Deuteronomy 14-15

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Deuteronomy 14:1-29

“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. [cf. 1^st Peter 2:9-10] 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 [margin: bison], and the wild ox, and the chamois [The chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to the mountains in Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees, the Alps]. 6 And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among 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 ye 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 osprey, 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 [sea gull], 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 an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk. verses 22-27 deal with 2^nd tithe, or the Feast tithe (see https://unityinchrist.com/gifts4.htm [)] 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. [Comment: firstling males went to the priesthood to be their 2^nd tithe of meat, firstling females were saved as 2^nd tithe meat for the individual saving his 2^nd tithe, or Feast tithe.] 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.” [Comment: verses 28-29 is a command for a separate 3^rd tithe to be tithed every third year, it is a tithe specifically and primarily for the widows and orphans and strangers within the land. The rabbis concur with that interpretation.]

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED603]

“Deuteronomy chapter 14, begins by saying “Ye are the children of the LORD your God:” children of him, children of his Covenant, using Yahweh here, children spiritually, nationally as it were, covenantaly of the LORD your God, in light of that, it sets them apart from all other people nationally, certainly. “ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.” (verse 1) This is not condemning any of you who have such bushy eyebrows that grow all the way across and you need to make a little bald spot there in the middle. This is in regards to the dead, cutting themselves. You remember when Elijah was on Mount Carmel there, how the prophets of Baal were cutting themselves, and there were in ancient pagan cultures sometimes the habit amongst those that were grieving the dead and going through pagan ceremonies for the dead, sometimes cutting themselves, sometimes the worship of the dead, sometimes the shaving of their heads, baldness. And what the LORD is saying here, ‘You’re people of a covenant,’ that covenant was a covenant that God had made when he passed between the parts, the fiery part, a fiery pot. It was a covenant that was sure. And they knew about the fact that Abraham’s bosom was a place where the righteous went, they had hope beyond this world, even in ancient Israel, they believed in being gathered to their people [comment: Ezekiel 37:1-14 is the only Bible promise given to the Jews that had been taken to Babylon of a hope that they would be resurrected back to life at some unspecified time in the future, and verses 13-14 of Ezekiel 37 actually shows God giving his Holy Spirit to those resurrected in this resurrection. Now connecting the dots with the New Testament, we find that Revelation 20:11-13 shows this is the time of the Great White Throne Judgment, the 2^nd resurrection, when all of unsaved mankind will be resurrected back to life. In Ezekiel 37:13-14, it shows that at this time, God will give everyone resurrected in this resurrection his Holy Spirit, offering them salvation, which for most coming up in this resurrection, will be the first time that has been offered to them. See https://unityinchrist.com/ezek/Ezekiel%20pt3-2.htm and scroll to Ezekiel 37:1-14 and read that section about what those verses mean.] Not as certainly as we are, not as informed as we are through the new covenant, the New Testament, but they were to have hope, they were not to reflect the unbelieving hopeless world in regards to those who had gone on. So here, “Ye are the children of the LORD your God:” you are to reflect something different, “ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 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.” (verses 1-2) And by the way, certainly, he has written the same thing to us, ‘You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him that hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.’ (1^st Peter 2:9) We are also, the Church of Jesus Christ, to be peculiar in this world, we are to stand out from other folks on this ball of dirt that may be religious, there is to be something of reality of the vertical, the power of God’s Spirit that marks our lives, there is supposed to be something different about us also. So certainly as we look at these things there are particular applications, and then we can makes some that only apply to ancient Israel for sure.

