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As Isaiah 66:15-24 contains a prophecy for the end times does Isaiah 66:17 (ESV):

“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord.

Does this mean that eating pork is still banned? or does this mean that those who pretend to uphold the law yet still break it are going to be punished?

User2280
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3 Answers3

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F.B. Meyer's Commentary on Isaiah 66 says:

The prophet makes it clear that, whatever blessings accrue in the golden future, they will be apportioned to those alone, who are the Israel of God, not merely by descent but in heart and life. They must be what the Apostle describes in Php_3:3. Those who were bent on practicing idolatrous rites, such as passing in procession, with priests as teachers, through gardens and groves devoted to impurity; or who, by partaking of the flesh of animals forbidden in the Levitical law, had become as Gentiles, must suffer with the heathen.

This seems to suggest that Isaiah was speaking about corruption in general, and just using the unclean animals as an example, as that was appropriate for the time.

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It is no longer banned:

As for the gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our decision that they should keep away from food that has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from anything strangled, and from sexual immorality." (Acts 21:25)

("anything strangled" refers to meat that was not slaughtered according to Jewish law)

Also:

And a voice came to him, saying, Rise, Peter! Kill and eat! But Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spoke to him again the second time, What God has made clean, you do not call common. (Acts 10:13-15)

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Punishment here results from idolatry, not eating forbidden foods. The prophecy mentioned in the OP the refers back to the previous chapter which says:

I have stretched out my hands all day to a rebellious people... 3 Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks 4 Sitting in tombs and spending the night in caves, Eating the flesh of pigs, with broth of unclean meat in their dishes...

It is possible that the OP's verse was misplaced due to a copyist's error. In any case, it does not refer either to the present day or to the time of the messianic kingdom. Verse 18 begins a new prophecy that indeed speaks of such things as "new heavens and the new earth," but the two previous chapters refer to earlier events, the timing of which is uncertain.

To answer the OP's question: Pork is still banned for observant Jews. Christians, as Gentiles, are not bound by this rule. (see Acts 15:20) Eating pork and mice was forbidden, but no punishment is stipulated for it other than that it makes a person ritually unclean. The punishment referred to in Isaiah 66 results from the implication of idolatry as a result of participation in a pagan garden rite. Here again it is the previous chapter that is relevant:

Offering sacrifices in gardens ... Since they burned incense on the mountains, and insulted me on the hills, I will at once pour out in full measure their recompense into their laps.

Dan Fefferman
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