The Fifth Book of Moses, called Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 14
Chapter XIV · Vol. I, pp. 502–504
1 God's children are not to disfigure themselves in mourning. 3 What may, and what may not be eaten, 4 of beasts, 9 of fishes, 11 of fowls. 21 That which dieth of itself must not be eaten. 22 Tithes of divine services. 23 Tithes and firstlings of cattle to be eaten before the Lord. 28 The third year's tithe of alms and charity.
1 YE area the children of the LORD your God. Yeb shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead:
a Jn. 1.12. Ga. 3.26. 1 Jn. 3.1-3. 2 Co. 6.18.
b Le. 19.27,28; 21.5. 1 Ki. 18.28. Je. 16.6,7; 41.5; 47.5; 48.37. 1 Th. 4.13.
2 Forc thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God; and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
c ch. 7.6; 26.18,19; 4.7; 28.9; 32.9. Je. 2.3. Am. 3.2. Ps. 135.4. ver. 21. 2 Sa. 7.24. Ex. 19.5,6. 1 Pe. 2.9. Tit. 2.14.
4 Thesee are the beasts which ye shall eat: The ox, the sheep, and the goat,
e Le. 11.2-20.
5 The hart, and the roe-buck, and the fallow-deer, and the wild goat, and the 1pygarg,2 and the wild ox, and the chamois.3
1 Or, bison. Heb. dishon.
2 Derived from a Greek word, intimating that the 'hinder' part of the body is white. The Arabic translators consider it a species of wild goat. Gesenius, deriving it from a word signifying to spring or bound, refers it to a species of gazelle or antelope.—C.
3 These animals are now specified for the first time, probably because the people were about to enter Canaan, where they abounded. In the desert most of them were not found, and consequently it was useless to name them when the law regarding clean and unclean beasts was first promulgated. The ail, 'hart,' is perhaps a generic name for all animals of the antelope kind having twisted horns. Tsebi, 'the roe-buck,' is the ordinary gazelle, which is so common on the plains of Syria. Yachmur, 'the fallow-deer,' is the oryx, a large species of antelope with long horns, twisted like a piece of rope. It abounds among the mountains of Arabia and Eastern Syria. I have seen some splendid specimens near Palmyra. Akko, 'wild goat,' is probably a species of gazelle, for the Hebrew name of wild goat is yael. See 1 Sa. 24. 2. Dishon, 'pygarg,' is the Oryx addax, a large antelope with long twisted horns. The teo, 'wild ox,' is supposed to be the Nubian oryx, which is found in Arabia. Zemer, 'chamois,' is in all probability the wild sheep, formerly abundant in Southern Palestine, and still found on the borders of Egypt.—P.
6 And fevery beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat.
7 Nevertheless gthese ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you.
8 And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcass.
10 And iwhatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.
i Le. 11.10. Ga. 6.15. Jn. 3.3,5. Lu. 13.3,5.
11 Of all clean birds ye shall eat.
12 But these are they of which ye shall not eat:4 the keagle, and the ossifrage, and the osprey,
4 The classes of unclean beasts, birds, and fishes, can be easily distinguished, but the species can seldom be more than conjectured. Such minute knowledge was unnecessary to the great ends of the law, and therefore is wisely withheld. The Scriptures do indeed possess everything than can excite curiosity and study, so far as they are useful; but whenever we approach the limits of mere arrangement and nomenclature, the Scriptures become silent.—C.
k Le. 11.13-15. Ps. 14.1-5. Ro. iii.-xiv. Tit. 3.3. Ep. 2.2,3. 2 Ti. 3.2-5.
13 And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind,
14 And every raven after his kind,
16 The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan,
17 And the pelican, and the gier-eagle, and the cormorant,
18 And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
19 And mevery creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.
A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451.
m Le. 11.20 Phi. 3.18,19. 2 Ki. 17.28-41. Tit. 1.16. 2 Ti. 3.5.
20 Butn of all clean fowls ye may eat.
n ver. 11, all that are not prohibited, ver. 12-19. Le. 11.13-30.
21 Ye oshall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the pstranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it;5 or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: qfor thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. rThou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
o Le. 11.39; 17.15. Is. 52.11. Ep. 5.7,11.
p Ex. 12.43,45.