The Dietary Laws Of Leviticus 11 Reiterated

“Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. These are the beasts which ye shall eat:” (verses 3-4a) and we’ll begin to look at those, this is the dietary code of ancient Israel, it’s a little bit more expanded in Leviticus 11, but it’s reiterated here (see https://unityinchrist.com/Leviticus11-12.html ). Many questions about it, is this just in regards to hygiene, was it specifically stated relative to that? I don’t think it was specifically that, because when he talks about finding an animal dead, it says you’re not allowed to eat it, but God says you can give it to a stranger or an alien, so it can’t really be bad for you, because God wanted to bless the stranger and alien and not curse them. This is certainly in regards to clean and unclean animals, and that’s an interesting subject, because Noah, when he’s ready to bring the animals on the ark, in Genesis chapter 7, verse 2, he’s told to bring seven pairs of every clean animal and one pair of every unclean, and clean and unclean go way back before the Law was ever dreamt of, there’s some understanding way back then of clean and unclean. We’re not told how. [Comment: this is probably why the ancient rabbis thought that Abraham knew about the Law of God, in it’s entirety, in his own lifetime, that the basic Laws of God that were given in Exodus, were known to Abraham (and even as far back as Seth, Enoch, Noah, etc).] God no doubt prescribing that to Noah, but we’re not sure how. So there’s clean and unclean, Levitically, ceremonially attached to this. There isn’t anything specific here saying that eating a ceremonially unclean animal is bad for your health, that it produces bad health, it doesn’t specifically say that anywhere in the Old Testament. You have books like “None Of These Diseases” written, and there certainly is some truth in that. [Comment: Pastor Joe is skirting around the issue that scientifically, in that book, and even more recently, certain things have been discovered in unclean animals that are injurious to our health, such as dioxins, nerve agents found in all shell fish, skin fish like sharks, skates, rays & squids cannot urinate, so the urea goes into their flesh. God designed all animals, so he knows what’s edible and what’s not down to the molecular level, something science is only now just discovering. But for some reason, Sunday-observing Christians want to have their bacon and eat it too, instead of trusting the Word of God on this issue. All I can say is, it’s your health, your body. Eating something unclean won’t hurt you spiritually, it just may shorten your life.] Some say well some of these unclean animals were relative to pagan sacrifices, but it’s hard to substantiate that the way it’s given. It seems again that God is just giving them the most practical mundane experiences of everyday life, desiring to teach his people to think about the things that would make them different from unbelievers, even in the way they are to sit at the table and to eat. We know, Jesus told us in Matthew chapter 15 that that which entereth the mouth defileth not the man, but it’s that which proceeded from the heart that defiles a man. [These are Sunday-keeper’s arguments trying to defeat the Old Testament laws of God, attempting to make them null and void, trying to use New Testament Scriptures to misinterpret the Old Testament laws of God.] We know in Acts chapter 10, Peter there, sees a sheet let down from heaven with all different kinds of creatures on it, and the Lord says “kill and eat,” and Peter says “not so Lord,” which seemed to be a contradictory phrase to me, “not so, Lord, I’ve been kosher my whole life,” and call not that unclean or common which I’ve set aside as clean. [If you read the rest of that chapter and the next one in Acts, you will see that the vision was to be interpreted as not calling any Gentile human being “unclean,” the context of the vision in Acts 10 is all about not calling Gentiles unclean, which the Jews had been doing for ages, but now in the Church Age, with the new Church of God in Jerusalem, which initially was Jewish racially, they had a problem accepting Gentiles into the Church on an equal level. The vision was all about addressing that issue, not about the literal eating of unclean food.] You have Romans chapter 14, one person can eat, the person whose weak in faith, eats only vegetables, people who are strong in faith are carnivores, something like that, I forget exactly how it goes. Certainly you have in 1^st Timothy, relative to the last days, it says ‘Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from meats, foods, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them that believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, nothing to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the Word of God, and prayer.’ [Well, the way some would view this, unclean meats are not “sanctified by the Word of God,” when you take the Old Testament Law into consideration, because how can you sanctify something the Word of God does not sanctify?] The word “prayer” there is the specific word “intercession,” we hear a lot about intercessors in the church, there’s books written about intercessors. I’m glad there’s some in our church, I’ve probably only known a few genuine intercessors in my life. We are told to make intercessions in the same chapter, ah, the chapter before in 1^st Timothy, for rulers and people in authority, we should be interceding for our political leaders, our president, whatever party they are of, persuasion they are, it’s our responsibility to pray for them, so that we might lead peaceable lives, that we might have the freedom to share Christ. So one place specifically we’re told to make intercession is for our leaders and those in authority. The only other place we’re told to make intercession is when we say grace, over our food, the things that are made to be received with thanksgiving, according to the Word of God and prayer, intercession, that’s the other word. I know we all eat stuff, something once in a while that looks like we need to intercede a little bit more over it. But the New Testament doesn’t hold us to this dietary standard, and I’m glad in some ways, we’ll see as we go through [I believe it doesn’t abrogate it either. The New Testament is very specific in what it abrogates and what it doesn’t. In Hebrews we see the ceremonial laws of animal sacrifice are abrogated in Hebrews 10. But if Leviticus 11 are dietary health laws, then they would not be abrogated, and if science is starting to prove they are health laws, well there you have it]. But ancient Israel was held to this, relative to clean and unclean. “These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,” (verse 4) All of them are pretty good, you know, if you eat cows and oxen and sheep, you’ll be healthy, and if you eat pigs you’ll be unhealthy, well that’s not true by the way today [not so sure about that, pork is laced with fat, right between all it’s muscle fibers, and Dr. Paul Dudley White, the famous heart specialist, was always quoting Leviticus in saying “don’t eat the fat,” and pork is a very fatty animal, laced with fat right within it’s muscle fibers]. You might get bovine disease, which is mad cow disease, of course they say that’s not a threat in the United States, nobody in the United States has ever contracted it, except the fact we have two people relative to our church that have already passed away from that disease. Is it safe to eat cows, you intercede before you eat them, that’s all, that’s why you gotta do that…there’s all kinds of questions, I don’t think about it, I just drive through, say grace [laughter]. “the hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg [margin: bison], and the wild ox, and the chamois” (verse 5) [The chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to the mountains in Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees, the Alps]. Now there’s some names here as we go through that are hard to translate. I went this time, it’s funny because you go back and look at all these scholars and go through the Hebrew there, I went to the Targums this time, I have a set of them, it’s a translation, many of them before Christ, into Aramaic when it was a major language. Modern Hebrew is Aramaic script, but they are Hebrew words, but then there was an Aramaic tongue and language. The Targums are ancient, and it’s by Hebrew scholars. So this time I took some of these, just sat tonight looking at the Targums. So as you read through this, you’re allowed to eat the wild goat, and the “pygarg” in King James. Now I want to make sure, because I might want to eat one of those, and I don’t know what a pygarg is. The Targum says it’s the ibex, which we’ve seen in Israel, which is a huge beautiful mountain goat. “and the chamois” which the Targums call “a mountain sheep,” “And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among beasts, that ye shall eat.” (verse 6) Any animal that has a cloven hoof and chews the cud, usually the ruminant, the animals that have four or five stomachs, those are the five stomachs of a ruminant. Some ruminant don’t part the hoof and you can’t eat those, even though they chew the cud. It says all those who have a cloven hoof and chew the cud, you can eat those.

