Leviticus 11:2

These are the beasts

The dietary regulations of the covenant people must be regarded primarily as sanitary. Israel, it must be remembered, was a nation living on the earth under a theocratic government. Of necessity the divine legislation concerned itself with the social as well as with the religious life of the people. To force upon every word of that legislation a typical meaning is to strain (1 Corinthians 10:1); (Hebrews 9:23); (Hebrews 9:24) beyond all reasonable interpretation.