as fish go into darkness in the depths—‘and has not stood in the path of sinners’—just as those who only appear to fear the Lord but sin like pigs—‘and has not sat in the seat of destroyers’—like the birds that wait in ambush. Now you have the complete lesson about eating. 11 Again, Moses says: ‘You shall eat everything that divides the hoof and chews the cud.’ What does that mean? The one who receives the food recognizes the One who gives it, and, being refreshed, appears to rejoice in Him. Well did he speak, keeping in mind the command. What then does he mean? ‘Cling to those who fear the Lord, those who reflect in their hearts on the distinction of the word they have received, those who speak of the ordinances of the Lord and keep them, those who know that reflection is a work of joy and who chew the cud of the word of the Lord.’⁠c But why ‘that divides the hoof’? Because the righteous person walks in this world but also looks forward to the holy world to come. You see how wise a lawgiver Moses was. 12 But how could they understand or perceive these things? Yet we, having rightly understood the commandments, tell them as the Lord intended. For this purpose He has circumcised our ears and our hearts, that we may understand these matters.