The Animals That You Can’t Eat

“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.” (verse 7) Because there are some that have a cloven hoof but don’t chew the cud, there’s some that chew the cud that don’t have a cloven hoof. First of all, the camel, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a cloven hoof. The hare, which is a rabbit, which chews the cud, and doesn’t have a cloven hoof, obviously. The coney, or the hyrax, we see them when we are in Israel, they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, therefore they are unclean. The rabbit was always a, you know, Bible critics loved to point out errors in the Bible. ‘See, we don’t need to trust the Bible, because it says the rabbit chews the cud, therefore we don’t have to believe that Christ was born of a virgin, of the tribe of Judah, and came and died on the cross for our sins, rose on the third day, ascended and is returning, because the rabbit doesn’t chew the cud.’ That’s the way critics are, you know, they need help. The rabbit doesn’t chew the cud so they’re throwing everything out the window. Of course they have discovered something called “refection” and the fact that the rabbit once in a while passes a little sack, and it’s filled with undigested foliage, and they pick that up and rechew it and digest it. So, Na, na, na, na, na! 😊 So the rabbit does chew the cud, it takes everybody a while to catch up with the Bible, which is nothing new. “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.” (verse 8) He doesn’t want anybody eating swine in the Old Testament, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud. Now by the way, pigs don’t get mad cow disease, [no, they get trichinosis], I’m glad I’m saved, I love to say grace over some ribs and partake, intercede. “These ye shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: and whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.” (verses 9-10) So it starts on the land then it goes to the waters, then it goes to animals that are in the air. All that have fins and scales you can eat. Whatsoever hath not fins and scales you shall not eat, it is unclean unto you. Shrimp, lobsters, calamari, [all shellfish have dioxins, nerve agents in their flesh, which can cause kidney disease] I’m glad I’m saved, man, because I just like all of those things. “Of all clean birds ye shall eat. But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle,” and again, some of these translations, I’ll say what the Targum said, and the ossifrage,” the Targum calls it the sea eagle, “and the osprey,” Targum says the black eagle there, “and the glede,” which says is a red eagle, some say red kite, “and the kite,” the plain word here is the black vulture, or the black kite, “and the vulture after his kind,” and every kind of vulture, shouldn’t eat that, don’t eat those, “and every raven after his kind,” any kind of ravens, crows, shouldn’t eat those, “and the owl,” verse 15 says the owl, which the Targums say is the ostrich, now I’m glad I’m saved, because I love ostrich, it’s high in protein, and man oh man, if you get somewhere where they make good ostrich, you’d think it was a sirloin steak if they didn’t tell you, it’s just wonderful, pray for me if you have a hard time with this, really good, “and the night hawk, and the cuckow,” which almost all agree is the seagull, which I’m not even tempted, “and the hawk after his kind,” these are all scavengers, birds of prey, “the little owl, and the great owl, and the swan,” Targum says “and the white owl.” Swan seems like they’d be good, ducks are good, the swan seems like probably would be too, goose is great though [way too fatty, cooked it once, roasting pan had two inches of melted fat at the bottom], put up with me, I don’t eat before church on Sunday or Wednesday night, because I’ll be sleepy when I’m up here, so if it’s hard for me to read through all this, I’m thinking ‘Man, I’d like to have a nice piece of ostrich right now,’ I’ll eat when I get home, I’ll say grace, intercede “and the pelican,” I’m not tempted there, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant, and the stork,” wouldn’t want all the Israelites eating stork, whose going to bring the little Israelites if they ate all the storks, “and the heron” or the kite, that’s on your translation, “after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.” (verses 11-18) sad to say, the bat, that ruins it for some. [from 2019 through 2021, the Coronavirus, COVID-19 struck the world, started as believed by most in an exotic food market in Wuhan, China, with bat meat. Bats, they found in the lab, have what’s called the coronavirus, which transferred over to humans, and COVID-19 spread around the world (worldwide air travel really aids in the spreading of a pandemic), killing millions worldwide. Of course, Pastor Joe would be aware of this by now. When God says don’t eat bats, we have very good reason now to believe he meant what he said.] I heard about this logger, worked up in Oregon and because of the restrictions on logging and everything, he had to send his family to California, and he just remained working up there and trying to make a living, ended up hunting to get some of his food, and saw this bird and didn’t get a good look at it, and shot, and it was a spotted owl, and he thought, ‘Well, rather than waste it, I’ll drag it home and cook her up,’ well he got caught, in trouble, had to go to court, and went through this whole process, and he defended himself, he said ‘Look, judge, I respect, I’m not a bad guy, I’m a logger, all of these restrictions, logging, everything’s slow, I had to send my family somewhere else, I’m up there, get a deer once in awhile, a rabbit or something, and I saw this fly by, I wasn’t sure what it was, took a shot, before I know it was on the ground, it was a spotted owl, I know they’re protected, it was already dead, and so I thought, well, might as well eat it, so that’s what happened.’ and you know the judge was lenient, dismissed the case, he was getting ready to leave and the judged called him over and said ‘By the way, let me ask you a question, what did it taste like, spotted owl,’ and the guy said ‘It’s kind of a cross between a bald eagle and a California condor.’ [loud laughter] Anything’s good when you’re hungry I guess. Verse 19 says, “And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.” Now of course Leviticus 11, we’re told of the different kinds of locust and grasshoppers that could be eaten, and John the Baptist survived on locusts and wild honey, and he must have been a strange looking character with all that stuff stuck in his beard, honey wings and legs. Verse 21 says, “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.” Where much that’s Kosher today coming from that, some scholars struggle, fertility rite amongst the Canaanites and the pagans where they would sometimes kill a young animal and boil it in its mother’s milk or in the mother’s blood and sprinkle that on their farmland, and hard to substantiate some of that, that’s where most scholars lean. And of course to the Jew then it became, well what if you have milk or cheese or something and you happen to eat a piece of meat and the milk that you ate or the yogurt of the cheese of the milk came from the mother of the animal that you eat, and when it cooks in your stomach, so big deal [for those Jews]. [Comment: Abraham in Genesis 18 dispels all the Kosher Laws of Judaism, when he served Yahweh the fatted calf and milk together in a meal. The Jews don’t like to look at that verse, because they know what it is telling them.] Ah, years ago when we went to Israel, they had wanted to bring McDonalds in, McDonalds wouldn’t surrender the formula for their cheese, so they wouldn’t then let McDonalds in, they had McDavid’s in those days, they set up McDavids. And of course McDonalds has capitulated, so now they’re all over Israel there’s McDonalds now, their cheese is not really cheese on the cheeseburger, it’s not dairy at any rate. It tastes great, say grace and eat. Animal dies of itself, possibly because the blood is not drained out, they’re constantly told they have to do that [all hunters know that if the blood is left in the animal when it dies, the meat will go bad, then it could be dangerous to eat. Pastor Joe is not a hunter. My deer hunting friends told me this.] Anyway, God says if there’s a foreigner, you know it can’t be bad for your health then, because God loves the foreigner, tells them to bless them and minister to them. An alien is somebody from another country, not another planet. Look, you go through this, learning not to feed your flesh, learning not to feed your bodily appetites, and particularly with those things that only feed off of flesh, you know, the carrion birds, predators and so forth, and certainly there’s a lesson in that, God wants his people even to be controlled by his edict, by his Word, even to coming to our table. I think it’s so important for us to say grace when we come to the table, as Americans we should never sit at the table and forget that there are people starving all over the world. We should never forget, because there’s always a banquet in front of us, in some country it would be a week’s worth of food. And God bestows his bounty on us, and we are not any more deserving of it than more than any other nation, particularly at this point in our history, and ask God to take whatever it is and sanctify it, and strengthen our physical frames with it, fuel, so that we might serve him. But I look at this, and I think, even at the table they were to be thinking clean, unclean, I think the Lord always wants us learning discipline in regards to the desires of the flesh even. [and how much more to do so, then by not eating what God’s Word tells us not to eat, for our own health’s sake. It’s a health issue, not a spiritual issue.] So here are these stipulations set out, you know, we look at it and we can learn certainly God wanting us to bring our own appetites under control, certainly there is a way we can make application.