5 Why give gratis to a stranger, or sell to an alien, that which the Jew was himself forbidden to eat? (1) Because many beasts die of acute diseases, whose flesh is in a perfectly sound and nutritive condition; and this permissive law afforded an opportunity of bestowing in mercy to a stranger what must have gone to feed the dogs or the wild beasts. (2) It seems to have been intended by this law to teach the Jew that God gave not the law to the Gentile by the standard of the ceremonial law; a lesson which, under the New Testament, it required a miraculous vision and a messenger from heaven to inculcate upon an apostle; and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to render tolerable in the church, Ac. 10.3,9-15; 11.1-18.—C.
q ver. 2; ch. 7.6. Da. 8.24; 12.7. Is. 62.12; 60.21.
r Ex. 23.19; 34.26. 1 Th. 5.22. Ro. 12.2.
22 Thou shalt struly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.
s Le. 27.30-33. Nu. 18.21. ch. 18.1; 12.17,18; 26.12; ver. 28,29.
23 And thou tshalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.
t ch. 12.6,7,11,12,17,18; 15.19,20. i.e. second tithe and firstling.
24 And uif the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, xwhich the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
25 Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose:
26 And thou shalt ybestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth6 after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth:7 and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household.
y Mat. 21.12. ch. 12.12,18.
6 Lusteth, the original meaning of the word is strongly desireth or loveth. This permission gave no license to gluttony, epicurism, or drunkenness, the eating or drinking being 'before the Lord.' Did men eat and drink under the full faith of the words—'thou, Lord, seest me,' in the spirit of thanksgiving to him that 'furnishes their table,' and to 'the glory' of him whose glory should be their 'chief end,' their table would never become 'a snare' to their souls, nor 'the wine in their banquets' banish God from 'all their thoughts.'—C.
7 Heb. asketh of thee.
27 And zthe Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him: for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.
z ch. 12.12,18,19; ver. 29. Ne. 10.39. Ga. 6.6. 1 Co. 9.13,14. 1 Th. 5.12,13. 1 Ti. 5.17.
28 At the end of three years thou ashalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates:
a ch. 26.12. Am. 4.4, i.e. a third tithe, or the second tithe on the third year.
29 And the Levite, (because bhe hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) cand the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; dthat the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.8
b Nu. 18.20. ch. 10.9; 18.1.
c Ex. 22.22. ch. 24.19-21?; 26.12,13; 16.11,14; 10.19,20.
d Pr. 3.9,10; 11.24,25; 10.22. Eze. 44.3. Mal. 3.10,11. 2 Co. 9.6-10. Ge. 22.17; 30.27,30; 39.3. ch. 28.2-14. Le. 26.3-12.
8 It appears from this command that the whole tithe produce of every third year, instead of being taken up to the sanctuary, and dedicated to God there, was to be collected in each town and village, and distributed among Levites, strangers, fatherless, and widows. To encourage the people to exercise this act of self-denial and charity, a special promise is attached to it in the last clause of ver. 29.—P.
Notes
Reflections.—If I am the Lord's—if?, by his love, his blood, through my faith, he hath saved me from the world—let me never affect conformity to the foolish, sinful, and barbarous customs of it. If God himself be my God and my all, let me never idolatrously mourn for the death of relations, as if I had nothing left, or had no hope. If my body be the temple of the Holy Ghost, bought with Jesus' blood, let me never disfigure or deform it. If I live on meat which cometh down from heaven, let me never dishonour my Provider and Portion by a base lusting after, or catching at, anything earthly and vile. Such as are not satisfied with the lawful gratifications which God allows them, will never be satisfied in the gratification of their lawless lusts. And though, under the gospel, I am not so restricted from the flesh of animals, yet I am no less restricted from intimacy and fellowship with unclean sinners, and their works of darkness and death. Here likewise I may learn, that there is need of frequent and diligent assembling before God, to render us faithful in his service; that the ways of religion abound with joys and pleasures, and afford the surest grounds of thankfulness; and that there is the greatest advantage in kindness to God's ministers, the poor, the fatherless, and widows. Let him therefore demand what he will for his service out of my outward estate, and may I give it cheerfully and seasonably! God loveth a cheerful giver; and will supply all my need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.