Dietary Laws

Abstract

Numerous dietary restrictions are found scattered throughout the Pentateuch. Foremost among these are proscriptions against the consumption of certain taxa of animals, fish, birds, and insects as delineated in Leviticus 11 and in Deuteronomy 14. This chapter examines the earliest evidence for when Judeans were observing these rules. The chapter begins by examining evidence that demonstrates the degree to which Judeans in the first century CE actually complied with many of the Pentateuchal food prohibitions. Several first-century CE writers, Judean and non-Judean alike, were quite explicit in asserting that dietary restrictions based on the Pentateuchal laws were observed by Judeans on a widespread basis. These claims are in concert with the archaeological data, especially the absence of pig and scaleless fish (such as catfish) at Judean sites. The chapter then examines evidence from periods prior to the first century CE and demonstrates that the earliest evidence for observance of the Torah’s dietary rules dates to the middle of the second century BCE. Prior to this, there is no surviving evidence, whether textual or archaeological, which suggests that Judeans adhered to a set of food prohibitions or to a body of dietary restrictions of any kind.