Bible Commentaries

For thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a ^a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that [are] upon the earth.

(a) Therefore you should not follow the superstition of the Gentiles.

^b These [are] the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

(b) This ceremonial Law instructed the Jews to seek a spiritual pureness, even in their meat and drink.

Ye shall not eat [of] any thing that ^c dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the ^d stranger that [is] in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

(c) Because their blood was not shed, but remains in them.

(d) Who is not of your religion.

Thou shalt truly ^e tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.

(e) The tithes were ordained for the maintenance of the Levites, who had no inheritance.

And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; [or] if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, ^f when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:

(f) When he shall give thee abilities.

And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: ^g and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,

(g) After the Priest has received the Lord's part.

At the end of three years thou shalt ^h bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay [it] up within thy gates:

(h) Besides the yearly tithes that were given to the Levites, these were laid up in store for the poor.