Moses
in this chapter teaches them, I. To distinguish themselves from their
neighbours by a singularity, 1. In their mourning, ver. 1, 2. 2. In their
meat, ver. 3-21. II. To devote themselves unto God, and, in token of that,
to give him his dues out of their estates, the yearly tithe, and that every
third year, for the maintenance of their religious feasts, the Levites, and
the poor, ver. 22, &c.
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What
Might Be Eaten, and What Not.
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B.
C. 1451.
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1 Ye are the
children of the LORD
your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your
eyes for the dead. 2 For thou art a 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. 3 Thou shalt not eat any
abominable thing. 4 These are the beasts which ye shall
eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, 5 The hart, and the
roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the
wild ox, and the chamois. 6 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. 7 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. 8 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. 9 These ye shall eat of all that are
in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: 10
And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean
unto you. 11 Of all clean birds ye shall eat.
12 But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the
ossifrage, and the ospray, 13 And the glede, and the kite, and
the vulture after his kind, 14 And every raven after his
kind, 15 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and
the hawk after his kind, 16 The little owl, and the great owl,
and the swan, 17 And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the
cormorant, 18 And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and
the lapwing, and the bat. 19 And every creeping thing that
flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten. 20 But
of all clean fowls ye may eat. 21 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 a holy people unto the LORD
thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
Moses here tells the people of Israel,
I. How God had dignified them, as a peculiar people, with three
distinguishing privileges, which were their honour, and figures of those
spiritual blessings in heavenly things with which God has in Christ blessed
us. 1. Here is election: The Lord hath chosen thee, v. 2. Not
for their own merit, nor for any good works foreseen, but because he would
magnify the riches of his power and grace among them. He did not choose them
because they were by their own dedication and subjection a peculiar people
to him above other nations, but he chose them that they might be so by his
grace; and thus were believers chosen, Eph. i. 4. 2. Here is adoption (v.
1): "You are the children of the Lord your God, formed by him
into a people, owned by him as his people, nay, his family, a people near
unto him, nearer than any other." Israel is my son, my
first-born; not because he needed children, but because they were
orphans, and needed a father. Every Israelite is indeed a child of God, a
partaker of his nature and favour, his love and blessing Behold what
manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us! 3. Here is
sanctification (v. 2): "Thou art a holy people, separated
and set apart for God, devoted to his service, designed for his praise,
governed by a holy law, graced by a holy tabernacle, and the holy ordinances
relating to it." God's people are under the strongest obligations to be
holy, and, if they are holy, are indebted to the grace of God that makes
them so. The Lord has set them apart for himself, and qualified them for his
service and the enjoyment of him, and so has made them holy to himself.
II. How they ought to distinguish themselves by a sober singularity from all
the nations that were about them. And, God having thus advanced them, let
not them debase themselves by admitting the superstitious customs of
idolaters, and, by making themselves like them, put themselves upon the
level with them. Be you the children of the Lord your God; so the
Seventy read it, as a command, that is, "Carry yourselves as becomes
the children of God, and do nothing to disgrace the honour and forfeit the
privileges of the relation." In two things particularly they must
distinguish themselves:--
1. In their mourning: You shall not cut yourselves, v. 1. This
forbids (as some think), not only their cutting themselves at their
funerals, either to express their grief or with their own blood to appease
the infernal deities, but their wounding and mangling themselves in the
worship of their gods, as Baal's prophets did (1 Kings xviii. 28), or their
marking themselves by incisions in their flesh for such and such deities,
which in them, above any, would be an inexcusable crime, who in the sign of
circumcision bore about with them in their bodies the marks of the Lord
Jehovah. So that, (1.) They are forbidden to deform or hurt their own bodies
upon any account. Methinks this is like a parent's change to his little
children, that are foolish, careless, and wilful, and are apt to play with
knives: Children, you shall not cut yourselves. This is the intention
of those commands which oblige us to deny ourselves; the true meaning of
them, if we understood them aright, would appear to be, Do yourselves no
harm. And this also is the design of those providences which most cross
us, to remove from us those things by which we are in danger of doing
ourselves harm. Knives are taken from us, lest we should cut ourselves.
