Deuteronomy 14: 1 – 29
You’re not eating that!
14 “You are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead. 2 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 3 “You shall not eat any detestable thing. 4 These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals. 7 Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you. 8 Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses. 9 “These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales. 10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you. 11 “All clean birds you may eat. 12 But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, 13 the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds; 14 every raven after its kind; 15 the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after their kinds; 16 the little owl, the screech owl, the white owl, 17 the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the fisher owl, 18 the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe and the bat. 19 “Also every creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. 20 “You may eat all clean birds. 21 “You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. 22 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. 23 And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. 24 But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 27 You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you. 28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Today we are going to learn about some things our Holy Lord instructs us not to eat. After you see this listing I know that most if not all of you will say, ‘Who would attempt to eat that stuff to begin with?’ Yet, in truth, our Holy God would not go to the trouble of listing these if humans would not at some time attempt to eat them.
Also, some of you may think after reading this list of these types of creatures as road kill. There exist in our country advocates who suggest we make better use of this wasted resource of great tasting, organic, unpolluted and non-corporate natural food.
American motorists hit 1.23 million deer every year. Those deer are dead, unfortunately (so are a lot of the motorists). But they’re really good, tasty meat (the deer). Plenty would argue that deer meat is safer, tastier and healthier than the plastic wrapped agro-beef you pay an arm and a hoof for at local Mart.
The average American eats 71.2 pounds of red meat each year (beef, pork and lamb),
An average deer might have 40-60 pounds of usable meat. So why let those tons of steaks, chops and burger go to waste?
In a report from the State of Idaho’s Fish and Game says more than 4,800 animals have been salvaged from Idaho’s roadways. That includes 1,996 whitetail deer, 1,405 mule deer, 798 elk and 308 moose. And that’s only 15 percent of the 35,000 road kills recorded during that period. If you hit an animal, or see someone else hit one, it’s okay to butcher the animal and keep the meat. The only detergent is that you are not allowed to drive on somebody’s lawn after a potential meal.
So if you are thinking about starting a restaurant I would like to offer you a potential menu.
MENU - ROADKILL CAFE (You Kill It ... We Grill It!)
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( Eating food is more fun, when you know it was hit on the run)
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APPETIZERS: ====== $ 2.95 ========
…The Chicken That Didn't Quite Cross the Road
(It tastes twice as great when it's slapped on your plate when it's fresh from the street )
…Whippoorwill from the grill
(You will be crying tears of joy -item not available from November to April)
ENTREES, A TASTE OF THE WILD SIDE:
(It's Gotta Be Tried While It's Still In Its Hide.)
Possum platter …………..3.95
(A tasty treat! Served with chips and a smear of deer dip)
Center Line Bovine ................ $6.95
"Tastes real good, straight from the hood"
Chunk Of Skunk .................... $3.95
"An unique aroma of a meal!"
Road Toad Ala Mode ................ $5.65
"We all croak for the Toad ala mode!"
Outta Luck Duck ................... $7.95
"Served with quackers of course.."
Beep Beep Sheep ................... $7.95
"You'll be counting the night’s when you can come back for more!"
Rigor Mortis Tortoise .............. $6.75
"You Break the shell not your wallet!"
Goose no longer on the loose wham........... $4.55
"It’s a hit on the Run."
Cow Le Pow ........................ $6.59
"For those who wonder, where's the Beef?"
Crow in a Bowl .................... $3.60
"Tones your Bones!"
Pheasant under Car ................ $4.60
"Oiled to perfection!"
LATE NIGHT DELIGHTS: Served fresh each night after dark.
Rack Of Racoon .................... $3.95
Awesome Possum .................... $1.95
Later Gator ....................... $4.80
DESSERTs: These take the cake.
Chocolate Moose ........................... $ 3.90
"A special Variation of a French Dessert"
Jell-O Worm ................................ $ 2.50
"Each desert jiggles and wiggles."
Bat-Pastries ............................ $ 3.60
"You’ll hit a home run with this selection"
Angel Dove Cake ........................... $ 4.60
"Such heavenly delight!"
Gopher Puffs .............................. $ 3.80
"FUR-fectly delicious cream puffs."
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MEET OUR CHEF: "Wheels" Pierre.
Remember our Motto:
"When You Drive With Your Bright light...You'll dine better tonight..."
Bon Appétit!...
