A PEOPLE HOLY TO THE LORD

Deuteronomy 14:1-29 / Keywords 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.

 

14:1 You are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, 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.

3 Do not eat any detestable thing. 4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.[a] 6 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. 7 However, of those that chew the cud or that have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. 8 The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.

9 Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. 10 But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.

11 You may eat any clean bird. 12 But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 13 the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon, 14 any kind of raven, 15 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, 17 the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant, 18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

19 All flying insects are unclean to you; do not eat them. 20 But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.

21 Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy to the Lord your God.

Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Tithes

22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive 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. 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), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 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. 27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.

28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, 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.

Footnotes

a. Deuteronomy 14:5 The precise identification of some of the birds and animals in this chapter is uncertain.

1. Moses reminds the Israelites that God had chosen them to be His treasured possession. Hence, they should be holy and different to God in every way. God’s dietary laws could remind them that they were God’s chosen people who were holy to God and different from the unchosen people. These laws allowed them to eat certain animals, but prohibited them from eating others. As God’s people, they were only to eat the food that God had chosen. What is the new covenant menu? Jesus declared all foods clean (Mk 7:19), and so chosen and unchosen food is no longer needed (Ac 10:15). Our unrestricted diet is to be the daily reminder of God’s unrestricted grace. As God’s chosen people, we also need to be reminded that we must eat the spiritual food daily which is God’s word. Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (Jn 4:34).

 

2. As for the command about tithes each family must take a tenth of their harvest and have a joyful feast together in reverence to God. God wanted food to be a reminder of how He had given Israel things to enjoy in the new land. Enjoying God’s blessings with thankfulness is the way to revere and remember Him. God commanded that every third year the tithe was to be stored and spent for the support of the Levites and the needy.

 

Prayer Lord, thank you for making us a people holy to you through Jesus. Grow me in holiness.

One Word A holy nation