Those that are dedicated to God as a holy people must do nothing to
disfigure themselves; the body is for the Lord, and is to be used
accordingly. (2.) They are forbidden to disturb and afflict their own minds
with inordinate grief for the loss of near and dear relations: "You
shall not express or exasperate you sorrow, even upon the most mournful
occasions, by cutting yourselves, and making baldness between your eyes,
like men enraged, or resolvedly hardened in sorrow for the dead, as those
that have no hope," 1 Thess. iv. 13. It is an excellent passage which
Mr. Ainsworth here quotes from one of the Jewish writers, who understands
this as a law against immoderate grief for the death of our relations. If
your father (for instance) die, you shall not cut yourselves,
that is, you shall not sorrow more than is meet, for you are not
fatherless, you have a Father, who is great, living, and permanent, even the
holy blessed God, whose children you are, v. 1. But an infidel
(says he), when his father dies, hath no father that can help him in time
of need; for he hath said to a stock, Thou art my father, and to a stone,
Thou hast brought me forth (Jer. ii. 27); therefore he weeps, cuts
himself, and makes himself bald. We that have a God to hope in, and a
heaven to hope for, must bear up ourselves with that hope under every burden
of this kind.
2. They must be singular in their meat. Observe,
(1.) Many sorts of flesh which were wholesome enough, and which other people
did commonly eat, they must religiously abstain from as unclean. This law we
had before Lev. xi. 2, where it was largely opened. It seems plainly, by the
connection here, to be intended as a mark of peculiarity; for their
observance of it would cause them to be taken notice of in all mixed
companies as a separate people, and would preserve them from mingling
themselves with, and conforming themselves to, their idolatrous neighbours.
[1.] Concerning beasts, here is a more particular enumeration of those which
they were allowed to eat then was in Leviticus, to show that they had no
reason to complain of their being restrained from eating swines' flesh, and
hares, and rabbits (which were all that were then forbidden, but are now
commonly used), when they were allowed so great a variety, not only of that
which we call butcher's meat (v. 4), which alone was offered in
sacrifice, but of venison, which they had great plenty of in Canaan, the
hart, and the roe-buck, and the fallow deer (v. 5), which, though
never brought to God's altar, was allowed them at their own table. See ch.
xii. 22. When of all these (as Adam of every tree of the garden) they
might freely eat, those were inexcusable who, to gratify a perverse
appetite, or (as should seem) in honour of their idols, and in participation
of their idolatrous sacrifices, ate swines' flesh, and had broth of
abominable things (made so by this law) in their vessels, Isa.
lxv. 4. [2.] Concerning fish there is only one general rule given, that
whatsoever had not fins and scales (as shell-fish and eels, besides leeches
and other animals in the water that are not proper food) was unclean and
forbidden, v. 9, 10. [3.] No general rule is given concerning
fowl, but those are particularly mentioned that were to be unclean to them,
and there are few or none of them which are here forbidden that are now
commonly eaten; and whatsoever is not expressly forbidden is allowed, v.
11-20. Of all clean fowls you may eat. [4.] They are further
forbidden, First, To eat the flesh of any creature that died of
itself, because the blood was not separated from it, and, besides the
ceremonial uncleanness which it lay under (from Lev. xi. 39), it is not
wholesome food, nor ordinarily used among us, except by the poor. Secondly,
To seethe a kid in its mother's milk, either to gratify their own
luxury, supposing it a dainty bit, or in conformity to some superstitious
custom of the heathen. The Chaldee paraphrasts read it, Thou shalt not
eat flesh--meats and milk--meats together; and so it would forbid the
use of butter as sauce to any flesh.
(2.) Now as to all these precepts concerning their food, [1.] It is plain in
the law itself that they belonged only to the Jews, and were not moral, nor
of perpetual use, because not of universal obligation; for what they might
not eat themselves they might give to a stranger, a proselyte of the gate,
that had renounced idolatry, and therefore was permitted to live among them,
though not circumcised; or they might sell it to an alien, a mere Gentile,
that came into their country for trade, but might not settle it, v.
21. They might feed upon that which an Israelite might not touch, which is a
plain instance of their peculiarity, and their being a holy people. [2.] It
is plain in the gospel that they are now antiquated and repealed. For every
creature of God is good, and nothing now to be refused, or called
common and unclean, 1 Tim. iv. 4.
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Tithes
for Feasting and Charity.
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B.
C. 1451.
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22 Thou shalt truly
tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by
year. 23 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. 24 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: 25 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: 26 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, 27
And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him;
for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. 28 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: 29 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.