This chapter covers the need for His people to remember even in their eating and their lives that they were to avoid all that was ‘unclean’ (as defined) and might defile them, and all unsavory practices. Their lives were to aim at what was positive. This was because they were His children, and a holy people set apart as His own treasured possession.
Thus the first point in the part referring to cleanness is the commandment that ‘you shall not eat any abominable thing’, which is then expanded on. The word ‘abominable’ is strong. It is used in chapter 7.25 and 12.31 of what is totally despicable. It is what God hates. Thus he will deal here with what is abominable, and defiles Yahweh’s holy people. But why are they abominable? Because they are ‘unclean’, they do not live within their proper spheres, they enter into and eat in unclean places, they nuzzle in the dust to which the serpent was condemned, and they are scavengers and/or killers and eat the forbidden blood. They are totally unholy. They are not worthy of Yahweh. To eat them is to bring dishonor on His name and partake in their disreputableness. The principle inculcates a pure attitude towards life.
It should not surprise us if animals which nuzzled in the dust, and reptiles and creatures that lived in the dust and never rose above it were seen as especially unclean, and even more ‘creeping things’, for the dust is what man who dies will return to. It is the dust of death. To ‘cleave to the dust’ was considered to be the same as dying (Psalm 119.25). It was a world of death. And while the curse was partly relieved by God’s covenant with Noah as far as man was concerned (Genesis 9.21), which might explain why grazing land and arable land could be seen as ‘clean’ (it must have been seen as clean for it fed clean animals), it certainly did not remove the whole curse. Thorns and thistles are still man’s judgment. The earth is still man’s adversary and seeks ever to return to the wild or to desert. And all this was closely linked with death (Genesis 3.19; 5.5), which was the final sentence.
The basic principle of what creatures are clean and unclean is fairly simple, although in detail it becomes more complicated. What is clean is what is wholesome. It does not grovel in the dust of death. It avoids unwholesome places. It eats hygienically. We must remember that it deals with the wilderness and with Palestine on the basis of a simple understanding of nature, and with general easily distinguishable principles. It was how things were in general seen. It was intended to be practical. It was not intended to cover worldwide natural science or be specific as to detail. Thus cattle and their equivalent eat grass and vegetation, and walk and feed in places less likely to be ‘unclean’ or to be infected by parasites and death. They keep to their proper sphere. In general all other animals do not.
Its purpose was not as a medical guide, although it would certainly help to prevent diseases, but was in order to increase Israel’s self esteem and sense of holiness so that they aimed high in their lives.
14 “You are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead.
The first forbidden thing is unwholesome religious practices. Because they were ‘the sons of Yahweh their God’ they must not disfigure themselves. They were made in the image of God. So deliberate disfigurement was frowned on by Yahweh, and forbidden to His holy people. They must honor their God created bodies.
We call to mind how an offering could not be made to Yahweh of what was blemished. They too must not blemish themselves. So they must neither cut themselves nor shave off their hair in unusual places because these were regular mourning practices in Canaan and elsewhere.
Leviticus 19.27-28 also forbade cutting the flesh of, and printing marks on, His people. All forms of tattoos and tribal markings, together with significant hair shaving, were seen as simply disfiguring, if not blasphemous. They were contrary to Yahweh’s holiness, and to His possession of His people.
We must also take note here to this requirement. We have those who will argue about our freedom. However, we need to really take our own inventory. Are we trying to be hip and fit in with the world? There are good grounds for seeing from this that for the true child of God disfiguring the body with tattoos and piercings is frowned on by God. It is to dishonor His special creation and to demonstrate an attitude which is the opposite of consecration to Him. If you are a son or daughter of our Great and Holy God, then why do you want to fit in? If you want to be ‘hip’ how about being everything for Jesus. We must therefore do nothing to discredit the family name, or give the impression of belonging to any other.
2 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
The reason for this was their unique status. They were a holy (set apart for Yahweh) people, chosen to be a people for His own possession
3 “You shall not eat any detestable thing.
Nothing distasteful or demeaning or connected with unwholesome death must enter their bodies. As Yahweh’s own they must only eat of what is seen to be pure and good. Even their eating must reveal the purity of their lives. A list and description of what may and may not be eaten is then given. It commences with clean animals that can be used for offerings and sacrifices, followed by those which are clean and can be eaten, but cannot be offered as offerings and sacrifices, and moves on to clean fish and birds.
4 These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
These are the animals which can be used for offerings and sacrifices. They are all domestic animals. They belong to the people and can be offered to God as an offering. Thus they are clearly right to eat.
