Devarim 14:21

21 Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself; thou shalt give it unto the ger that is in thy she’arim, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien; for thou art an Am Kadosh unto Hashem Eloheicha. Thou shalt not boil a young goat in its mother’s cholov.

Devarim 14:21 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 14:21

Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself
This law is repeated from ( Leviticus 17:15 ) , (See Gill on Leviticus 17:15):

thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may
eat it;
not to the proselyte of righteousness, for he might not eat of it any more than an Israelite, and if he did, he was obliged to wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and was unclean until the evening, as in ( Leviticus 17:15 ) but to a proselyte of the gate, who took upon him, as Jarchi observes, not to serve idols, one that has renounced idolatry, but has not embraced the Jewish religion; such an one might eat of things that died of themselves, or were not killed in a proper manner. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan call him an uncircumcised stranger or proselyte, who had not submitted to circumcision, as the proselyte of righteousness did:

or thou mayest sell it unto an alien;
an idolater, one that was neither a proselyte of righteousness nor of the gate, an entire alien from the commonwealth of Israel; one that was occasionally in the land of Canaan, or was travelling in it or through it, to such an one it might be sold:

for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God;
separated from all others, and devoted to his service, and therefore must live on clean, food and good meat, and not eat what others might:

thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk;
this is the third time this law is mentioned; refer to the notes, (See Gill on Exodus 23:19), (See Gill on Exodus 34:26); the reason of which repetition, the Jewish writers say F19, is, that it is once said to forbid the eating it, a second time to forbid any use of it or profit by it, and a third time to forbid the boiling of it.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 2. sect. 9.

Devarim 14:21 In-Context

19 And every creeping thing that flieth is tameh (unclean) unto you; they shall not be eaten.
20 But of all tahor (clean) fowls ye may eat.
21 Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself; thou shalt give it unto the ger that is in thy she’arim, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien; for thou art an Am Kadosh unto Hashem Eloheicha. Thou shalt not boil a young goat in its mother’s cholov.
22 Thou shalt truly give ma’aser (tithe) of all the increase of thy zera, that the sadeh bringeth forth year by year.
23 And thou shalt eat before Hashem Eloheicha, in the place which He shall choose to place Shmo there, the ma’aser (tithe) of thy dagan (grain), of thy tirosh (new wine), and of thine yitzhar (fresh oil), and the bekhorot (firstlings) of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to stand in awe of Hashem Eloheicha always.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.