by J. Riddle (Cheshunt)
Read Chapter 14.6-29
As we have noted, Deut.14 makes it clear that as a “holy people” Israel was to be distinct in four ways:
In our first study of this chapter, we considered the warning against disfiguration for the dead, v1-3, and commenced to examine the second part of the chapter, viz:
This included (A) animals, v4-8; (B) aquatic creatures, v9-10; (C) birds and other creatures, v11-20.
A) ANIMALS, v4-8
We noticed that this section covered clean and unclean food: “these … ye shall eat,” v4-6, and “these ye shall not eat,” v7-8.
i) Animals that could be eaten, v4-6
It has been said that ‘we are what we eat!’ The ox, sheep, goat, hart, roebuck all remind us of the Lord Jesus in various ways, and something of His lovely character and beauty will be seen in every child of God who spends time contemplating and enjoying Him!
ii) The animals that could not be eaten, v7-8
These were in two categories: (a) animals that chewed the cud but divided not the hoof, and (b) animals that divided the hoof but chewed not the cud. These were animals that did not display the character of the Lord Jesus, Whose outward and inward life was perfectly complementary. Anything less will not be suitable food for believers.
a) Animals that chew the cud but divide not the hoof, v7
“The camel, and the hare, and the coney.” There was inward activity (they chewed the cud), but outward life was unaffected (they did not divide the hoof). The inward and outward life of the Lord Jesus was perfect! We can easily imbibe the spirit that goes in for theory without practice, and feeds on intellectual arguments without making the slightest adjustment to daily walk and practice. It takes the form of endless debate and discussion, without practical godliness. See 1Tim.1.4, “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith.” Compare 2Tim.14-17. We must avoid such a spirit in ourselves, and ensure that we are not influenced by others. Animals that chew the cud and divide not the hoof describe people who give themselves to thought and study, but it does not have any effect on their lives.
b) Animals that divide the hoof but that chew not the cud, v8
“The swine” is the only animal specified here, and it is difficult to imagine anything about the swine which depicts any form of godliness. Its natural habitat is described as “wallowing in the mire,” 2Pet.2.22. Perhaps this is precisely the lesson. People who have an outward form of godliness, but are devoid of inward reality, are in fact totally unclean. The Lord Jesus quoted Is.29.13 in this connection: “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me,” Matt.15.8. The Saviour was referring here to the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, of whom He later said, “within they are full of extortion and excess … but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness,” Matt.23.25-27. External orthodoxy without inward devotion is another form of uncleanness. The Lord Jesus was marked by outward perfection and inward devotion. He had an inner delight in doing the will of God.
B) AQUATIC CREATURES, v9-10
The prohibition on aquatic creatures without “fins and scales” may refer to such aquatic creatures as frogs, etc., but it has been suggested that the prohibition refers to creatures that scavenge on the bottom. So far as fish are concerned, eating shark would be forbidden. It has no scales! But however we understand the difference between the two categories, one thing is very clear: in water as on land, there is a difference between clean and unclean creatures. It is a distinction we must never forget.
C) BIRDS, v11-19
Unlike the animals, the clean birds, v11,20, are not specified, but we do have a list of the unclean birds: “The eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, and the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind, and every raven after his kind, and the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow (JND ‘seagull’), and the hawk after his kind, the little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant, and the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat,” v12-18. Compare Lev.11.13-14. All carnivorous birds (those that feed on flesh) were unclean, and so were the omnivorous birds (those that feed on anything). Notice too that creeping things that flew were not allowable, v19. Lev.11.29-30 lists additional creatures that were not to be eaten: “These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind, and the ferret and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.”
So, if you fancied a vulture for lunch, you had to think again! You could not
eat your pet tortoise, and it was a case of pas d'escargots if you went to
France!! Not surprising, is it, when you think about the diet of the birds in
question, and close proximity to the ground of the creatures named in
Lev.11.29-30. All this emphasises that holy people must be so careful about
their mental and spiritual diet. It will not go amiss to add that we ought also
to do all in our power to ensure the well-being of our bodies as “the temple of
the Holy Ghost,” 1Cor.6.19.
