The Bible says in Deuteronomy 14:1-2,
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 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. Once you become one of Gods children through faith in
Jesus, then there are certain responsibilities that come along with that. Of
course, we become one of Gods children by believing on Jesus and trusting in
Him. He gives us forgiveness and salvation and a future home in heaven, but
along with that God wants something from us: to serve Him while we are still on
this earth. To do that we must learn about separation from the people of the
world who do not believe. One of the things that the heathen did in the days of
Moses was to mar their bodies in various ways. That is why God said, ye shall not cut yourselves. Be careful about what you do to your body that changes it
permanently. God made you the way you are, and He does not make mistakes.
As it says in verse 2, God wants us to
be holy. He is holy and He wants us to live holy lives. That will always be
Gods will for every believer. He does want us to be unique. He does want us to
be different in good ways. God wants to be able to look at the earth and see a
people that know Jesus and that serve Him. God said in verse 2, the LORD
hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations
that are upon the earth.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 14:3-20,
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
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. God was very specific to the Israelites about which
animals they could eat and which ones they could not eat. As we noted before,
one of the reasons that God gave these dietary instructions was in order to
help keep the Israelites healthy. They did not have the advantages of modern
science or preservation technology such as refrigeration, and so these
instructions were beneficial to them. It is always the case that Gods
instructions are beneficial, no matter what is the subject. Once again in this
passage in Deuteronomy we see that God certainly does permit for human beings
to kill and eat animals, but also there are instructions to be careful what you
eat.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 14:21, 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 an holy
people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
In the first of verse 21 we see something that is quite revealing. The
Israelites could not eat an animal that had died without the cause being known,
but heathen people could. What is going on here? God does not require that
unbelievers try to live for Him. The people who are supposed to be living for
the Lord are the ones who believe in Him. That is an important principle to
remember. If you are a Christian, do not expect that unbelievers should live
the way you do. They will not and they should not. They need to become
believers in Jesus, and then they can change their behavior.
In the last part of verse 21 God said,
Thou
shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. Even though God permits people to
kill certain animals and to eat them, there is still a certain amount of
respect and honor and consideration that should be given to animals, and
especially animals with young.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy
14:22-29, 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.
These are some very interesting verses about the tithe which was required in
the Old Testament. The Israelites were commanded to set the ten percent of
their increase off to the side. But they were not told to give it to anyone
else. But they were told that in a specific place they should eat their own
tithe before the Lord. And so the tithe was not necessarily something that
they gave away, but it was something done to help them remember that God had
prospered them. Even when they turned the tithe into money, they were told in
verse 26 to spend that money for whatsoever
thy soul lusteth after. One exception to this was that every three years the Levites were invited
to come and share in the tithe. There are many things about the tithe as it is
taught in the Old Testament that is different from what people say today who
claim that Christians should pay a tithe to the church. God does not want ten
percent from Christians. He wants your heart and then He will have everything.
The Christian principle for giving is found in Second Corinthians 9:6-8, But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also
sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.[7]
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart,
so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful
giver.[8] And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye,
always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 15:1-4,
At
the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.[2] And this is
the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth
ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall
not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother;
because it is called the LORD's release.[3] Of a foreigner thou mayest
exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall
release;[4] Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD
shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an
inheritance to possess it: Once again we see that the Lord had a different
requirement depending upon if you are dealing with another believer or with
someone of the world who does not believe. With believers if someone owes you
money, you should release them of their debt after seven years. That is what
God told the Israelites. God did not want any believer to be in debt longer
than seven years at a time. Probably, the principle is that if someone is struggling
to pay their debts, then it is good to help them out by giving them a fresh
start. You always want to treat fellow-believers especially well. Has not the
love of God fallen on them as well as you? Then show them a little love. In
verse 4 God is saying that He intends to bless the nation of Israel so much
that God expects that eventually there would be no poor people in their nation.
God said that the rules regarding forgiving loans would not be necessary in the
future, Save when there shall be no poor
among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy
God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it. This implies that if a nation follows God and does the things that
please God, the prosperity of that nation will increase. So what does it mean
when the number of poor people in a nation increases? It means that there needs
to be a spiritual revival and a lot of soul searching by the citizens to
confess their sins and get right with God.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 15:5-6,
Only
if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do
all these commandments which I command thee this day.[6] For the LORD
thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou
shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign
over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.
These are two interesting verses that explain an important truth about national
debt, and about one country borrowing from other countries. If you are a nation
that is blessed of God, you will lend to other countries instead of borrowing
from them. The basic Bible principle is both for individuals and for nations:
if you must borrow money, it means you are poor. If you lend money instead of
borrowing it, you have retained your independence and you have gained the upper
hand over those who must borrow. When it says in verse 6, they shall not reign over thee, because you lend instead of borrow, then the opposite is
also true. Other nations will rule over you, if you are the one who does the
borrowing. The golden rule between nations is very simple: he that has the gold
makes the rules. If a nation borrows when they are not poor, then that means
that they are living beyond their means, and the final result will be the same
as for those who borrow because they are poor: others will get power over you
and will rule over you. The New Testament gives the same practical principle in
the first part of Romans 13:8, Owe no man
anything. How true the Bible is. Most
financial advisors tell people that they best thing they can do for themselves
is to get out of debt. That warning rings loud and clear to nations. Joseph
became an advisor to one of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt, and Joseph gave
excellent advice to the pharaoh that caused Egypt to prosper exceedingly. At a
time of prosperity Joseph told the pharaoh to save, knowing that a time of
adversity would eventually come. When a famine came, Egypt was the nation to
whom the others turned. They did not over-extend themselves in a time of
prosperity, and therefore when hardship came, they were ready for it and were
better off than others. The worlds financial system is really in trouble and
will eventually collapse: if not soon, then by the time of the Great
Tribulation. At least believers in Jesus have a Savior who will return, take
over the earth, and fix all the problems that man has created. If you do not
know Jesus the Son of God, you can repent of your sins and turn to Him today.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2015 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved