Deuteronomy 14:21

21 but whatever thing is dead by itself, eat ye not thereof. Give thou (it as) meat to the pilgrim that is within thy gates, that he eat (it), either sell thou (it as) meat to him, for thou art an holy people of thy Lord God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. (Whatever thing that dieth a natural death, ye shall not eat. Give thou it as food to the foreigner, or the stranger, who is within thy gates, so that he can eat it, or sell thou it to him for food, but thou art a holy people of the Lord thy God, and thou shalt not eat it. And thou shalt not boil a kid in his mother's milk.)

Deuteronomy 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.

Deuteronomy 14:21 In-Context

19 And all thing that creepeth, and hath fins, shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten. (And all insects that both creep and fly, shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten.)
20 Eat ye all thing (that creepeth,) and that is clean; (But ye can eat all clean insects.)
21 but whatever thing is dead by itself, eat ye not thereof. Give thou (it as) meat to the pilgrim that is within thy gates, that he eat (it), either sell thou (it as) meat to him, for thou art an holy people of thy Lord God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. (Whatever thing that dieth a natural death, ye shall not eat. Give thou it as food to the foreigner, or the stranger, who is within thy gates, so that he can eat it, or sell thou it to him for food, but thou art a holy people of the Lord thy God, and thou shalt not eat it. And thou shalt not boil a kid in his mother's milk.)
22 Thou shalt separate the tenth part of all thy fruits that come forth in the land by each year; (Thou shalt set aside the tenth part of all thy produce that cometh forth from the land each year;)
23 and thou shalt eat (it) in the sight of thy Lord God, in the place which he choose, that his name be called therein; thou shalt offer the tithe of thy wheat, of wine, and oil, and the first engendered things of thy droves, and of thy sheep, that thou learn to dread thy Lord God in all time. (and thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose, that his name be called there; thou shalt offer a tenth of thy corn, and of thy wine, and of thy oil, and the first-born male things of thy herds, and of thy sheep, so that thou learn to fear the Lord thy God/so that thou learn to revere the Lord thy God for all time.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.