Deut 14.1-29 gives us Choice # 3, “Are we going to eat like the nations?” These commands are similar to Lev 11 and it is an updated list because they were going into the land; it also tells us about tithing.
v 1…”You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead (pagan mourning practices-Lev 19.27, 21.5).
v 2…For you are a holy people (they had a kedusha) to the Lord your God; and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the people who are on the face of the earth.
v 3…You shall not eat any detestable thing.
v 4…These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
v 5…the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.
v 6…And any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat.
v 7…Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these among those which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel and the rabbit and the rock-badger, for they chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof; they are unclean (out of place) for you.
v 8…And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean (out of place) for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses (the unclean animals in this chapter doesn’t directly address whether eating them is sin, but it simply forbids eating them).
v 9…These you may eat of all that are in the water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat,
v 10…but anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean (out of place) for you.
v 11…You may eat any clean bird.
v 12…But these are the ones you shall not eat: the eagle and the vulture and the buzard,
v 13…and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds,
v 14…and every raven in its kind,
v 15…and the ostrich, the owl, the sea gull, and the hawk in their kinds,
v 16…the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,
v 17…the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,
v 18…the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat.
v 19…And all the teeming life with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten.
v 20…You may eat any clean bird
v 21…You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town (obviously this had nothing to do with health, but the alien waas not going into the Temple or touch holy things-see Lev 11.39-40 notes), that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner (a “nokri” or one who comes to trade), for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk (see Exo 23.19 notes; this was a Canaanite idolatrous practice).
v 22…You shall surely tithe (the second tithe to the Temple) all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year (tithing was agricultural and only applied if you lived in the land and made your living off of it. It went to various places and people and it basically went like this. Time was divided into seven years called a shemittah. You tithed your produce two times a year, at Shavuot and at Sukkot. The first tithe is called the Maaser Rishon, and the second tithe was called the Maaser Sheni. During the first year of the seven year shemittah, the first tithe was taken to the Levitical storehouse near you at Shavuot; the second tithe was taken to the Temple at Sukkot. You could sell your tithe and bring the money to the Temple where you could spend it on whatever your heart desires while sharing it with others. During the second year of the shemittah you did the same thing. In the third year, the first and second tithe was taken to the Levitical city storehouse and shared with the poor, widow, orphan and the needy. In the fourth and fifth year, what was done in year one and two was done. In the sixth year both tithes were taken to the Levitical storehouse. In the seventh year there was no tithing at all).
v 23…And you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God at the place where he chooses to establish his name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the first-born of your herd and your flock, in order that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always (to depend on him).
v 24…And if the distance is too great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the the place where the Lord your God chooses to set his name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you,
v 25…then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses.
v 26…And you shall spend the money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen, sheep, or wine, or strong drink (liquor made of honey or dates, wheat or barley) or whatever your heart desires (eatable or drinkable), and there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.
v 27…Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.
v 28…At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town (Levitical storehouse).
v 29…And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”
Leave a Reply