Deuteronomy 14:1 says, Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. Moses said they were the children of God and they were not to cut themselves nor shave their heads in mourning for the dead. They were not to harm or even disfigure themselves because they still had a heavenly Father, no matter who died, and if the person who died was truly a child of God, they had simply gone on to their heavenly home. Verse two adds, 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. Moses said they were a holy people, chosen by God and not by their own goodness. They were to be a peculiar people, different in their values from all other people. As followers of Christ, we are a holy people because of Who our God is, and not because of who we are of our own merit. We, like Israel, are to be peculiar people, set aside from the values of the world to live by God's law. Verse three states, Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. Moses then said that they were not to eat any abominable thing, and then he told them what would be considered abominable. Of course, after the death of Jesus, these restrictions were removed by God, so we are free to eat these animals today. Verse four adds, These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, Verse five continues, The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. Verse six concludes, 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. The people of Israel were given a large variety of animals that they could eat, and we are given an even greater freedom in what we eat today. Nothing that we eat is going to make us spiritually unclean. Verse seven says, 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. Some animals, such as the camel, hare and coney, chewed the cud but did not have a cloven, or divided hoof. Verse eight adds, 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. Swine were also included, because they did not chew cud. These restrictions were to set the people of God apart from the rest of the world. We today are set apart by putting our faith in Jesus Christ and then living by His laws. Verse nine states, These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: There were also restrictions on what fish the people of Isreal could eat. If the fish had fins and scales, they could eat it. Verse ten adds, And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you. If the animal coming from the water did not have fins and scales, it was not to be eaten. This would have included things such as eels, catfish, shrimp, clams, and oysters, and I personally am happy that these restrictions were removed when God told Peter that what He made clean Peter was not to call unclean, and neither should we.
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