“The Tithe Of Thy Corn, Of Thy Wine, And Of Thine Oil”--What Was This Tithe?

Verse 22 says “Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. 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.” (verses 22-23) Now they had been brought forth, they had learned of the tithe to a degree in Exodus, and some relative to sacrifices reiterated in Numbers, but they had been bringing that to the Tabernacle in the center of the camp. Now what God is going to say, is when you come into the land, and there is a particular place, and ultimately that would be Jerusalem, first in Gilgal, and then it was at Shiloh where the Tabernacle moved until David had Solomon build the Temple there, Solomon built the Temple and it was dedicated, David pre-fabbed it. And then their tithing of certain other things, and offerings relative to that, were brought to a particular place. [Now when they would “eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil” it was always, as the rabbis know, taking this particular tithe to go to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, in particular. As that study at that link shows, this tithe of the corn, wine and oil, and the female firstlings of the flock was always the 2^nd tithe, or Feast tithe. Pastor Joe doesn’t realize this, but the Jews understand this, and so do the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God, who also observe God’s Feast Days and especially the Feast of Tabernacles. So we should be able to learn from each other, relative to our denominational understandings. The firstling males went to the priesthood to be their 2^nd tithe of meat, firstling females were saved as 2^nd tithe meat for the individual saving his 2^nd tithe, or Feast tithe. So verses 22-27 deal with 2^nd tithe, or the Feast tithe (see https://unityinchrist.com/gifts4.htm ] So the tenth, then increase of flocks, herds, the crops, the olives and so forth were to be brought to Jerusalem as they came to the Feasts no doubt. “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: then shalt thou turn it into money,” so you can sell the firstlings, the tenth of the increase of your flocks, your herds, your grain and so forth, could sell it where you lived, take the money that you got from it, “and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink,” strong drink here is literally fermented drink, and it’s most likely speaking of beer, Pharaoh had large breweries, I don’t think Pharaoh ever had a cold one [yes he did, ancient Egyptians knew how to make ice and store it in ice houses, under stand, they’d lay out thin sheets of water, and when it went below freezing at night, as it often does in the desert, they’d gather up the sheets of ice before the sun came up, this all done by Pharaoh’s servants of course.] But they drank warm beer, it was one of the most famous drinks in Egypt, so it wasn’t something they were unfamiliar with. These were drink offerings, they were poured out before the LORD, it wasn’t that everybody come to worship and get pickled. [Now this is a Calvary Chapel teaching this, and because they are a ministry that reaches out to alcoholics and drug addicts, they teach abstinence, but God during the feast was saying they could drink wine and strong drink at his Feasts and rejoice. Not to access of course, but alcohol is consumption in the Bible is not banned, the Bible teaches extreme moderation in alcohol consumption.] “or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household, and the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.” (verses 24-27) We hear that constantly through Deuteronomy, they were to rejoice. [This “rejoicing” was always in context with the observance of God’s Feast days, especially the Feast of Tabernacles.]

