Why Did God Command Israel Not to Eat Pigs?

Questions about why God commanded Israel not to eat pigs if it wasn’t an issue of morality and why Jesus said his yoke is easy and his burden is light when we know how difficult it is to take up our cross and fight our sin.

• If the Old Covenant law forbidding the eating of pigs wasn’t a matter of morality and isn’t part of the New Covenant, why did God command Israel not to eat pigs in the first place?
• It’s not easy to take up your cross and fight your sin, so why did Jesus say his yoke is easy and his burden is light?