Chapter 14 The Call To Walk Worthy of Being His People.
This chapter covers the need for His people to remember who they were and to walk worthily of Him, and be fit to worship Him and come to the place that Yahweh has chosen to dwell in. They were not to follow customs that were tainted because of their significance. In their eating and their lives they were to avoid all that was ‘unclean' (as defined) and might defile them, and all unsavoury practises. 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 (Deuteronomy 14:3-21). Comparison should be made here with Leviticus 11. But while they must abjure all that was tainted they were especially to eat of a portion of the tithes, that which had been offered to Yahweh, as a holy feast before Him (Deuteronomy 14:22-29). That was good. Such times were to be the highlights of their year.
So the chapter ends with the feasting at the place chosen by Yahweh where He dwells among them, bringing us back to the thought of Deuteronomy 12 where this has previously been expressed. What is prescribed here is to be seen as closely involved with the sanctuary. In the end everything comes back to God. In the same way Deuteronomy 15 will end with reference to the firstlings, a further means of bringing us back to the feasting of Deuteronomy 12, and this is prior to the description of the three main feasts of Yahweh at the place which Yahweh will choose as a dwellingplace in Deuteronomy 16. Thus the whole section from Deuteronomy 12:1 to Deuteronomy 16:17 is built up around the worship of Yahweh in His presence at His chosen place and is important with respect to it.
Part of this passage is a clear representation of the ideas in Leviticus 11, but abbreviated in order not to be too turgid. It is in speech form. Consider how he refers to eating ‘clean winged creatures' with no explanation, requiring the kind of explanation found in Leviticus 11:21-22, and avoids the more complicated aspects of uncleanness found there. This connection with a speech is also apparent from the way the theme is introduced.
Thus the first point in the part referring to cleanness is the general apodictic commandment that ‘you shall not eat any abominable thing', which is then expanded on. The word ‘abominable' is strong. It is used in Deuteronomy 7:25; Deuteronomy 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, 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 dishonour 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 (Psalms 22:15; Psalms 22:29; Psalms 30:9; Psalms 104:29; Ecclesiastes 3:20; Daniel 12:2). To ‘cleave to the dust' was considered to be the same as dying (Psalms 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 bain. 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; Genesis 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. They were being made aware that they were a holy people, who therefore only partook of what was superior and of what kept to its proper sphere, as they must themselves keep to their proper sphere. What mattered with regard to the differentiations was not the facts of natural science but how things were perceived. It was encouraging a pure attitude of mind.
Thus the animals which were clean were seen to chew extensively (translated ‘chewed the cud') and had cloven feet. All knew that they ate what was clean and, limited by their feet, tended to go where it was clean. They did not eat blood. They were not predators. They did not nuzzle in the dirt. They avoided unclean places. The fish that were clean swam and ate in the flowing water, not at the bottom of the river. The birds that were clean flew and ate insects or corn. They did not delve in dirt and dust (compare Psalms 22:15; Psalms 22:29; Psalms 30:9; Psalms 104:29; Ecclesiastes 3:20; Daniel 12:2). They did not eat carrion or kill their own kind, or eat blood, or gather food from the mud. The insects that were clean leaped above the ground, not grovelled in it. They all illustrate the walk in wholesomeness of the people of God. They all kept to their ‘proper sphere' and avoided the ‘dust of death'.
What follows from this is that they were least likely to cause disease, which was another good reason for avoiding them, but that was not the central point, although it probably played a part. It was not in that sense a divine indication that all other creatures were not edible, only that avoiding them would as a whole be to their benefit. Some were certainly known by them to have been closely connected with the worship of false gods, but the ox bull could be eaten and yet was connected with Canaanite religion (although that may simply have been overridden by custom). There may have been something of both these in the conception of uncleanness, but mainly the principle was one of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness.
This explains why the cleanness of animals is connected with Deuteronomy 14:1 which refers to deliberate disfigurements. Yahweh's people were called on to be wholesome in every way, wholesome without and wholesome within.
Analysis based on the words of Moses:
a Sons of Yahweh your God you are. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead (Deuteronomy 14:1).
b For a holy people you are to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for His own possession, above all peoples that are on the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 14:2).
c You shall not eat any abominable thing (Deuteronomy 14:3).
d These are the beasts which you (ye) may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the ibex, and the antelope, and the chamois (Deuteronomy 14:4-5).
e And every beast that parts the hoof, and has the hoof cloven in two, and chews the cud, among the beasts, that may you eat (Deuteronomy 14:6).
f Nevertheless these you shall not eat, of them that chew the cud, or of those who have the hoof cloven, the camel, and the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, they are unclean to you, and the swine, because he parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, he is unclean to you. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch (Deuteronomy 14:7-8).
f These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales you may eat, and whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean to you (Deuteronomy 14:9-10).
e Of all clean birds you may eat (Deuteronomy 14:11).
d But these are they of which you (ye) shall not eat: the griffon vulture, and the bearded vulture, and the osprey, and the glede, and the falcon, and the kite after its kind, and every raven after its kind, and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kind, the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the black vulture, and the cormorant, and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat (Deuteronomy 14:12-18)
c And all winged creeping things are unclean to you: they shall not be eaten. Of all clean ‘winged creatures' (or ‘birds') you may eat (Deuteronomy 14:19-20).
b You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you may give it to the resident 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 Yahweh your God (Deuteronomy 14:21 a).
a You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk (Deuteronomy 14:22).