We have here a part of the statute concerning tithes. The productions of the
ground were twice tithed, so that, putting both together, a fifth part was
devoted to God out of their increase, and only four parts of five were for
their own common use; and they could not but own they paid an easy rent,
especially since God's part was disposed of to their own benefit and
advantage. The first tithe was for the maintenance of their Levites, who
taught them the good knowledge of God, and ministered to them in holy
things; this is supposed as anciently due, and is entailed upon the Levites
as an inheritance, by that law, Num. xviii. 24, &c. But it is the second
tithe that is here spoken of, which was to be taken out of the remainder
when the Levites had had theirs.
I. They are here charged to separate it, and set it apart for God: Thou
shalt truly tithe all the increase of they seed, v. 22. The
Levites took care of their own, but the separating of this was left to the
owners themselves, the law encouraging them to be honest by reposing a
confidence in them, and so trying their fear of God. They are commanded to
tithe truly, that is, to be sure to do it, and to do it faithfully
and carefully, that God's part might not be diminished either with design or
by oversight. Note, We must be sure to give God his full dues out of our
estates; for, being but stewards of them, it is required that we be
faithful, as those that must give account.
II. They are here directed how to dispose of it when they had separated it.
Let every man lay by as God prospers him and gives him success, and then let
him lay out in pious uses as God gives him opportunity; and it will be the
easier to lay out, and the proportion will be more satisfying, when first we
have laid by. This second tithe may be disposed of,
1. In works of piety, for the first two years after the year of release.
They must bring it up, either in kind or in the full value of it, to the
place of the sanctuary, and there must spend it in holy feasting before the
Lord. If they could do it with any convenience, they must bring it in kind (v.
23); but, if not, they might turn it into money (v. 24, 25), and that
money must be laid out in something to feast upon before the Lord. The
comfortable cheerful using of what God has given us, with temperance and
sobriety, is really the honouring of God with it. Contentment, holy joy, and
thankfulness, make every meal a religious feast. The end of this law we have
(v. 23): That thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always;
it was to keep them right and firm to their religion, (1.) By acquainting
them with the sanctuary, the holy things, and the solemn services that were
there performed. What they read the appointment of their Bibles, it would do
them good to see the observance of in the tabernacle; it would make a deeper
impression upon them, which would keep them out of the snares of the
idolatrous customs. Note, It will have a good influence upon our constancy
in religion never to forsake the assembling of ourselves together,
Heb. x. 25. By the comfort of the communion of saints, we may be kept to our
communion with God. (2.) By using them to the most pleasant and delightful
services of religion. Let them rejoice before the Lord, that they may
learn to fear him always. The more pleasure we find in the ways of
religion the more likely we shall be to persevere in those ways. One thing
they must remember in their pious entertainments--to bid their Levites
welcome to them. Thou shalt not forsake the Levites (v. 27):
"Let him never be a stranger to thy table, especially when thou eatest
before the Lord."
2. Every third year this tithe must be disposed of at home in works of
charity (v. 28, 29): Lay it up within they own gates, and let
it be given to the poor, who, knowing the provision this law had made for
them, no doubt would come to seek it; and, that they might make the poor
familiar to them and not disdain their company, they are here directed to
welcome them to their houses. "Thither let them come, and eat and be
satisfied." In this charitable distribution of the second tithe they
must have an eye to the poor ministers and add to their encouragement by
entertaining them, then to poor strangers (not only for the supply of their
necessities, but to put a respect upon them, and so to invite them to turn
proselytes), and then to the fatherless and widow, who, though perhaps they
might have a competent maintenance left them, yet could not be supposed to
live so plentifully and comfortably as they had done in months past, and
therefore they were to countenance them, and help to make them easy by
inviting them to this entertainment. God has a particular care for widows
and fatherless, and he requires that we should have the same. It is his
honour, and will be ours, to help the helpless. And if we thus serve God,
and do good with what we have, it is promised here that the Lord our God
will bless us in all the work of our hand. Note, (1.) The blessing of
God is all in all to our outward prosperity, and, without that blessing, the
work of our hands which we do will bring nothing to pass. (2.) The way to
obtain that blessing is to be diligent and charitable. The blessing descends
upon the working hand: "Except not that God should bless thee in thy
idleness and love of ease, but in all the work of they hand." It is the
hand of the diligent, with the blessing of God upon it, that makes rich,
Prov. x. 4, 22. And it descends upon the giving hand; he that thus scatters
certainly increases, and the liberal soul will be made fat. It is an
undoubted truth, though little believed, that to be charitable to the poor,
and to be free and generous in the support of religion and any good work, is
the surest and safest way of thriving. What is lent to the Lord will be
repaid with abundant interest. See Ezek. xliv. 30.
