CHAPTER 14

(1451 B.C.)

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN FOOD

¹You are the children of the LORD your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead (the heathen did this).

²For you are an holy people unto the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the Earth (Israel was to receive the Word of the Lord from Jehovah and give it to the world; as well, they were to be the womb of the Messiah, hence all the restrictions and all the restrictions were done for purpose and reason, which, if violated, would hinder Israels very purpose).

³You shall not eat any abominable thing.

⁴These are the beasts which you shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

⁵The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg (antelope), and the wild ox, and the chamois (wild sheep).

⁶And every beast that parts the hoof, and cleaves the cleft into two claws, and chews the cud among the beasts, that you shall eat.

⁷Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you.

⁸And the swine (hogs), because it divides the hoof, yet chews not the cud, it is unclean unto you: you shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.

⁹These you shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall you eat:

¹⁰And whatsoever has not fins and scales you may not eat; it is unclean unto you.

¹¹Of all clean birds you shall eat.

¹²But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

¹³And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind,

¹⁴And every raven after his kind,

¹⁵And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,

¹⁶The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan,

¹⁷And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant,

¹⁸And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.

¹⁹And every creeping thing that flies is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.

²⁰But of all clean fowls you may eat.

²¹You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you shall give it unto the stranger that is in your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it unto an alien (Gentile): for you are an holy people unto the LORD your God. You shall not seethe a kid (a baby lamb) in his mothers milk (for the reason that the lamb was more typical of Christ than any other of the animal kingdom [Jn. 1:29]; when Jesus went to the Cross, all of these particular rules regarding eating were concluded; this is proven in Acts, Chpt. 10, regarding the Vision given to Simon Peter).

TITHES

²²You shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed, that the field brings forth year by year. (Tithing means to give a tenth. The foundation for tithing was not given in the Law, but rather some 400 years earlier with Abraham. He paid tithe to Melchizedek, who was a Type of Christ [Gen. 14:19-20; Heb. 5:6]. All of us are children of Abraham [Gal. 3:7], so that means that tithing continues, even unto this hour. Inasmuch as Abraham paid tithe to Melchizedek, who was a Type of Christ, tithing continues even under the New Covenant. We are to pay tithe to help finance the Work of God, which is the same as paying them to Christ.)

²³And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place which He shall choose to place His Name there, the tithe of your corn, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks; that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

²⁴And if the way be too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from you, which the LORD your God shall choose to set His Name there, when the LORD your God has blessed you:

²⁵Then shall you turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose (if the Israelite lived a long distance from the Tabernacle or Temple, which means that he could not drive animals that distance, or take great amounts of wheat, etc., he was to sell the tenth, and then take the money to the Tabernacle, and purchase the animals there that were needed for sacrifice, etc.):

²⁶And you shall bestow that money for whatsoever your soul lusts after (desires), for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever your soul desires: and you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you, and your household,

²⁷And the Levite that is within your gates; you shall not forsake him; for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

²⁸At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up within your gates:

²⁹And the Levite, (because he has no part nor inheritance with you,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do. (The meaning of the third year is as follows: the tithe of the first and second years was to be eaten before the Lord at the Sanctuary. What was not used, and they only used a small part, the balance was given to the Sanctuary; the tithe of the third year was for the poor and needy, including the Levites.)