Posted 3 months ago
Deuteronomy 14
Summary: God goes over animals that the Israelites are aloud to eat and describes the rules for tithing.
14:1 You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead,
14:2 for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.
14:3 Do not eat any detestable thing.
14:4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
14:5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.
14:6 You may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud.
14:7 However, of those that chew the cud or that have a split hoof completely divided you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the coney. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a split hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you.
God describes some of the animals that the Israelites are forbidden to eat. In describing the rabbit, verse seven mistakenly says that the rabbit chews its cud.
14:8 The pig is also unclean; although it has a split hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.
14:9 Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales.
14:10 But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.
14:11 You may eat any clean bird.
14:12 But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,
14:13 the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon,
14:14 any kind of raven,
14:15 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,
14:16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,
14:17 the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant,
14:18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
14:19 All flying insects that swarm are unclean to you; do not eat them.
Verse 20 says that all flying insects that fly are unclean, but this seems to contradict Leviticus 11:21 that says, “There are, however, some flying insects that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground.”
14:20 But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.
14:21 Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to an alien living in any of your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
God says to not eat anything that they find that is already dead. He then goes on to say that they may sell this dead meat to any strangers or foreigners. God seems to care more about the health of his “chosen people” (although the Bible says he has no favorites) than the foreigners among them.
14:22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
14:23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.
14:24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away),
14:25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose.
14:26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.
14:27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
14:28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns,
14:29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
The second half of the chapter says that the Israelites were to set aside a tenth of what they produced in a given year for the Levites. Every three years, the Israelites were to give all of that year’s tithes to the Levites so that the “aliens, the fatherless and the widows” would be able to get something to eat.
Final Thoughts on Chapter 14:
In pondering how much importance God places on limiting the Israelite diet, the words of Stephen Fry came to mind: “The fact that it also says that for one man to lie with another man is an abomination, is no more made relevant or important than the fact that you can’t eat shellfish.”
