Deuteronomy 14:3-21

Deuteronomy 14:3-21

[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 an holy  people  unto the LORD  thy God.  Thou shalt not seethe  a kid  in his mother's  milk. 

What does Deuteronomy 14:3-21 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The diet of the Canaanites also had connection with their religion. Perhaps some of what God forbade would have been unhealthful for the Israelites to eat (cf. Leviticus 11). [1] However the main reason for the prohibitions seems to have been that certain animals did not conform to what the Israelites considered normal or typical. [2] Another view is that the distinctions between clean and unclean were deliberately arbitrary to teach the Israelites that God"s election of them from among other nations had also been arbitrary. [3] Others believe that only some of these distinctions were arbitrary. [4]
One characteristic of all the forbidden birds, despite the imprecision of the names that describe them, seems to be that they all consumed carrion. [5]
"The ceremonial custom of boiling a kid in its mother"s milk is known from the ancient Canaanite tablets found at Ugarit [6]. Such a rite was superstitiously observed by the Canaanites, hoping that through magical acts they could increase fertility and productivity ( Deuteronomy 14:21; Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26)." [2]
". . . various Canaanite cults regularly engaged in the practices of seething a kid in its mother"s milk as a fertility rite of sympathetic magic intended to coerce the deity into granting fertility to the wives, fields, and flocks of the cults" adherents. Such rites of sympathetic magic "worked" on the premise that the gods were in some way part of and subject to the same natural created order that human beings also inhabited. By finding the common natural connection points, human beings could "push the right buttons" and thus manipulate the gods...
"Israelites do not, through an act of sympathetic magic, try to coerce the deity into blessing them with fertility for the year to come; but instead, after the year"s crops have been harvested and whether that year"s harvest has been fruitful or not, Israelites bring a tithe to God as an act of gratitude [8]." [9]
Another view is that this prohibition taught the Israelites not to use what promotes life, milk, to destroy life. [10]
In the present dispensation all foods are clean ( Mark 7:19; Acts 10:15; Romans 14:14; et al.). However, we too should avoid foods that are unhealthful, since our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and blood, the carrier and symbol of life ( Genesis 9:4). Moreover we should avoid practices that may lead us away from God"s will or appear to others that we have departed from God"s will ( 1 Thessalonians 5:22).