Deuteronomy 14:21

21 "Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself. Thou shalt give it unto the stranger who is in thy gates, that he may eat it, or thou mayest sell it unto an alien; for thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God. "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 every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.
20 But of all clean fowls ye may eat.
21 "Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself. Thou shalt give it unto the stranger who is in thy gates, that he may eat it, or thou mayest sell it unto an alien; for thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God. "Thou shalt not boil a kid in his mother's milk.
22 "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed that the field bringeth forth year by year.
23 And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which He shall choose to place His name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks, that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.
Third Millennium Bible (TMB), New Authorized Version, Copyright 1998 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.