A Third Tithe For The Widows, Orphans, Fatherless & And Stranger

“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: 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.” (verses 28-29) So it seems like every third year they did something specific. Some scholars wonder if this is a double tithe every third year, specifically brought up for. [He’s almost right, the rabbis all know this was a 3^rd tithe, that you had a first tithe, every tenth animal under the rod, a tithe of all your grain, and all firstfruits of your fruit trees and vegetables, a 2^nd tithe was saved by the individual as the Feast tithe, it was of your female firstlings, a tithe of your corn, wine and oil, etc, and then this 3^rd tithe, often called the Welfare Tithe, for widows, orphans and the fatherless, and strangers, with some going to the Levites as well, it being set aside on every third year. The rabbis and Hebrew scholars know this is the way it was, and we in the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God for years, kept all three tithes, as prescribe in the Torah. This is totally explained at this link: https://unityinchrist.com/gifts4.htm ] But timing was no simple thing, there was a complexity to it, but every third year, which would have been the 3^rd year and the 6^th year before the 7^th year when the land lay fallow, “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:” so every 3^rd year, instead of taking it Jerusalem, whatever area they lived in, they would lay it up there, it was “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.” (verse 29) Now we are not bound under the Law of tithing, I don’t believe in the New Testament, certainly the law is giving. In the Old Testament God wanted a 7^th of their life and a tenth of their increase. He wanted one day out of seven and he always wants more of us. [Comment: The authority to levy tithes, Paul showed is in Hebrews 7, has been given over to the priesthood of Melchizedek, and so whatever ministry of Melchizedek we find ourselves under (denominationally speaking), we are to give as that organization prescribes. Under Pastor Joe, he prescribes “give as you are able.” Under some others they prescribe a stricter tithing (to understand this, see https://unityinchrist.com/hebrews/Hebrews%207%201-28.htm ). In the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God, who observe the Sabbath and Holy Days of Leviticus 23, we generally observe the two tithes, one sent to the church’s HQ (tithing on paychecks) and the saving of a 2^nd tithe in a savings account for attending the Feast of Tabernacles. So we are quite familiar with the tithing system, adapted to a monetary system such as we have today, and it basically squares with the rabbinic understanding of tithing. During the soon-coming Millennial Kingdom of God all the churches will be observing the Sabbath and Holy Days of Leviticus 23, as the Torah Laws of God will become the Constitutional Law of the land for all nations (read through this: https://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/MillennialKingdomofGod.pdf ).] You know, you listen to some people and you’d think God’s ready to file Chapter 11, and that you’re going to drive the Kingdom under. I believe the principle, with the dietary things, is just the appetites of our flesh are not to have their way, even in that there was to be discipline, and I think God wants us to be regular givers, not just in regards to the offering, we should be, but in regards to the fatherless, in regards to the widow, in regards to the less fortunate. God, in his Law, the iron, the unyieldingness of his Law, there’s so much grace here, and he’s teaching his people, regular giving should be a part of your lives, because, he’s telling them, ‘I’m going to bless this land.’ And the tithe for them was almost a lease on the land, it was a giving back to the LORD, but in it, there is the mention of the widow, of the orphan, of the Levite, of the foreigner, of the less fortunate. And of course I think for the lessons for us today, is we have the means, we should learn to be regular givers, and that has lots of different forms to it. You could help your neighbour with cutting the lawn, you could remember when baking a pie or loaf of bread, somebody else, you can be here, we see people come during the week and they help vacuum and straighten up the church. If you’re making $10,000 a year, you’re not going to put a $1,000 in the offering, we’ll be counseling you all year. If you make a $100,000,000 a year, again, you could put $50,000,000 in, if you can’t live on $50,000,000 you got a problem. Paul said in the New Testament, every man give according as he was able. God certainly has blessed some of us in certain ways. So, I think the New Testament principle, if the Holy Ghost has your heart, the Holy Ghost has your wallet, and the Holy Ghost has your mercy when you see someone else in need, the Holy Ghost has your benevolence, he has all of that. And if we’re bought with a price, then everything that we have belongs the Lord, and we’re just laying up treasure in heaven, he just puts opportunities in front of us to give. Israel of old was taught to be regular in their giving, and they were taught to be benevolent, regular in that too, when they saw these needs, God constantly bringing before them the stranger, the fatherless, the widow and so forth. Chapter 15.

