Deu 14:3-21 | KingComments | STEP | The external defacement is the result of eating the wrong food. That is why the command now follows not to eat any detestable thing. Because sons are there for God, He wants them to eat the right food, food that further shapes their character as sons in the picture of the Son. Nothing in them should remind of the nations.

‏ Deuteronomy 14:3-21

Eating Nothing That Is Detestable

The external defacement is the result of eating the wrong food. That is why the command now follows not to eat any detestable thing. Because sons are there for God, He wants them to eat the right food, food that further shapes their character as sons in the picture of the Son. Nothing in them should remind of the nations.

Terrestrial Animals as Food

Sonship is a matter that must be put into practice every day. Sons are not ruled by rules, with what is and what is not allowed. Sons will always ask themselves how they can be a joy to the Father’s heart as much as possible. That’s why they will be careful with what they eat. Food builds up our bodies, it adds building blocks. Our bodies are formed by what we feed ourselves with. Healthy food has a healthy effect on our body.

What applies to our bodies also applies to our minds. With what we feed ourselves spiritually, what we read, what we look at, forms our spiritual life. We will adopt in our character the characteristics of the food we eat. It is therefore important to distinguish between clean and unclean food.

In Leviticus 11 only the unclean animals are mentioned by name and the message is addressed to Moses and Aaron. In Deuteronomy priests are rarely mentioned. It is a book that is addressed to a people of sons. Then the clean animals are named to give the sons their characteristics. The clean animals are often a type of the Lord Jesus. Sons feed on Him. He gives form and shape to their lives. The Lord Jesus becomes visible in them.

The first mentioned animal, “the ox”, is a picture of the steadiness and strength in serving. The ox perseveres. We see this in the life of the Lord Jesus. It is also the largest animal that can be offered as a burnt offering (Lev 1:3), but here it is food for us. We also have to be steadfast, immovable continuing in the work of the Lord (1Cor 15:58). As He steadily continued, so do we steadily continue.

In “the sheep” we see other characteristics. A sheep speaks of passing through suffering patiently and longsuffering. In 1 Peter 2 these characteristics are given to us as an example (1Pet 2:23). If we feed ourselves with Him in this way, those features will more and more adorn us.

“The goat” is the animal of the sin offering. It shows how much the Lord Jesus has satisfied God’s righteousness toward sin. To feed us with Him as the sin offering will work to maintain God’s righteous standards in our actions. It will restrain us from sin. We will live separately from sin for righteousness (1Pet 2:24).

After three domesticated land animals – which are a type of the Lord Jesus and can be sacrificed – seven animals are mentioned that live in the wild. They are clean animals. They may not be sacrificed, but they may be eaten. They have characteristics that remind us of the Lord Jesus.

In “the deer” we see the panting for the water brooks: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God (Psa 42:1a). If we feed ourselves with Him, it will cause a thirst for God in our souls. Nothing but fellowship with God can satisfy our deepest desires. To be with God gives the soul the true refreshment. The Lord Jesus experienced this and we can experience it.

“The gazelle” is characterized by the graceful and supple pace with which the animal rushes over the mountains (2Sam 2:18; 1Chr 12:8). Is there anything of that graceful pace to be seen with us? It is always there with the Lord Jesus, even when He walks through the streets of Jerusalem with the cross on His back. Through our conduct we can “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect” (Tit 2:10).

There are things that disfigure sons of God (Deu 14:1), but here we have the things that will adorn us. All these animals have the hoof split in two and chew the cud. Both characteristics must be present. Chewing the cud is not only reading from the Bible, but also thinking about it, studying God’s Word. Split hooves give the walking stability, that we are not “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph 4:14), but that we are steadfast in faith. Teaching and practice belong together.

All animals where both characteristics are not found, are not suitable as food for ‘sons’. If only one of the characteristics is present, it is, so to speak, one-sided food. If only the emphasis is placed on the doctrine, it is not good. That leads to legalism. With the Pharisees there is a separation between ‘saying’ and ‘doing’ (Mt 23:3). The sound doctrine must lead to a sound practice. If the emphasis is only on practice, it is not good either. How can there be good practice without proper teaching?

Aquatic Animals as Food

With the second group of animals, the animals in the water, it is about the element in which they are. The water surrounds them from all sides. It then comes down to the fact that there is good protection. The scales are an armor, a separation between the animal and the environment in which it is in. There must also be fins for propulsion, to go the straight course to God’s thoughts.

Lot is someone who had scales. He did not take part in evil. Nevertheless, he had no fins. He could not resist evil or escape. Joseph is the opposite of that. He lived in a corrupt environment. When the temptation came, he managed to flee from evil.

Winged Animals as Food

Birds speak of the spirit world. The clean birds speak of what is of God. The list begins with them and ends with them. Clean birds often point to the Lord Jesus as Man from heaven, His origin. The unclean birds speak of what is demonic, what is from the devil (Rev 18:2; Isa 13:21 ; Isa 34:10-11; Jer 50:39).

We are called to deal only with things that have a good spiritual influence. The command to test the spirits (1Jn 4:1) is given to each son. The capacity to do so is given to him. The babies in the faith can recognize the antichrists because they have the “anointing from the Holy One” (1Jn 2:20). Every believer can recognize the voice of the stranger because he knows the voice of the good Shepherd (Jn 10:27).

Only the unclean birds are mentioned here. Some are birds of prey, others are nocturnal, and others are carrion birds. The devil is always out for the destruction of the sons. If he cannot deprive them of their sonship, he will try to deprive sonship of its character by offering mixed forms of being Christian.

How to Deal with a Dead Animal

A carcass may be given or sold to the stranger, but a son of God may not eat it. The meat of a dead animal can be fine meat and he can give it to another to please him, but the standards of sons are higher. A carcass is something that has died of its own accord. There is no effort needed: no aforethought or preparation. It is not about a slaughtered animal. A son deals with the animal, he chooses it. He takes active steps to bring about slaughter and death.

If, for instance, it is fashionable in the world for women to wear long hair –in itself, that is in accordance with the Bible. Nonetheless, fashion is not a prevailing standard for those who share in sonship. The essence of what we do lies in the heart. It is about the motive from which something is being done. Are we doing it because the people in the world think it is better, or because God deems it so? The benchmark should be to how great a degree I can be a delight to the Father.

The instruction not to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk occurs two more times in exactly the same terms (Exo 23:19 ; Exo 34:26). Milk is for life for that goat. What is for the life of the goat, may not be used in connection with his death. It is unnatural.

God cares about nature. He does not want to see unnatural things happening. He wants sons to maintain what He has set in creation, in nature, such as marriage, family and work. We read about this especially in those letters that show us the highest Christian standpoint: the letter to the Ephesians and the letter to the Colossians. In nature we can, if we still have an eye for it, receive objectively teaching of God’s intentions (1Cor 11:14). This is also part of the formation of the characteristics of God in His sons.