Deuteronomy 14-15

Intro:

Read Deuteronomy 14:1-8

I. Treasured Possession vs. 1-2

The uniqueness of Israel is expressed is 14:1 where Moses says, “You are the sons of the Lord your God.”

In 14:2 Moses says, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

The order of words in the Hebrew of both these sentences is significant.

They begin by stating, “Sons you are …” and “a holy people you are.…”

This emphasizes their unique identity.

The same words as in verse 2 were used in 7:6, the passage that commands the Israelites to utterly destroy the nations they overthrow in their conquest of the promised land.

Moses ends this discussion of prohibited things by saying, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God”

Three things mark out the people as different from others.

The first is adoption: they are God’s children (14:1).

The most important thing about them is that they belong to God as a child belongs to a father.

He initiated a covenant with them, and he has so far kept that covenant in an amazing way, giving them all they needed, sometimes through miraculous provision.

As people who belong to God, their behavior needs to be different from that of others, and chapter 14 gives some behaviors that mark them out from their neighbors.

Many conform to the world because they feel that this is the way to acceptance by others and thus to significance.

They are looking for a sense of belonging. But there is a much more powerful influence on them—the sense of belonging to God as his children.

If they grasp this, they will realize that it is not necessary for them to sin in order to belong.

In fact, sin would be below their dignity as God’s children.

The second thing that marks out the Israelites is sanctification or holiness, which is stated twice in this passage.

Verse 2 says, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God” (see v. 21c).

We are separated for God and his service. This presents another aspect of our identity.

We are under a new ownership, and in this we find meaning and purpose.

If we sin we lose our way and our peace, for we are not being what we were meant to be.

So Paul says that the peace of God guards us (Philippians 4:7) and rules in our hearts (Colossians 3:15).

Peace helps keep us holy, for the loss of it would alert us to the dangerous situation we are in.

The third thing that marks out the Israelites is election: “… and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (14:2b).

They did not deserve salvation. It was a free, unmerited gift given by God to an unworthy people.

But election did not involve only a change of status; it involved becoming God’s treasured possession

The first command found in this passage has to do with rituals that Israel’s neighbors practiced when someone died.

All cultures have such rituals, and there is a close connection between religion and the way people mourn for and honor their dead.

In most non-Western cultures funerals are an extremely important aspect of community life, usually with neighbors, relatives, and friends getting involved in the arrangements.

Because funerals are an extremely important part of the life of a community, it is imperative that Christians find ways to bury their dead that help express grief and adequately honor the dead person.

The Israelites had such procedures.

There was weeping, tearing of clothes, and wearing of sackcloth (Genesis 37:34). Mourning ceremonies could last for between seven (Genesis 50:10) and thirty days

II. No Bacon for You! vs. 3-21

Vs. 3-8 Clean Animals

You shall not eat any abomination

This is a “term that suggests anything that is repulsive to and abhorred by God or even man

Thru vs. 21 we see a list of clean animals and unclean

Some reasons are given for their designation but most aren’t

For example, vultures (14:12) are scavengers who eat animals that die naturally, and eating such is prohibited in verse 21.

This could apply to the birds of prey also.

Some of these unclean animals had associations with Canaanite religions

Lots of scholars have postulated why these animals are unclean but we really aren’t given a reason

One popular reason is Health and there just isn’t anything to support that

This really gets to the heart of obedience

Our obedience shouldn’t be based on if we think the reason is valid

For example, the Israelites are given permission to give or sell some of these meats to neighboring nations

God allowed the eating of some of these foods later in his encounter with Peter in Joppa, which shows that some of these animals were not harmful to health.

When Peter, as a Jew, expressed reluctance to eat this food he was told, “What God has made clean, do not call common” (Acts 11:9).

This gives us a clue as to what made these foods clean and unclean.

They are such because God regarded them to be such.

Moses goes on to give the real reason for the prohibitions: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God” (14:21c).

Israelites were not permitted to eat blood, so the blood was poured out before the flesh was cooked.

This was one of their covenant regulations relating to ritual cleansing. Such food was not kosher.

IV. Tithes vs. 22-29

A CLERGYMAN WROTE a wealthy and influential businessman, requesting a subscription to a worthy charity.

He promptly received a curt refusal that ended by saying, “As far as I can see, this Christian business is just one continuous give, give, give.”

After a brief interval the clergyman answered, “I wish to thank you for the best definition of the Christian life that I have yet heard.”

Giving is a topic that appears several times in the Pentateuch, and Deuteronomy has its fair share of passages on the subject.

It is a major theme of the section of Deuteronomy that we are presently going through (chapters 12–26), appearing in chapters 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, and 26.

Apart from the special offerings that are given at special events and for special reasons like thanksgiving and forgiveness, Deuteronomy speaks of four kinds of regular offerings:

the annual tithe,

the tithe that is given once every three years

the offering of firstborn livestock

firstfruits.

Vs. 22-27 Annual Tithe

He first talks about the annual tithe: “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year” (14:22).

Tithe is the old English word for “tenth

A tithe of grain, wine, and oil is asked for. Included in the list is the firstborn of the herd and flock

In those days currency was hardly used, and things were bought and sold in kind.

In an agricultural economy earnings were generally measured by the yield of the field and livestock.

Tithing achieves some important ends.

“Tithing had two values: (1) it represented a gift to God, recognizing that farm produce and livestock came from him—indeed, a tithe was a token of repayment to him;

(2) it provided a large part of the resources needed to maintain temples and temple personnel, such as priests and Levites.”

In our passage Moses mentions another important purpose of tithing: “… that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always”.

Fearing God in the Old Testament is the basic response to God and is almost equivalent to what the New Testament calls belief.

The discipline of tithing confirms and establishes one’s commitment to God.

We can begin to neglect God’s lordship over our lives as we get engrossed in the things of this world.

But being in the habit of giving a tithe of everything we earn reminds us and affirms that God is most important to us.

vs. 29 That the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands

V. Lending Practices vs. 1-6

Deuteronomy 15 gives us important teachings about our approach to the poor and needy.

The needy people mentioned here are the poor and slaves.

Today we could add to that list people such as the mentally and physically handicapped and insane, the terminally ill including those suffering from AIDS, and orphans and the aged who have no family to care for them.

Deuteronomy 15 gives laws about releasing people from debts during the sabbatical year (15:1–11), releasing slaves after six years (15:12–18), and setting apart firstborn males from the flock (15:19–23).

At first these laws may seem to be quite unrelated to our lives in the twenty-first century.

Therefore, it is easy to read this passage as a record of how a group of ancient people lived that is of some academic interest but with little practical relevance to us today.

But that has not been our approach to the laws of Deuteronomy.

We believe that there are principles in these laws that should influence our behavior today as they give us a window into the mind of their Creator.

The importance of this chapter is evidenced by the fact that this chapter has the words “you shall” used in an imperative sense twenty-three times in the ESV.

Other statements such as “take care,” “strictly obey,” and “be careful” appear five times, emphasizing the importance of obedience to the laws given here.

VI. Dealing with the Poor vs. 7-11

VII. Slavery vs. 12-18

VII. First Born of Flock vs. 19-23