The Law · Chapter 14 of 34
Deuteronomy 14
Because Israel is God's holy and chosen people, they must not mourn like the pagans or eat unclean food. Moses lists clean and unclean animals, birds, and sea creatures. Their distinct diet marks their distinct identity. He then commands the yearly tithe eaten before God, and a third year tithe stored to feed the Levite, stranger, orphan, and widow, so that God may bless their work.
What happens in Deuteronomy 14
Moses grounds these laws in identity: Israel are the children of the LORD, a holy and peculiar people chosen above all nations. Therefore they must not gash themselves or shave for the dead as pagans do, nor eat abominable things. He details the clean land animals, those that both chew the cud and part the hoof, and names forbidden ones like the camel, hare, and swine. Water creatures with fins and scales are clean; others forbidden.
Clean birds may be eaten, but a list of birds of prey and scavengers is banned, along with flying insects, and they must not eat anything that dies of itself. Then Moses turns to the tithe: they are to eat the tithe of grain, wine, oil, and firstborn animals before God at His chosen place, to learn to fear Him. Every third year the tithe is stored locally to feed the landless Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.
Deuteronomy 14 in context
Set within the covenant code, this chapter joins dietary distinctiveness to Israel's calling as a holy people. The pagan mourning customs and food practices around them were often tied to false worship and the cults of the dead.
The clean and unclean distinctions, given more fully in Leviticus, functioned as daily reminders of Israel's set apart status. The tithe laws weave worship together with structured care for the poor and the landless Levites.
Main themes of Deuteronomy 14
Deuteronomy 14 (KJV)
1Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 2For 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. 3Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. 4These are the beasts which ye 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, and the wild ox, and the chamois. 6And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. 7Nevertheless 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. 8And 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. 9These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: 10And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you. 11Of all clean birds ye shall eat. 12But these are they of which ye 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 flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten. 20But of all clean fowls ye may eat. 21Ye shall not eat of anything 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. 22Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. 23And 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. 24And 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: 25Then 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: 26And 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, 27And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. 28At 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: 29And 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.
Verses to carry from Deuteronomy 14
“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.”Deuteronomy 14:2
“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.”Deuteronomy 14:23
“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.”Deuteronomy 14:29
Christian typology
How Deuteronomy 14 points to Jesus
The clean and unclean food laws marked Israel as a set apart people, but they were always signs pointing beyond themselves. Jesus, questioned about washing and eating, declared that defilement comes from the heart, not from food, and Mark notes that in saying this He made all foods clean. In Christ the barrier that these laws maintained between Israel and the nations is opened, for He makes a new holy people, called out from every tribe, whose distinctiveness is now the transformed heart rather than the menu.
Peter's vision of the sheet let down from heaven confirms it: what God has cleansed is not to be called common. The chapter's marriage of worship and care for the poor is fulfilled in the One who welcomed the outcast and taught that love for God and neighbor is one law.
Questions about Deuteronomy 14
Why tie dietary laws to Israel being a holy people?
The laws are framed not as health rules but as identity markers. Because Israel belonged to God as His treasured children, chosen above the nations, their eating was to reflect their distinctiveness. Every meal became a small act of remembering that they were set apart. The surrounding nations tied food and mourning customs to idolatry and cults of the dead, so Israel's different practices visibly declared a different allegiance in the most ordinary daily choices.
How does the third year tithe reveal God's heart?
It shows that worship and justice are inseparable. The stored tithe fed those without land inheritance: the Levite, the resident stranger, the orphan, and the widow, the people most vulnerable to poverty. God builds care for the marginalized into the rhythm of Israel's giving, and ties His blessing on their work to their generosity. Devotion to God that ignores the needy is incomplete; true reverence overflows into provision for those who cannot provide for themselves.
Reflection
Israel was called to let their identity as God's children shape even their meals and their generosity. Where does your sense of belonging to God actually touch your ordinary habits and your treatment of those in need? Consider one everyday practice you could offer to God as a reminder of whose you are.
A prayer from Deuteronomy 14
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