Deuteronomy 15:1-23

“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. [cf. Exodus 23:10] 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 giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it: 5 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. 7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: 8 but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. 9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. 10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. 11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. 12 And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. 13 And when thou sendest him out for free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: 14 thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. 15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day. 16 And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; 17 then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise. 18 It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest. 19 All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep. [the firstling males went to the priesthood as their 2nd tithe for the feasts, the firstling females were kept for the 2^nd tithe meat for the farmer.] 20 Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household. 21 And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God. 22 Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart. 23 Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.”

The Year Of Release, Mercy For The Poor

“At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. 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. [cf. Exodus 23:10] Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;” (verses 1-3) Now there is a question to this, we know that if you sold yourself, we’re going to come to this, if you were indebted to someone, that you could serve as a servant in their house to pay that off, and God demanded that in the seventh year [at the end of the 6^th year], you would have to let that servant go free, they worked for you for six years paying off some debt. The question with the monetary part of this debt is, is it saying that every 7^th year those debts were forgiven completely in the year of release, or is it saying that in the 7^th year, that even then the land would go fallow, that the labourer would not have to pay any debts in the 7^th year, and then begin to pay his debt monetarily again in the 8^th year, and scholars are divided. [No, I believe all debts are forgiven on the 7^th years, based on the wording of these laws, and there was no resumption of the debt collecting on the 8^th year, that sounds like something the Jews would love to interpret it that way, resumption of debt collection. I think they all know better though.] They’re all agreed, that if you are a servant, you were released in the 7^th year [at the beginning of it], you’re done. They all agree that in the year of Jubilee, the 50^th year, all debts were forgiven, monetary, any kind of debt, all land was returned to the family with the genealogy showing they had the right to the land. So there is a question here. I have the feeling that in regards to monetary debt, that the LORD is saying that in the 7^th year you let go. Not in regards to strangers, not in regards to foreigners, but in regards to your fellow Israelites. The foreigner he said you may exact it again, “but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release; save” or it seems to be saying, “to the intent” “when there shall be no poor among you;” the LORD wanting to prosper the land, “for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:” (verses 3b-4) Now we’re going to hear this in verse 4, verse 6, verse 10, verse 18 over and over God’s saying if you do these things, he will greatly bless you in the land where you are. That the blessing on the land is relative to the vertical, and not to the horizontal. Because on the horizontal you might you might think ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing with the animals, we’re having to tithe, we have to bring these to Jerusalem, we’re having to forgive debt, how are we ever going to afford it?’ God says, if you’ll do these things, if you will do these things, 4 times in this chapter specifically, that he will bless them in the land. If they will be obedient. And I want to tell you something, is that the way it is in your life today? People come for counseling, they come with all kinds of problems. If you get the vertical correct, it’s remarkable how much on the horizontal straightens out. Even in counseling marriages, there’s a Lordship problem, most of the time. If the husband is willing to be everything the Lord says he should be, if you’re right vertically, and you’re yielded to the Holy Ghost, usually your wife is pretty happy with you. [Mine wasn’t 😊, but she wasn’t converted, and I didn’t know it at then time.] Usually, but these are relative, not carved in stone here. We have had wives that were happier with their husbands when they were drunks and running around and going to Atlantic City, and they get saved and their wife can’t stand them now. Of course she’s unsaved, and ‘This terrible guy, he doesn’t drink anymore, he doesn’t run around anymore, he doesn’t gamble anymore, I can’t live with him, he drives me nuts.’ And the same thing, if the wife, if Lordship is a reality, if she cares to live her life to please Christ, to be his wife in the marriage, it makes a huge difference, it makes a huge difference. Four times in this chapter it says, if you get the vertical right, the blessings will manifest on the horizontal. ‘To the intent that there should be no poor among you, the Israelites;’ “for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it: 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. 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.” (verses 4-6) He’s in the process right now of blessing you as he promised. And in the United States, not that long ago, we were the greatest lender-nation in the world, and we are the greatest debtors now. And if you want to chart that, you could probably put right alongside of our moral habits, our putting prayer out of school, Roe vs. Wade, you could probably track our decline downward in regards to prosperity, in regards to the wealth and the blessing of God on our nation, right along with our moral decisions that we made in disobedience with the will of God, no doubt. That leaves the ball in our court, we’re the ones now, if we would repent, seek the Lord, and turn from our wicked ways, then he would hear our prayers and heal our land, the Church needs to be. The unbelievers are being what unbelievers should be. The question is, is the Church being what the Church should be? Taking the prayers out of public school was tough, but no prayer in the churches is tougher [read this article: https://unityinchrist.com/prayer/prayer-teamessentials.htm ], or at our homes, or around the dinner table, or with the children and in the house. “If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.” (verses 7-8) So when one of your brethren come, they’re in trouble, if it’s within your means you should help them, don’t harden your heart, don’t be tightfisted, is what it says here, open your hand. Now God knows us so well, “Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.” (verse 9) The LORD says, ‘Now look, what I’m asking of you here, every 7^th year I want the debt released, I don’t want any of you standing around thinking, ‘Here comes this guy, he’s gonna try to borrow from me, and he knows that next year is the 7^th year, and he’s working me, and I’m not gonna lend to him,’ God said, ‘I don’t want any of you thinking like that.’ It says this in the Book of Proverbs, it says ‘There is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than is fitting, and it tendeth to poverty.’ There is a man who scatters, who gives liberally, and it says he increaseth, he’s scattering yet increasing. And there is that that withholds more than is fitting, tightfisted, refusing to give anything, and it says here it tends to poverty. You know, logically that would all be backwards. This has a vertical anchor to it, that makes it work. “Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him:” God says don’t be saying ‘I don’t want to give it, but the Law says I gotta give it, take that!’ He says I don’t want you to do it that way. “because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.” (verse 10) “It’s going to be a blessing unto you, in all thy works, and in all thou puttest thine hand unto.” “For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” (verse 11) You know, Paul tells us in Galatians 2, when he came to Jerusalem, and he encountered those who appeared to be pillars in the Church and so forth, and they said ‘We’ll go to the Jews, you go to the Gentiles,’ and Paul said, ‘they would that we remember the poor, which very thing we were forward to do.’ So here, the same exhortation, remember the less fortunate, the poor.

The Law Of Mercy Toward Indentured Servants, Bondslaves

Now this is when they come, and they’re going to work for you for 6 years to pay some debt, “And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out for free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:” (verses 12-13) ok, the guy works for you as a servant for 6 years, in the 7^th year he’s free. He didn’t save anything while he was working for you, you didn’t pay him, he was working for you to pay off the debt. But the LORD says here, when the 7^th year comes, I don’t want you sending him out with nothing, because he’ll end up being a servant for somebody immediately again, he’ll be right back in the same situation he was in. So he says “thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.” (verses 14-15) And they came out of Egypt with great substance, even the Egyptians who were pagans bestowed on them gold and silver and jewels and so forth. So the LORD’s making a point with them, ‘this is your brother, when he’s done being your bondman after 6 years and you let him go, don’t you send him away emptyhanded, you be gracious to him, you open your hand, you bestow upon him liberally, because the LORD thy God has blessed thee.’ “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.” (verse 15) read Exodus chapter 21 by the way, great study “And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;” (verse 16) You come, end up to be a servant in this person’s house, and you realize ‘Hey, being a servant here, I’d rather be a servant in the LORD’s house than to dwell in the tents of wickedness, I’d rather be a doorkeeper here.’ And Exodus 21 gives us a little more details, that as you’ve been there you’ve gained a wife, you have children, and you look around and you’re saying ‘I don’t envy any man, I have a wife that I love, I have children, we have food on the table, my master is a gracious man.’ And he says there that if you decide you don’t want to go out, “then” the master of the house “thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.” (verse 17) This is the only thing that would make me, ‘I really want to stay here, but I don’t like this aul thing,’ an aul is a wood tool, and you take it and take the guy to your door, your doorpost, and you just take the aul, there’s no antiseptic here, it’s not like getting your ear pierced at the Mall, no putting ice on your ear, you just take the guy and gouge a hole in his ear, and then you put a gold ring in his ear, and it symbolized that he was then a bondslave. You know, Paul and Timothy, bondslaves of Jesus Christ, relinquishing their will and their rights, belonging to someone else. And the picture clearly given to us, is that really the pursuit of life, the pursuit of life again is to find the right Master. It isn’t to find freedom. It’s so foolish and so sad sometimes we see young people in the church, they’re thinking ‘What they need to do is they need to get free, discover freedom,’ no, you need to discover who your master is. Drugs is a cruel master, sex is a cruel master, alcohol is a cruel master, money a cruel master, great servant, cruel master. If you find a Master who spread out his hands on a wooden cross who bled his life into the ground for you, that’s the Master you’re looking for. That’s freedom, when you find that Master. I can say that, when you get saved, I can remember Egypt, I was set free, I was redeemed, I was taken out of the house of bondage, from drugs and violence, anger. If he hadn’t saved me, there was no way, Kathy and I are going to be married 30 years this summer. There’s no way I’d have made 2 years without Jesus Christ. And I can look back and say ‘I don’t want to be free, I do not want to go free, I have a wife, I have children, I have grandchildren, I have a life, I don’t envy any man, I want to stay in my Master’s house. I want to stay in my Master’s house. I have found the right Master, and I am free.’ “thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.” (verse 17) you can do the same thing if a woman decides she wants to stay. “It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.” (verse 18) Because you didn’t hire him, you didn’t have to pay him, so he’s worth double to you. He came and he worked and you didn’t have to pay him, in serving thee 6 years, “and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.”

The Law Of The Firstborn Males Of Thy Flocks & Herds

“All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.” (verse 19) [the firstling males went to the priesthood as their 2nd tithe for the Feasts, the firstling females were for the 2^nd tithe meat for the farmer and his family to take to the Feasts (see https://unityinchrist.com/gifts4.htm ).] What he’s saying is, and it harks back to their redemption from Egypt, that the LORD spared the firstborn, so then all of the firstborn belongs to him. He says your firstborn of your flocks and your herds are mine [the males were his, to go to the priesthood]. I don’t want you taking the firstborn of your ox and plowing with it real fast before you bring it to sacrifice it. I don’t want you taking the firstborn of the sheep and shaving him real fast to get the wool off of him, before you bring him to me. Isn’t it sad that he knows us that well? “All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep. Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household.” (verses 19-20) You come up [understood by the rabbis, as “coming up” for the Feasts, especially Tabernacles] the first that came forth were offered to the LORD, and it was a part of the fellowship offering, they got to eat part of it, part of it was offered to the LORD, part of it went to the priests. Look at what it says in verse 21, isn’t it sad, “And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God.” ‘Don’t bring me your three-legged ox in here, please, into Jerusalem, don’t bring me your blind sheep walking around banging heads against everything.’ Isn’t it sad that the LORD has to tell us, ‘by the way, don’t bother to bring the maimed animals and say ‘Hey look, that one can’t walk, we’ll give him to the LORD, look at that one over there running into everything, that one’s blind, we’ll give him to the LORD.’ Isn’t it sad he has to tell us ‘Don’t do that, don’t give me your second-best or your third-best.’ He would never have to say that to us, but of course he had to say that to ancient Israel. Rather, this animal that might be injured, he says, “Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart.” (verse 22) It’s still good, you know, three-legged ox, man you put that baby in pit and barbeque it, that’s still good, you know. Three-legged lamb, I love leg of lamb, I love rack of lamb too, so got two racks and one leg, I’m still happy. [Pastor Joe and I are meat-o-sauruses.] Jerry Paradise, his family is Italian, he’s told me his mother used to love to eat the eyeball, I don’t care if it’s blind or not blind, I’ll eat any of that. Roasted lamb that can’t see is fine with me. “the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart” that you’ve taken in the field “Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.” (verse 23) There was always the respect of life, even in the life of an animal, the life of the beast, the life of the sacrifice, the blood is to be poured out, not to be eaten. [Native Americans in hunting, in the killing of an animal, have been known to say a short prayer, thanking the spirit of the animal for the meat they’re about to partake of. Solomon in Ecclesiastes said there is a spirit-in-man, and that animals have a similar spirit component too, granting them animal intelligence. Makes one wonder about some of their customs and stories, like their having knowledge of a great Flood that covered the earth, that in their historic memories, hearken back to their ancient understanding coming from their having some ancient access to the Book of Genesis.] Read ahead, don’t let me think, ‘I’m labouring here Joe to get some practical lessons out of this.’ Well, here’s some practical lessons…the word intercession is in the Bible twice, we pray for our leaders and we pray over our dinner, that’s practical. But there are things that we take note of in regards to the desire of our flesh, we’re not free, the New Testament gives us liberty, it doesn’t give us license. We’re not just free to partake of everything in the New Testament either. We are not free just to partake of everything. Certainly in regards to the menu, you want to eat escargot, God bless you, me and snail are never gonna get along. I know some people like sushi, I mean, I tried, I had a cat that loved sushi [laughter], I broil my fish, please. But the point is, we’re not under the Law, you partake, you say grace, you have a conviction about not eating something, don’t eat it, you read Romans 14. If you’re a vegan, we’ll pray for you, we’re going to run out of forests, there’s going to be no oxygen if we eat everything green on the planet, we’ll be in trouble [he’s being facetious of course]. Giving, should be a normal part of our lives, it should be a regular part of our lives, and there are many ways to give, God says “freely you have received, freely give.” If we remember, we were taken out of the house of bondage, that we were bondmen, we were enslaved in this world, and sin, and he paid the ultimate price, speaking of giving, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life. You will never outgive God, he is never going to be your debtor. When we get to heaven [at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb (cf. Revelation 19:7-9)] no flesh is going to glory in his presence, you will only be blessed, you will only be blessed in your giving, he’s never going to owe you, he’s never going to owe you, he’s going to give back pressed down, shaken together, overflowing in abundance, in this life and in the life to come, the Bible says. So, controlling ourselves, praying over our food, being regular givers, and don’t bring any three-legged animals, it’s all practical stuff. Let’s stand, let’s pray, we’ll have the musicians come. Look, read ahead, there’s just some great, great stuff in Deuteronomy. Now if you’re here tonight and you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, and we saw people get saved in Leviticus 11, I can never figure this out, the Dietary Law people came forward and got saved. We’re going through the same stuff in the Book of Deuteronomy, but if you’re sitting here and you’re coming under conviction, and you’re thinking ‘You know, I need to be saved, I’m lost, I want to know this God that cares about what I put on my table, I want to know this God who cares that much about me, and yet I know that I am a sinner, and if he’s sent his own Son to die for me, I want to know this God.’ If that’s you, would you please after the service make your way up here, we’d love to pray with you, give you a Bible, some literature to read. We don’t want your address or phone number, you come, we give freely, we want to see you come into the Kingdom. But let’s bow our hearts, let’s pray, and let’s lift our voices…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Deuteronomy 14:1-29 and Deuteronomy 15:1-23, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]