I've always imagined the taboo originated in some practical reasons (like "pork spoils really quickly in the heat"), but or course that's simplistic, and trying to approach religious things with reasoned explanations is a fool's errand.
This article's take is interesting: economic, environmental and cultural factors that gradually became codified as religious identity markers. The tribality of this tracks, the "us" vs "them" has always been and always will be, and people pick the most random things to differentiate the "us" from "them". It makes perfect sense that these desert tribes, indistinguishable cousins basically, would end up differentiating on something so arbitrary.
This article's take is interesting: economic, environmental and cultural factors that gradually became codified as religious identity markers. The tribality of this tracks, the "us" vs "them" has always been and always will be, and people pick the most random things to differentiate the "us" from "them". It makes perfect sense that these desert tribes, indistinguishable cousins basically, would end up differentiating on something so arbitrary.