Deuteronomy 14:1-21

Heathen customs to be avoided.

Deuteronomy 14:1 f. Heathen mourning rites.

Deuteronomy 14:1. cut yourselves: Leviticus 19:28 *, cf. Leviticus 21:5. baldness: the custom in mourning of shaving the hair between the eyes (i.e. on the top of the forehead). These are merely extreme forms of expressing grief; but most recent scholars regard them as survivals of acts of sacrifice, the blood and the hair being offered up to heathen deities or to dead but deified ancestors (p. 110). See Jeremiah 16:6, where both these customs are mentioned without censure.

Deuteronomy 14:3. Living creatures which may and which may not be eaten; see Leviticus 11:2 * (P), with which the present section agrees closely, and Introduction to that chapter; also pp. 82f. No earlier code mentions these laws, nor have they any logical connexion with the fundamental principle of D (one sanctuary) or with Josiah's reform (2 Kings 22 f.). The Bible does not explain the origin of the distinction between clean and unclean animals beyond tracing it to the Divine command (Leviticus 11:1 f.). Very many theories have been proposed: see the Bible Dictionaries.

Deuteronomy 14:21. What is forbidden to the Israelites (animals that have died of themselves and have, therefore, the blood in them, Deuteronomy 12:23) may yet be offered to the sojourner (see Deuteronomy 1:16 *) or sold to a foreigner because their religion allowed the consumption of such food. Thou shalt not seethe. milk: see Exodus 23:19 * (E).