Note with respect to ‘a' that sons of Yahweh their God they were, and they were not to cut themselves, nor make any baldness between their eyes for the dead (religious rites), and in the parallel they were not to boil a kid in its mother's milk (son of a goat it was). This parallel suggests that the boiling of a kid in its mother's milk was also a religious rite. In ‘b' Israel are a holy people to Yahweh their God, and Yahweh has chosen them to be a people for His own possession, above all peoples that are on the face of the earth and in the parallel they may not eat of anything that dies of itself (for they are His own possession), but they may give it to the resident alien who is within their gates, that he may eat it or they may sell it to a foreigner (the people on the face of the earth), for they are a holy people to Yahweh their God. In ‘c' they may not eat any abominable thing and in the parallel all winged creeping things (which are abominable things - Leviticus 11:43; Ezekiel 8:10) are unclean to them. In ‘d' is a list of beast that can be eaten and in the parallel a list of birds which cannot be eaten. In ‘e' they may eat of all clean beasts and in the parallel they may eat of all clean birds. In ‘f' there is a list of animals they may not eat, and in the parallel a list of fish that they may eat.
‘ Sons of Yahweh your God you (ye) are. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.'
The first forbidden thing is unwholesome religious practises. Because they were ‘the sons of Yahweh their God' (emphasised by being placed first in the sentence) 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 honour 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. These were regular mourning practises in Canaan and elsewhere, testified to at Ugarit, and may have had deep religious significance (see Leviticus 19:27-28, and compare Isaiah 3:24; Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah 16:6; Jeremiah 41:5; Ezekiel 7:18; Amos 8:10; Micah 1:16). They were not to be carried out by His people.
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 note here in this strange (to us) context a stress on Israel's sonship, a concept we have noticed earlier (Deuteronomy 1:31; Deuteronomy 8:5; compare Exodus 4:23). Israel as a whole was seen by Yahweh as His firstborn son, and He was as a Father to them. They must therefore do nothing to discredit the family name, or give the impression of belonging to any other. This is not a universal fatherhood of God. It is specifically indicating that it is those whom Yahweh has chosen, and on whom He has set His love (Chapter s 6-7), who are His children, and to whom He is Father. He is Father to those who have come within His covenant.
As early as the third and second millennia BC we find the deity addressed as father, for we find this title for the first time in Sumerian prayers, long before the time of Moses and the prophets, and there already the word "father" does not merely refer to the deity as powerful lord, and as procreator and ancestor of the king and of the people, but it also has quite another significance, and is used for the "merciful, gracious father, in whose hand the life of the whole land lies" (a hymn from Ur to the moon god Sin). But there the father was rather like a mother figure mothering her young, whereas to Israel Yahweh was the One Who in His authority had called them and in His love had prepared for them an inheritance. He would watch over them and in return they were to do His bidding.
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 dishonour His special creation and to demonstrate an attitude which is the opposite of consecration to Him.
Note in the analysis how this contrasts with the son of a goat (kid) boiled in its mother's milk. It does serve to bring out that God is concerned about all creatures. ‘Uncleanness' is not a condemnation of the creatures but of the environment in which they live. They were a constant lesson that His people themselves should live in a pure environment, as we now go on to see.
‘ For a holy people you (thou) are to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are on the face of the earth.'
And 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. Compare Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 26:18; Exodus 19:5. The word used here can signify the king's treasure, for segulla means ‘prized highly'. See its use in 1 Chronicles 29:3; Ecclesiastes 2:8. Its Akkadian equivalent sikiltu was used in treaty seals to describe kings as special possessions of their gods. Israel, His own sons, were thus treasured above all peoples on the face of the earth, and must present themselves accordingly. No other possession mark must be on them other than what He has determined (the latter would be the sign of circumcision which they would soon be required to submit to, but was not suitable until they had entered the land). Just as He has chosen a place to be among them, so has He chosen them as His own sons and as His own possession to be holy to Him.
‘ You (thou) shall not eat any abominable thing.'
That is why they must not eat any abominable 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. The types, though not the sequence, are based on Genesis 1. In the parallel passage in Leviticus 11 the connection with Genesis is much more specific.