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27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:1-3
Self-respect in mourning. Mourning customs have significance, as testifying to the ideas of God, of human worth, and of immortality, held by those who practice them. Those here forbidden were degrading in their own natu…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:1-21
Israel, as the people of God, chosen by him to be his children by adoption, must not only abstain from idolatry, but also avoid all heathenish usages and practices, such as those connected with mourning for the dead, an…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:1
Ye are the children of Jehovah your God (cf. Exodus 4:22, etc.). As his children, it behooved them to avoid all that would be offensive to him or indicate distrust in him. Ye shall not cut yourselves, etc. (cf. Le 19:28…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:2
(Cf. Deuteronomy 7:6.) The reason assigned here is an emphatic expansion of the statement in Deuteronomy 14:1.
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:3-20
The people of God at their own table. However far these minute regulations may seem at first from being appropriate themes for homiletic teaching, a closer study of them may show that they contain an amount of instructi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:3
Any abominable thing. Any abomination, i.e. anything which is an abomination to the Lord, having been by him pronounced unclean and forbidden; "anything which I have put far away from you (i.e. made to be abominable to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:3-21
Clean and unclean. The distinction of clean and unclean appears to have rested— I. ON NATURAL GROUNDS. It is based to some extent on natural preferences and repugnances—an index, often, to deeper correlations. We instin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:3-11
A holy people will eat sanctified things. The regulation of the diet of the children of Israel was most important in view of their remaining a "peculiar people" unto God. In no way half so effectual could they, as a nat…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:3-21
Discrimination in meats. The prohibition of some kinds of food proceeds upon the principle that it is not wise to gratify every appetite. There must be denial somewhere. If every desire and lust of the body be indulged,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:4-20
The regulations here concerning food, and the animals the use of which is forbidden, are substantially the same as in Leviticus 2:1-16. There are, however, some differences between the two accounts which may be noticed.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:5
The hart; ayyal ( אַיָּל), probably the fallow deer, or deer generally. The roebuck; tsebi ( צְבִי), the gazelle (Gazella Arabica). The fallow deer; yachmur ( יחְמוּר), the roebuck. The wild goat; akko ( אַקּוֹ), the ib…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:13
The glede; ra'ah ( רָאָה). This word occurs only here, and it is supposed by some that, by an error of the copyist, substituting ר for ד, it has come instead of דָאָה, as used in Le Deuteronomy 11:14. But it is more pro…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:21
Seething a kid in its mother's milk. This precept, several times repeated in the Law (Exodus 23:16; Exodus 34:25), may be connected with magical superstitions, but it is equally probable that the act was condemned as an…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:21
(Cf. Le Deuteronomy 17:15; Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26.) The stranger that is in thy gates. "The uncircumcised stranger that is in thy cities ' (Targum), i.e. "a heathen who takes upon him that he will serve no idol, wit…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:22-29
A tithing of each year's produce of the cultivated ground was to be made; and this tithe was to be brought to the place which the Lord should choose, as also the firstling of the herds and flocks; and there a sacrificia…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:22-29
A threefold cord; or, the triple use of property. These details which so frequently occur respecting the use of property, specially of that which is possessed or gained in the form of produce, may seem burdensome. Proba…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:22-29
God's claim upon our money gains. In every province of human life God requires his proprietorship to be recognized. The seventh part of our time is hallowed for his service. The firstfruits of corn were to be devoted to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:22-29
The second tithe. We adopt the usual view, that the lawgiver is here regulating the disposal of what, in later times, was called "the second tithe." The hypothesis that the book was written at a late date, when the gift…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:22-29
Systematic provision for fellowship with God. From the arrangements about ordinary diet, we pass now to the minute directions about "eating before God." A tithe of the corn, the wine, and the oil, together with the firs…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:22
Thy seed. "Seed" here refers to plants as well as what is raised from seed (cf. Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 17:5, Ezekiel 17:6). The reference is to the second or festival tithe which was exclusively of vegetables.
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:24
In the land of Canaan, as the people would be dispersed over a wide tract, it might happen that the place which the Lord should choose was at such a distance from the usual residence of many that to observe this injunct…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 14:26
Strong drink; shecar ( שֵׁכַר). "Any drink which can inebriate, whether that is made from grain, or the juice of apples, or when honey is boiled into a sweet and barbarous potion, or the fruit of the palm [dates], is ex…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 15:1-6
To the prescription of a tithe for the needy there is added a regulation for the behalf of debtors. The Israelites were not only to help the poor, but they were to refrain from what would be a hardship and oppression to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 15:1-23
EXPOSITION THE YEAR OF RELEASE FOR THE BENEFIT OF DEBTORS AND THE EMANCIPATION OF HEBREW SLAVES. THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE FIRSTBORN OF CATTLE.