Deuteronomy 14

B. An exposition of selected covenant laws Chs. 12-25 Moses’ continuing homiletical exposition of the Law of Israel that follows explains reasons for the covenant laws that arose from the Ten Commandments. This address concludes with directions for celebrating and confirming the covenant (Deuteronomy 26:1-15). The section contains a mixture of laws previously revealed to the Israelites and other laws not previously revealed in the code given at Sinai (Exodus 20:1 to Exodus 23:19). This is instruction preached rather than codified as comprehensive legislation.

“The specific laws in this section were given to help the people subordinate every area of their lives to the LORD, and to help them eradicate whatever might threaten that pure devotion.” [Note: Deere, p. 283. “Placement of the instruction about worship at the sanctuary in first position indicates clearly its priority for Deuteronomy, which assumes that the starting point for the proper, full, and exclusive love of the Lord (the primary demand of the first and second commandments and the Shema) is found in the way Israel carries out the activities of worship.” [Note: Miller, p. 129. There is an obvious general movement from laws dealing with Israel’s religious life (Deuteronomy 12:1 to Deuteronomy 16:17) to those affecting her civil life (Deuteronomy 16:18 to Deuteronomy 22:8) and finally to those touching personal life (Deuteronomy 22:9 to Deuteronomy 26:15).

Two insightful writers suggested the following outlines for these chapters. [Note: Merrill, Deuteronomy, pp. 218-331; and Stephen A. Kaufman, “The Structure of the Deuteronomic Law,” MAARAV 1 (1978-79):105-58. CommandmentMerrillKaufmanDescriptionDeu 12:1-31ch. 12FidelityDeu 12:32 to Deuteronomy 13:18ch. 12WorshipDeu 14:1-21 Deuteronomy 13:1 to Deuteronomy 14:27 Name of GodDeu 14:22 to Deuteronomy 16:17 Deuteronomy 14:28 to Deuteronomy 16:17 SabbathDeu 16:18 to Deuteronomy 18:22 Deuteronomy 16:18 to Deuteronomy 18:22 AuthorityDeu 19:1 to Deuteronomy 22:8 Deuteronomy 19:1 to Deuteronomy 22:8 MurderDeu 22:9 to Deuteronomy 23:18 Deuteronomy 22:9 to Deuteronomy 23:19 AdulteryDeu 23:19 to Deuteronomy 24:7 Deuteronomy 23:20 to Deuteronomy 24:7 TheftDeu 24:8 to Deuteronomy 25:4 Deuteronomy 24:8 to Deuteronomy 25:4 False witnessDeu 25:5-19 Deuteronomy 25:5-16 Coveting". . . the entire second discourse of Moses (Deuteronomy 5-26) is a single literary unit that convincingly demonstrates that the moral law informs the statutes, judgments .. . and commands of God." [Note: Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Toward Old Testament Ethics, p. 129. In contrast with the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20-23), the Deuteronomic Code, as some scholars prefer to call this section (chs. 12-26), is a popular exposition rather than a formal legal code. Its purpose was to explain to the generation entering the land all the laws that needed clarification, emphasis, and application, in view of Israel’s imminent entrance into Canaan. These laws reflect a centralized, monarchical society.

The value of this section of Scripture to the Christian today lies primarily in its revelation of the heart, mind, and will of God. The modern student of these chapters should look for this kind of insight here. This is the revelatory value of the Law.

Deuteronomy 14:1-2

Because the Israelites were God’s sons (Deuteronomy 14:1; i.e., because of their special intimate relationship with Yahweh) they were to eat and act as He directed here (cf. Deuteronomy 1:31; Deuteronomy 8:5). This is the first of two affirmations of Israel being God’s special possession, His chosen people, in Deuteronomy (cf. Deuteronomy 26:18). [Note: See Fruchtenbaum, pp. 114-15. Self-mutilation and shaving the forehead were pagan practices associated with idolatry. The Canaanites did these things to express passionate sorrow for the dead.

Laceration may have been a seasonal rite in the Baal fertility cults as well. [Note: John Gray, The Legacy of Canaan, p. 252. Cf. 1 Kings 18:28. “The external appearance of the people should reflect their internal status as the chosen and holy people of God.” [Note: Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, p. 272.

Deuteronomy 14:3-21

The diet of the Canaanites also had connection with their religion. Perhaps some of what God forbade would have been unhealthful for the Israelites to eat (cf. Leviticus 11). [Note: See Jay D. Fawver and R. Larry Overstreet, “Moses and Preventive Medicine,” Bibliotheca Sacra 147:587 (July-September):270-85. However the main reason for the prohibitions seems to have been that certain animals did not conform to what the Israelites considered normal or typical. [Note: M.

Douglas, Purity and Danger, pp. 53-55; Wenham, The Book . . ., p. 169. Another view is that the distinctions between clean and unclean were deliberately arbitrary to teach the Israelites that God’s election of them from among other nations had also been arbitrary. [Note: Merrill, Deuteronomy, p. 236; idem, “A Theology . . .,” p. 80; et al.] Others believe that only some of these distinctions were arbitrary. [Note: E.g., Kline, “Deuteronomy,” p. 174. For a survey of the various interpretations of the motives behind these prohibitions (e.g., hygiene, association with pagan religions, etc.), see Kim-Kwong Chan, “You Shall Not Eat These Abominable Things: An Examination Of Different Interpretations On Deuteronomy 14:3-20,” East Asia Journal of Theology 3:1 (1985):88-106; and Deere, pp. 287-88. One characteristic of all the forbidden birds, despite the imprecision of the names that describe them, seems to be that they all consumed carrion. [Note: J. E. Hartley, Leviticus, p. 159. “The ceremonial custom of boiling a kid in its mother’s milk is known from the ancient Canaanite tablets found at Ugarit [i.e., the Ras Shamra Tablets]. Such a rite was superstitiously observed by the Canaanites, hoping that through magical acts they could increase fertility and productivity (Deuteronomy 14:21; Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26).” [Note: Schultz, p. 55. “. . . various Canaanite cults regularly engaged in the practices of seething a kid in its mother’s milk as a fertility rite of sympathetic magic intended to coerce the deity into granting fertility to the wives, fields, and flocks of the cults’ adherents. Such rites of sympathetic magic ‘worked’ on the premise that the gods were in some way part of and subject to the same natural created order that human beings also inhabited. By finding the common natural connection points, human beings could ‘push the right buttons’ and thus manipulate the gods. . . “Israelites do not, through an act of sympathetic magic, try to coerce the deity into blessing them with fertility for the year to come; but instead, after the year’s crops have been harvested and whether that year’s harvest has been fruitful or not, Israelites bring a tithe to God as an act of gratitude [cf. Deuteronomy 14:22-29].” [Note: Michael L. Goldberg, “The Story of the Moral: Gifts or Bribes in Deuteronomy?” Interpretation 38:1 (January 1984):21-22. Another view is that this prohibition taught the Israelites not to use what promotes life, milk, to destroy life. [Note: Deere, p. 289. In the present dispensation all foods are clean (Mark 7:19; Acts 10:15; Romans 14:14; et al.). However, we too should avoid foods that are unhealthful, since our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and blood, the carrier and symbol of life (Genesis 9:4). Moreover we should avoid practices that may lead us away from God’s will or appear to others that we have departed from God’s will (1 Thessalonians 5:22).

Deuteronomy 14:22-16

4. Laws arising from the fourth commandment 14:22-16:17 The fourth commandment is, “Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (Deuteronomy 5:12). The reason for observing the Sabbath day was Yahweh’s redemption of Israel from bondage in Egypt and His consequent adoption of the Israelites as His chosen people (Deuteronomy 5:15). In the ancient Near East, nations expressed their gratitude, loyalty, and worship to their sovereign by bringing him offerings periodically. What follows in this section is the laws concerning how Israel was to do this.