Deuteronomy 26:14

14 And in my distress I did not eat of them, I have not gathered of them for an unclean purpose, I have not given of them to the dead; I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, I have done as thou hast commanded me.

Deuteronomy 26:14 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 26:14

I have not eaten thereof in my mourning
When in grief and sorrow on account of any afflictive circumstance, for these were to be eaten with joy, ( Deuteronomy 16:11 ) ( 26:11 ) ; and especially of the loss of relations by death, when holy things were not to be eaten by such persons; see ( Leviticus 10:19 ) ; and particularly tithes, though it is said ^F14,

``What is doubtful of tithing (whether it has been tithed or no) might be eaten by a mourner;''

and a man was reckoned such an one until his dead was buried. So Maimonides ^F15 observes,

``a mourner may not eat holy things, as it is written, ( Deuteronomy 26:14 ) ; he is one whose relation is dead, when he is obliged to mourn; for he is called by the law a mourner as long as the dead lies upon the face of the earth (above ground), or as long as he is not yet buried he is called a mourner; and so likewise on the day of burial:''

neither have I taken away [ought] thereof for [any] unclean [use];
or common use, or any other use than it was designed for, and devoted to; or for any unclean person, who by the law might not eat thereof; or, as Jarchi interprets it, that he had not removed it, or taken it away from being eaten, on account of any unclean person, because I am unclean and he pure, or he pure and I unclean:

nor given ought thereof for the dead;
for the necessities of the dead, as Aben Ezra; more particularly Jarchi, to make for him a coffin and grave clothes; and so the Targum of Jonathan interprets it of grave clothes for the dead; though that of Jerusalem of clothes for those that are polluted by the dead. It may have respect also to the parentalia, or funeral feasts made at the interment of the dead; though Aben Ezra says, there are some that say it was for idolatry, and so the person here speaking denies that he had made use of any of the holy things in honour of idols, of dead men deified; and some are of opinion that all the above things may have some respect to idolatrous practices {p}:

[but] I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, [and] have
done according to all that thou hast commanded me;
observed his word, and kept close to it, and not swerved from it, but acted according to it in all things before referred to.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Misn. Demai, c. 1. sect. 2.
F15 Maimon. in Misn. Pesachim, c. 8. sect. 6.
F16 Vid. Patrick in loc.

Deuteronomy 26:14 In-Context

12 And when thou shalt have completed all the tithings of thy fruits in the third year, thou shalt give the second tenth to the Levite, and stranger, and fatherless, and widow; and they shall eat it in thy cities, and be merry.

13 And thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have fully collected the holy things out of my house, and I have given them to the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, according to all commands which thou didst command me: I did not transgress thy command, and I did not forget it.

14 And in my distress I did not eat of them, I have not gathered of them for an unclean purpose, I have not given of them to the dead; I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, I have done as thou hast commanded me.

15 Look down from thy holy house, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given them, as thou didst swear to our fathers, to give to us a land flowing with milk and honey.

16 On this day the Lord thy God charged thee to keep all the ordinances and judgments; and ye shall observe and do them, with all your heart, and with all your soul.

Footnotes

• [a]. person.