Deuteronomy 26:14

14 I haven't eaten any part of your sacred share while I was sobbing over someone who had died. I haven't taken any of it from my house while I was 'unclean.' And I haven't offered any of it to the dead. LORD my God, I've obeyed you. I've done everything you commanded me to do.

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 You will set apart a tenth of everything you produce in the third year. That's the year for giving the tenth to people who have special needs. You will give it to the Levites, outsiders and widows. You will also give it to children whose fathers have died. Then all of them will have plenty to eat in your towns.

13 Speak to the LORD your God. Say to him, "I have taken your sacred share from my house. I have given it to the Levites, outsiders and widows. I have also given it to children whose fathers have died. I've done everything you commanded me to do. I haven't turned away from your commands. I haven't forgotten any of them.

14 I haven't eaten any part of your sacred share while I was sobbing over someone who had died. I haven't taken any of it from my house while I was 'unclean.' And I haven't offered any of it to the dead. LORD my God, I've obeyed you. I've done everything you commanded me to do.

15 "Look down from the holy place where you live in heaven. Bless your people Israel. Bless the land you have given us. It's the land you promised with an oath to give to our fathers. It's a land that has plenty of milk and honey."

16 This very day the LORD your God commands you to follow all of those rules and laws. Be careful to obey them with all your heart and with all your soul.