Deuteronomy 14:21 Commentary

Moses in this chapter teaches them, I. To distinguish themselves from their neighbours by a singularity, 1. In their mourning (Deu 14:1, Deu 14:2). 2. In their meat (v. 3-21). II. To devote themselves unto God, and, in token of that, to give him his dues out of their estates, the yearly tithe, and that every third year, for the maintenance of their religious feasts, the Levites, and the poor (Deu 14:22, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 14 In this chapter some cautions are given against the use of some rites and ceremonies in mourning for the dead, with the reason thereof, Deu 14:1 and instructions about what are lawful to be eaten, and what not, whether of beasts, fishes, or fowl, Deu 14:3, and concerning eating one sort of tithes both at the place God should choose, and within their own gates, Deu 14:22.

And if the way be too long for thee,.... The way from the place where any Israelite might live: to carry it; the tithe and the firstlings, it would be too expensive or too troublesome in any way that could be devised: or if the place shall be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there; which by the event appeared to be the city of Jerusalem, and this from some parts of the land of Canaan was very distant: when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee; with a large increase of the fruits of the earth, and of flocks and herds.

GOD'S PEOPLE MUST NOT DISFIGURE THEMSELVES IN MOURNING. (Deu 14:1-2) ye shall not cut yourselves . . . for the dead--It was a common practice of idolaters, both on ceremonious occasions of their worship (Kg1 18:28), and at funerals (compare Jer 16:6; Jer 41:5), to make ghastly incisions on their faces and other parts of their persons with their finger nails or sharp instruments. The making a large bare space between the eyebrows was another heathen custom in honor of the dead (see on Lev 19:27-28; Lev 21:5). Such indecorous and degrading usages, being extravagant and unnatural expressions of hopeless sorrow (Th1 4:13), were to be carefully avoided by the Israelites, as derogatory to the character, and inconsistent with the position, of those who were the people of God [Deu 14:2].

Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself--(See on Lev 17:15; Lev 22:8). thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates--not a proselyte, for he, as well as an Israelite, was subject to this law; but a heathen traveller or sojourner. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk--This is the third place in which the prohibition is repeated [Exo 23:19; Exo 34:26]. It was pointed against an annual pagan ceremony (see on Exo 23:19; Exo 34:26). [Deu 14:22-29. LAW OF THE TITHE].

The Israelites were not only to suffer no idolatry to rise up in their midst, but in all their walk of life to show themselves as a holy nation of the Lord; and neither to disfigure their bodies by passionate expressions of sorrow for the dead (Deu 14:1 and Deu 14:2), nor to defile themselves by unclean food (vv. 3-21). Both of these were opposed to their calling. To bring this to their mind, Moses introduces the laws which follow with the words, "ye are children to the Lord your God." The divine sonship of Israel was founded upon its election and calling as the holy nation of Jehovah, which is regarded in the Old Testament not as generation by the Spirit of God, but simply as an adoption springing out of the free love of God, as the manifestation of paternal love on the part of Jehovah to Israel, which binds the son to obedience, reverence, and childlike trust towards a Creator and Father, who would train it up into a holy people. The laws in Deu 14:1 are simply a repetition of Lev 19:28 and Lev 21:5. למת, with reference to, or on account of, a dead person, is more expressive than לנפשׁ (for a soul) in Lev 19:28. The reason assigned for this command in Deu 14:2 (as in Deu 7:6) is simply an emphatic elucidation of the first clause of Deu 14:1. (On the substance of the verse, see Exo 19:5-6).