5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
These are animals which can be hunted for game and eaten as ‘clean’, but cannot be offered as offerings and sacrifices, for as wild beasts they already belong to Yahweh (Psalm 50.10).
6 And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals.
The principle on which they are chosen is declared. They have the hoof cloven in two and ‘chew the cud’. The principle was that they ate slowly and deliberately, and took good time over eating their food, all of which was of a kind suitable for that purpose.. The point is that they ate ‘proper food’. The makeup of their feet meant that they tended to remain and eat on clean land, land good for growing crops and herbage, and not to wander into ‘unclean’ areas. The way they ate made them careful in what they ate. (The goat can be an exception to this, but probably not as herded by the Israelites).
7 Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you.
Other animals which are seen as edible to other nations, were not to be seen as so to Israel. These animals may chew slowly and obviously, or they may have cloven feet, but they do not have both. Thus the camel’s feet enable it to wander in desert regions, where death is prevalent. Such regions were looked on with foreboding in Israel. The hare and the rock badger, while they chew slowly and deliberately, go into places which are ‘unclean’ because their feet enable them to scrabble and encourage them to do so. They are thus ‘unclean’.
8 Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.
The pig or swine is a further example. In this case it parts the hoof, but it does not chew slowly and deliberately. It nuzzles in the dirt and eats what is unsavory. That a sow that was washed returned to its wallowing in the mire became a proverb, because that was how through the ages it was seen (2 Peter 2.22). It was therefore not seen as suitable food for Yahweh’s people.
These distinctions would preserve Israel from many, although not all, diseases is unquestionable. But the overt point is not so much avoidance of disease as the fact of unsuitability, although the one merges into the other. Those that wandered in doubtful environments or nuzzled in the dust, both connected with death, must not be eaten. In all cases the behavior of unclean creatures was the opposite of what Yahweh was. And His people were to model their lives on what was wholesome.
9 “These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales. 10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.
The distinction with sea and river creatures is again clear and specific. All fish with fins and scales, of which they were aware, swam in the rivers but did not delve into the mud. These were thus ‘clean’. Other creatures did delve in the mud, and were therefore unclean. Again this was not a scientific survey but a fact of observation. This excluded some that were certainly edible, but included shellfish which under certain circumstances could cause unpleasant diseases. But what was most important as seen in this context was their contamination by their contact with dirt and mud.
11 “All clean birds you may eat.
The common birds such as the turtle-dove and pigeons could be eaten, along with many others. They flew in the air, and ate insects and seed. They kept to their proper sphere.
12 But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, 13 the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds; 14 every raven after its kind; 15 the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after their kinds; 16 the little owl, the screech owl, the white owl, 17 the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the fisher owl, 18 the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe and the bat.
Others were predators and ate carrion and blood. The ostrich, like the camel, wandered in desert regions, and was noted for her lack of care of her young and buried them in the dust of the earth (Job 39.13-18). The wading birds plunged their beaks into the mud. The bat came from dark secret places, and dwelt in tombs and burial places. All had about them that which was ‘unclean’.
19 “Also every creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. 20 “You may eat all clean birds.
Winged creeping things were necessarily of the dirt and could not be eaten, but some winged creatures (such as the locust) did not crawl in the dirt but leaped on their legs (Leviticus 11.21). The word used for ‘winged creatures’ regularly means ‘bird’, and does so in the parallel passage in Leviticus. But here it is clearly connected with winged creeping things. Possibly therefore it must be seen to take its wider meaning of winged creatures, in view of the fact that a different word for birds is used in verse 11.
21 “You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
They must thus not eat of what dies of itself. What has died is already committed to Yahweh in death, and is lifeless, and is not suitable for them as a holy people to Yahweh their God, for He Is the Lord of life. They must only eat that which has life, and of which they have been able to commit the blood, and in cases of things that died of themselves the blood would not have been properly dealt with. However resident aliens and foreigners were not a holy people, therefore such food could be given to the one or sold to the other. Please take not of the distinction. It might be useful in considering the problems this country has developed. The resident alien must be cared for; the foreigner must pay for what he gets.
So the emphasis all through this passage has been on doing what is seemly, and avoiding all appearance of lowering themselves to the level of the world of predatorily beasts and birds, and creeping things, and death especially of avoiding all things that were seen as consigned to the dust to which the serpent had originally been consigned, and the avoidance of contact with the ‘the dust of death’. They were to look God ward and not earth ward. This would then protect them from disease and from idolatry, but equally importantly, from being unwholesome. The aim of such teaching was not only to prevent their eating what might physically harm them, but to give them an attitude to life that was pure.
