Matthew Poole's Commentary Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. Heathenish rites of mourning prohibited, Deu 14:1,2; and the eating of any abominable thing, Deu 14:3. All unclean beasts, Deu 14:4-8, fish, Deu 14:9,10, and birds, prohibited, Deu 14:11-20. True tithing commanded, Deu 14:22; and where it was to be eaten, Deu 14:23-27. A command about the third year’s tithing, Deu 14:28; and who should eat it, Deu 14:29. Of the Lord your God; whom therefore you must not disparage by unworthy or unbecoming practices, such as here follow, and whom you must not disobey. Ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes, which were the practices of idolaters, both in the worship of their idols, as 1 Kings 18:28; or in their funerals, as here, and Jeremiah 16:6; or upon occasion of public calamities, as Jeremiah 41:5 47:5. See Poole "Leviticus 19:27", See Poole "Leviticus 19:28". See Poole "Leviticus 21:5". For the dead; through excessive sorrow for your dead friends, as if you had no hope of their happiness after death, 1 Thessalonians 4:13. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. No text from Poole on this verse. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. i.e. Unclean and forbidden by me, which therefore should be abominable to you. These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, Of which see Le 11. The small differences between some of their names here and there are not proper for this work. The learned reader may find them cleared in my Latin Synopsis. For others, they may well enough want the knowledge of them, both because these are the smaller matters of the law, and because this distinction of clean and unclean beasts is now out of date. The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. No text from Poole on this verse. And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. No text from Poole on this verse. Nevertheless these ye 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. No text from Poole on this verse. And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase. No text from Poole on this verse. These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: No text from Poole on this verse. And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you. No text from Poole on this verse. Of all clean birds ye shall eat. No text from Poole on this verse. But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, No text from Poole on this verse. And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind, No text from Poole on this verse. And every raven after his kind, No text from Poole on this verse. And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, No text from Poole on this verse. The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, No text from Poole on this verse. And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant, No text from Poole on this verse. And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. No text from Poole on this verse. And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten. No text from Poole on this verse. But of all clean fowls ye may eat. No text from Poole on this verse. Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. Unto the stranger; not to the proselyte, for such were obliged by this law, Leviticus 17:15, but to such as were strangers in religion as well as in nation. Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. This is to be understood of the second tithes, which seem to be the same with the tithes of the third year, mentioned here below, Deu 14:28 26:12, on which see above, on Deu 12:17. And to confirm this opinion, (though I would not lay too great a stress upon criticisms,) yet I cannot but observe that this tithing is spoken of only as the people’s act here, and Deu 26:12, and the Levites are not at all mentioned in either place as receivers or takers of them, but only as partakers of them together with the owners, and therefore they are so severely charged here upon their consciences, thou shalt truly tithe all thine increase, because the execution of this was left wholly to themselves, whereas the first tithes were received by the Levites, who therefore are said to take or receive those tithes, Numbers 18:26 Nehemiah 10:38 Hebrews 7:5. And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always. See Poole on "Deu 12:6", See Poole on "Deu 12:17". And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: No text from Poole on this verse. Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: Bind up the money in thine hand, i.e. in a bag to be taken into thy hand and carried with thee. And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household, No text from Poole on this verse. And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. Thou shalt not forsake him; thou shalt give him a share in such tithes, or in the product of them. At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: At the end of three years, i.e. in the third year, as it is expressed, Deu 26:12. So, in the end of three years, or of seven years, is the same with in the third or seventh year, as appears by comparing Deu 31:10 Joshua 9:16,17 2 Kings 18:9,10 17:6. All the tithe of thine increase. I join with those expositors who make this the same tithe with the former, Deu 14:22, as being called by the same title without any distinction between them, save only as to the place of eating them. See Poole "Deu 14:22", and See Poole "Deu 12:17". The same year: this is added to show that he speaks of the third year, and not of the fourth year, as some might conjecture from the phrase, at the end of three years. And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest. No text from Poole on this verse. |
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