We should notice that both Lev.11 and Deut.14 do not recommend avoidance of
certain things: they prohibit them absolutely. The Bible calls them “an
abomination,” Lev.11.1-13, and an “abominable thing,” Deut.14.3. There was no
question of experimenting with ‘nouvelle cuisine.’ They were to be completely
excluded from Israel's diet. The Israelite who objected with, ‘what's the harm
in roast owl now and then,’ or ‘why not a tasty dish of ferret in batter,’ was
in danger of becoming “abominable” and “defiled,” Lev.11.43. We must not
experiment with the defiling influences of this world. Remember that “a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” 1Cor.5.6. Isaiah spells out the danger as
follows: “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it
were with a cart rope,” 5.18. The cord becomes a cart rope! It has been said
that ‘an evil inclination is at the first like a fine hair-string, but the
finishing like a cart-rope,’ We must never play with sin. When Joseph was
tempted by Potiphar's wife, “he left his garment in her hand, and filed, and got
him out,” Gen.39.12.
The section concludes with two further prohibitions, v21. Like the preceding instructions, the first is based in holiness: “Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it to the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it: or thou mayest sell it to an alien: for thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God.” The second is based on kindness, although some think that this probably refers to Canaan's fertility rights: “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk,” v21. This was evidently a prohibition against taking the kid from its mother's teat, with great distress to its mother, and eating it for dinner. This passage, together with Ex.23.19, 34.26, governs the Hebrew practice of separating milk and meat foods, which is still part of dietary law in contemporary Judaism.
The New Testament says nothing about dietary regulations. Paul censures false teachers who forbid marriage, and impose abstinence from animal foods “which God created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving,” 1Tim.4.3-5. As J. Allen (What the Bible Teaches — 1Tim.) points out, ‘The Lord showed in Mk.7.15, as Paul taught in Rom.14.4 and as confirmed in Peter's experience in Acts 10.9-16, that all such national and ceremonial restrictions had a limited purpose and are now no longer applicable. Their whole typical purpose is now absorbed in the real sanctification of which they were only a shadow.’
“Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.” Quite clearly, the two tithes spoken of in this chapter, v22-27 and 28-29, are quite different from the tithes described in Num.18. This passage deals with the enjoyment of the personal tithe. Israel was to “tithe all the increase of thy seed … and thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose to place His name there … that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always.” The tithe was to be eaten in ‘the place of the name.’ It was either brought to the ‘place of the name’ and eaten there, v23, or if this involved a long journey, the tithes were to be sold, and the money used to purchase replacements on arrival, v24-26. In either case, “Thou shalt eat before the Lord, in the place which He shall choose to place His name there.” v23,26. Notice the two expressions: (a) “that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God alway.” v23, and (b) “thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,” v26.
So the Israelite ate the tithe himself, but he ate in the presence of God, thus acknowledging that all that he had came from the good hand of God, and that he ate in fellowship with God Who gave it in the first place. So we have (a) a right attitude to God, and (b) a rejoicing heart before God. The two go together!
But what is more, every Israelite was to do the same. They all went to the ‘place of the name,’ and ate there before the Lord. This certainly silences the argument that as long as we acknowledge the Lord in our private lives, it doesn't really matter about coming “together … into one place,” 1Cor.11.20. Like the Israelites, we are to bring ‘the wealth of the inheritance … to the common meeting place of saints’ (C. A. Coates). Enjoyment of the tithe before God will result in
The second tithe in Deut.14 was to be provided for the Levite and others locally every three years. Compare 26.12-14, where the third year is called “the year of tithing.” C. A. Coates puts it nicely: ‘The result of three years' enjoyment of the plenty of the inheritance, is that one becomes qualified for a very large-hearted ministry to those who have need … There is nothing said of more than one tithe until we come to Deuteronomy, but now we see the people viewed as “sons of Jehovah.” So enriched that they can render even three tithes, and out of their abundance can minister satisfaction to every kind of need.’ C. H. Mackintosh is equally delightful: ‘God would teach His people to think of and care for all in need. The tithe belonged to Him, but He would give them the rare and exquisite privilege of devoting it to the blessed object of making hearts glad.’
The result of distributing to the servants of God, and to the needy, follows: “that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.” This is still the result of “cheerful” stewardship: He which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully,” 2Cor.9.6-7.
The absence of any command in the New Testament regarding tithing indicates that believers today are not under this obligation. But the demands of grace are greater than those required by the law! The Macedonian believers, in “deep poverty,” recognised this: “For to their power (ability), I bear record, and beyond their power (ability), they were willing of themselves; praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints,” 2Cor.8.1-4. The principles of our financial stewardship are set out in 1Cor.16.2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him.” We should be able to sing ‘in sincerity and in truth.’
—to be continued (D.V.)