The lesson for us is that our lives too should have the appearance of the heavenly. We too should abstain from all appearance of evil. We now have a different conception of creation so that the specific restrictions no longer apply, nor would they teach the same lessons to us as to those who lived so close to nature. What we are called on to avoid is rather the lowering of ourselves in the moral way. We too are thus to be ‘clean’.
Our Master and King Jesus, in another context, makes this clear. He stressed that it is what comes from men’s hearts that defiles (Mark 7.14-23), and must therefore be avoided. Acts 10.14-15 also demonstrates that nothing in creation is ‘unclean’ of itself. It becomes unclean by what it does. There is, of course, still the need to discriminate, but on a different basis depending on health risk.
In total contrast with what has gone before, the tithe is holy food. It has been set aside for Yahweh and is for the priests (a tenth of it), the Levites (a good proportion of it) and Yahweh’s ‘pensioners’, the widows, the orphans and the resident aliens, with some being made available at the religious feasts held at the Sanctuary, the place which Yahweh chooses.
So having listed those thing which may or may not be eaten, he goes on to deal with eating in its highest form, eating before Yahweh of that which is His. This is the purest form of eating. They can do this because they are ‘clean’. He ignores the tithing of the increase among animals, a practice which was now common among them and did not therefore need to be referred to, and proceeds to deal with what will be a relatively new phenomenon in the future, the tithing of crops and vegetation. The abundance of this which will be produced when they enter the land will result in an additional purpose for the tithe.
22 “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year.
This setting aside of a tenth has already been mentioned briefly in 12.6, and was well established by the Law (Leviticus 27.30-33; Numbers 18.21-24). Now it is repeated. It will be required of them that they tithe all the increase of their seed which will come from their fields year by year. They have already got into the pattern of tithing the increase of their flocks and herds, but tithing seed has not been too common an experience for them. Wandering in the wilderness was not the best place for such activity, although they probably did at times remain in some places long enough to sow seed and see it grow. Thus when they possess the land and receive abundance they must ensure that they yield a proportion of its increase to Yahweh in accordance with the tithing (giving of a tenth) principle.
23 And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
When the tithe was gathered some of it was to be eaten before Yahweh their God in the place which He has chosen to be, and where His name dwells in the Tabernacle so that they know that He Is there. Within the holy area around that Tabernacle (‘the place’) they are permitted to partake of the tithe of grain and new wine and oil, of what belongs to Him. And there too they may partake of the firstlings of their herds and flocks, all of which are made holy to Yahweh.
24 But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
Provision was, however, made for those who would have to bring such tithes a long way. To carry with them all the food for the feast would be a terrible burden. Thus they would be permitted to sell a portion of the tithe and take the money along to the feast where they would then be able to purchase sufficient for the feast. Then the whole household, and all the households present, would be able to feast to their heart’s desire with food obtained from the ample silver available from selling the tithe. This provision ties in with Leviticus 27.30-33 where the tithe could be redeemed for silver, although in that case it was being redeemed for general purposes and one fifth more than its value had to be paid, the whole then being passed to the Levites. Thus the fact that the tithe was Yahweh’s in both cases did not prevent it being dealt with in these ways. The silver became Yahweh’s instead.
27 You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.
It was important that they must not forget the Levites. Permission to use some of the tithe at the feast did not relieve them of their responsibility to the Levites. The Levites must receive of their tithes as usual. They must not be forsaken.
28 “At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which yo
At the end of every three years the whole tithe of that year was to be laid up within their cities, and stored so as to feed the Levites and the poor of the land, including resident aliens, the fatherless, and widows. Each city was to provide for the needs of these types of people. This did not mean any lessening of the giving of the tithe to Yahweh, for the giver had to make a dedication to Yahweh of his tithe (26.12-15), but it gave it a wider purpose because of the greatly increased abundance of it. Even when all had eaten at the feasts, and all the Levites were satisfied, there would still be a surplus. Thus provision was now also made for the poor and needy.
We can see that when the Israelites were obediently following The Lord God Yahweh everything was flowing in abundant blessings so that everyone was enjoying life for all good things come from above. When disobedience occurs then the abundant blessings dry up and then people are left to their own worthless plans to come up with the proper resources. It never gets better only worse.
