Deuteronomy 14:1-21 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 14:1-21. Let’s go!
Deuteronomy 14:1-2 (NIV)
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.
On verses 1-2: In Canaanite culture, when a person died, their family would mutilate themselves out of grief and hopelessness, cutting themselves and shaving the fronts of their heads. Moses told the Israelites that they do not need to grieve this way because “you are the children of the Lord your God” (v1), chosen to be “His treasured possession” (v2). In other words, because the Israelites could have confidence that those who trust in Him will be with Him in eternity, they could grieve with hope. Similarly, as Christians we are God’s treasured possession. When a Christian friend dies, we do not need to grieve hopelessly because we have assurance that our friend is now in heaven with God, happier and healthier than they’ve ever been. Instead of mourning hopelessly, we can grieve with hope, celebrating the fact that through faith in Jesus Christ that person who died has not left home, but gone home.
Deuteronomy 14:3-21a (NIV)
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.
6 You may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud.
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.
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.
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 that swarm 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 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.
On verses 3-21a: Here Moses restates some dietary laws for the Israelites. These dietary laws may seem strange to us living today. It is good to know that Christians are not bound by these dietary regulations (see Mark 7:19 and Acts 10:9-15).
What was the rationale behind these dietary regulations? Some scholars have found that these dietary laws were much more medically sound compared to dietary writings from other cultures during that same time period. One scholar, for example, cites an Egyptian scroll written around the time that Moses wrote Deuteronomy. That scroll apparently recommends the following recipes:
“…To prevent gray hair, take blood from a black cat, mix it with the fat of a rattlesnake and eat it twice daily.”
“…to reverse baldness, take fat from a cat, a horse, a crocodile, a hippo, a snake, and an ibex and mix it together and eat it.”
“…If you have a severe case of baldness, add to it a tooth of a donkey that has been cooked in honey.”
(from Jon Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament Volume 1)
When compared to such other absurd sounding recipes, we can better appreciate the wisdom behind these dietary regulations in Deuteronomy.
Finally, there is a spiritual lesson we can learn from these dietary regulations: Be careful what you feed yourself, not just physically but spiritually too. Just as we should be careful what we feed our physical bodies, we should be even more careful what we feed our souls — i.e. what we read, watch and listen to. For what we feed ourselves spiritually will determine the kind of person we become.
Deuteronomy 14:3-21b (NIV)
21 …Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
On verse 21b: Apparently during Moses’ time a common practice among some of the nations surrounding the Israelites was to cook a young goat in its mother’s milk, believing that somehow this would magically cause their people to be fertile and their livestock healthier and more plentiful. The LORD wanted the Israelites to steer clear away from this superstitious kind of thinking and as a precaution commanded the Israelites not to engage in this same practice.
What can we learn from this? We must be wise and discerning about to what extent we adopt the practices that we see from the people around us, especially those who do not trust the LORD, lest we indirectly allow superstition or self-reliance to replace our trust in God.
Thank You Father for creating both my body and my spirit. I pray that I would be appropriately careful and wise about what I feed both. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
