Deuteronomy 14:1-101Ye are the children of the Lord your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 2For 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. 3Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. 4These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, 5The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. 6And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. 7Nevertheless 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. 8And 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. 9These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: 10And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you. (Deuteronomy 14:1‑10)
IN THIS chapter the Lord reminds Israel that they were His people.
"Ye are the children of the LORD your God." This relationship then called for holy separation unto Him. The claims of the Lord upon us as Christians call for entire separation from every unequal yoke and to be holy unto the Lord is as binding now as ever, in fact more so. We are exhorted to "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing" (Col. 1:1010That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:10)).
In mourning for their dead, Israel were not to disfigure themselves as did the nations around who knew not God. As believers we are not to adopt the ways of the world nor to neglect these bodies of ours for they are the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6:1919What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)).
"For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself."
Israel were told that they could not eat anything they liked. "Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing." They were not left to choose for themselves what they could eat. God, who knew best, chose for them. These things were but types and shadows, and we believe that God was looking on to us as His heavenly people who would by His Spirit seek out His mind in them.
The clean beasts were those that divided the hoof and chewed the cud: those that only had one of these marks of distinction were unclean. The cattle, domestic and wild, were clean, but the camel, the hare, and the coney, along with the swine, were unclean and forbidden to be eaten as food. These animals in their habits and instincts were used of God to teach His people as to habits and ways of the flesh that were unclean in His sight.
The camel, the coney, the hare might chew the cud but they did not divide the hoof. The swine divided the hoof, but did not chew the cud; besides it swallows its food greedily.
For us, the divided hoof speaks of a steady, patient walk with God, in separation from evil around. Chewing the cud tells of a life nourished inwardly by meditating on the truth of God which we have received. Both these are necessary to the Christian's life and walk.
One might have considerable truth but it has no power over his walk. It is in his head, and not in his heart; he may even be a rejecter of Christ. On the other hand, one might be clean living, honest and blameless in his walk before his fellow men, yet this does not flow from his having the truth in his heart. Christ is not his object. It may be mere formal outward separation, as was found in the pharisees of old, but it is not separation to Christ; it is worth nothing. It is the natural man fallen through sin, and unclean before God. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him."
When it came to the fish, all that had fins and scales they could eat. But those that had not fins and scales they might not eat; they were unclean.
The fins enable the fish to rise in the water, to direct its course, and to avoid danger. When one is saved, the Spirit of God comes to dwell in his heart, and he has a power which enables him to swim against the current of the world, the course of which is all downward, and away from God. The fish's scales are its protection. And so for the Christian to escape the pollutions of the world a careful walk is needed. We also need to have on that armour of protection which God has provided the spirit of holiness, nourished and sustained by the Word of God.
Messages of the Love of God 4/13/1975