Chapter Fourteen

Prohibition of bodily incisions and shaving of hair as a sign of mourning, following pagan custom. — Repetition of the law concerning clean and unclean animals. On the second tithe.

Deuteronomy 14:1. You are the children of the Lord your God; do not make incisions on your body and do not shave the hair above your eyes for the dead; Deuteronomy 14:2. for you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be his own people out of all the peoples that are on the earth. Lev 19:27-28. The making of incisions on the body and the shaving of hair as a sign of grief for the dead is forbidden, as was practiced by pagans (Theodoret, Commentary on Deuteronomy, question 13); for example, the pagan Arabs did this in honor of the god Orotal. Herodotus 3:8, Cicero (De legib. 2:25), and others speak of the shaving of hair and bodily cuts as signs of mourning. From 1 Sam 18:28 we learn that the priests of Baal had the custom of making incisions on their bodies as a sign of intensified grief and intensified prayer.

Deuteronomy 14:3. Do not eat any abomination. Deuteronomy 14:4. These are the animals you may eat: oxen, sheep, goats, Deuteronomy 14:5. deer and gazelle, and buffalo, and doe, and bison, and oryx, and giraffe. Deuteronomy 14:6. Any animal that has split hooves with a deep cleft in both hooves, and that chews the cud — that you may eat; Deuteronomy 14:7. but these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud and have split hooves with a deep cleft: the camel, the hare, and the jerboa, because, although they chew the cud, their hooves are not split — they are unclean for you; Deuteronomy 14:8. and the pig, because its hooves are split but it does not chew the cud — it is unclean for you; do not eat their meat, and do not touch their carcasses. Deuteronomy 14:9. Of all the creatures that are in the water, eat all those that have fins and scales; Deuteronomy 14:10. but all those that have no fins and scales, do not eat — it is unclean for you. Deuteronomy 14:11. You may eat every clean bird; Deuteronomy 14:12. but these you shall not eat among them: the eagle, the vulture, and the osprey, Deuteronomy 14:13. and the kite, and the falcon, and the gyrfalcon with their kinds, Deuteronomy 14:14. and every raven with its kind, Deuteronomy 14:15. and the ostrich, and the owl, and the gull, and the hawk with its kind, Deuteronomy 14:16. and the little owl, and the ibis, and the swan, Deuteronomy 14:17. and the pelican, and the griffon vulture, and the cormorant, Deuteronomy 14:18. and the heron, and the plover with its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. Deuteronomy 14:19. All winged creeping things are unclean for you; do not eat them. Deuteronomy 14:20. You may eat every clean bird. Cf. Lev 11:5 Oryx (Deut 14:5) is a type of antelope. The cameleopard is the giraffe.

Deuteronomy 14:21. Do not eat anything that has died of itself; give it to the foreigner who happens to be living in your settlements, and he may eat it, or sell it to him, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk. Cf. Lev 17:15. Compared with Lev 18:15, Deut 14:21 allows some leniency only with respect to the “foreigner who happens to be living in the settlements of Israel” and who does not belong to the “holy” members of the chosen community. The expression “do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (cf. Exod 23:19) may be compared with the expressions: “do not slaughter a cow or a sheep on the same day as its offspring” (Lev 22:28); “if you come across a bird’s nest, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or on the eggs, do not take the mother together with the young” (Deut 22:6). Taken together with other provisions (“do not plow with an ox and a donkey together,” Deut 22:10; “do not muzzle the ox when it is threshing,” Deut 25:4, and so on), they characterize the humane attitude of Mosaic legislation even toward living creatures not endowed with high spiritual faculties, which serve for the benefit of humanity.

Deuteronomy 14:22. Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed that comes from the field each year, Deuteronomy 14:23. and eat it before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose to make his name dwell there; bring the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, and the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God all your days. Deuteronomy 14:24. But if the road is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, because the place that the Lord your God will choose to set his name is far from you, and the Lord your God has blessed you, Deuteronomy 14:25. then exchange it for silver and take the silver in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose; Deuteronomy 14:26. and spend the silver on whatever your soul desires — oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, or whatever your soul requires; and eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. Deuteronomy 14:27. And the Levite who is in your settlements, do not neglect him, for he has no portion or inheritance with you. Deuteronomy 14:28. At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year and store it within your settlements; Deuteronomy 14:29. and the Levite shall come, for he has no portion or inheritance with you, as shall the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow who are in your settlements, and they shall eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do. See note on Deut 12:6-14.