How does Deuteronomy 14 direct Israel to use its annual tithe and the separate third-year tithe?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The annual tithe is eaten before the Lord at his chosen place, together with the firstborn of herds and sheep, to learn to fear him at all times. When distance prevents carrying the goods, they are sold for money to buy provisions there. In the third year another tithe is stored within the gates for the Levite, stranger, fatherless, and widow to eat their fill.

Chapter breakdown

Israel is told to be children of the Lord and not cut themselves or make baldness for the dead. The reason is that they are a holy people to him, chosen from all nations on earth to be specially his own. They must not eat unclean things. Challoner’s separate note directs the reader to the annotations on Leviticus 11; it gives no further explanation within this chapter.

The listed beasts they may eat are the ox, sheep, goat, hart, roe, buffle, chamois, pygarg, wild goat, and camelopardalus. Every beast that divides its hoof into two parts and chews the cud may be eaten. The camel, hare, and cherogril are forbidden because they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof. Swine are unclean because they divide the hoof but do not chew the cud. Their flesh must not be eaten and their carcasses must not be touched. Among creatures living in water, those with fins and scales may be eaten. Those without fins and scales are unclean and must not be eaten. The animal names are retained as this edition gives them.

All clean birds may be eaten. The forbidden list names the eagle, grype, osprey, ringtail, vulture, kite according to their kind, all of the raven’s kind, ostrich, owl, larus, hawk according to its kind, heron, swan, stork, cormorant, porphirion, night crow, bittern, charadrion, every one in their kind, houp, and bat. Everything that creeps and has little wings is unclean and must not be eaten. All that is clean may be eaten.

Israel must not eat what has died of itself. It may give it to the stranger within its gates to eat, or sell it to him. The reason given is that Israel is the Lord’s holy people. They must not boil a kid, a young goat, in its mother’s milk.

Every year Israel must set aside tithes, tenth portions, of all the fruits the earth produces. At the place the Lord chooses for calling on his name, they must eat before him the tithe of corn, wine, and oil and the firstborn of herds and sheep. The stated purpose is learning to fear the Lord at all times. When the journey and chosen place are far away, the Lord has blessed them, and they cannot carry all these things there, they must sell them all and turn them into money. They must carry it in their hand to the chosen place. With that same money they may buy what pleases them: animals from herds or sheep, wine, strong drink, and whatever they desire. They and their household must eat and feast before the Lord. They must not forsake the Levite within their gates, because he has no other part in their possession.

In the third year Israel must separate another tithe of everything growing for it at that time and store it within its gates. The Levite, who has no other part or possession with them, and the stranger, fatherless, and widow within the gates must come, eat, and be filled. The stated purpose is that the Lord may bless Israel in all the work of its hands.

The story inside

The tithe directions name two places and different uses. The annual portion is eaten at the place chosen for the Lord’s name, with the stated purpose of learning to fear him. Distance does not change that destination. When the goods cannot be carried there, the directions replace them with money carried in the hand, then provisions bought with that money for the household feast before the Lord. The warning not to forsake the Levite follows. The third-year direction instead stores another tithe within the gates and names the Levite, stranger, fatherless, and widow as those who come and eat their fill. This follows the chapter’s mourning and food rules, without a narrated farmer’s journey, sale, or completed distribution.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The food rules preserve specific distinctions. Land beasts must divide the hoof and chew the cud, water creatures must have fins and scales, and the bird list and winged-creeping rule give further exclusions. The chapter also forbids eating an animal that died of itself.
2
The annual feast has a stated purpose and destination. Israel eats the tithe and firstborn animals before the Lord to learn to fear him. The money provision deals with distance and inability to carry goods while keeping the chosen place as the destination.
3
The third-year tithe names those who must be fed. The Levite, stranger, fatherless, and widow within the gates are to eat their fill. The blessing on work is expressed as the purpose of that direction.

Test your recall

Why does the chapter allow the tithe goods to be sold and carried as money to the chosen place?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 20101–20115
Deuteronomy Chapter 14 In mourning for the dead they are not to follow the ways of the Gentiles: the distinction of clean and unclean meats: ordinances concerning tithes, and firstfruits. 14:1. Be ye children of the Lord your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness for the dead; 14:2. Because thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God: and he chose thee to be his peculiar people of all nations that are upon the earth. 14:3. Eat not the things that are unclean. Unclean.... See the annotations on Lev. 11.
Lines 20117–20138
14:4. These are the beasts that you shall eat, the ox, and the sheep, and the goat, 14:5. The hart and the roe, the buffle, the chamois, the pygarg, the wild goat, the camelopardalus. 14:6. Every beast that divideth the hoof in two parts, and cheweth the cud, you shall eat. 14:7. But of them that chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, you shall not eat, such as the camel, the hare, and the cherogril: because they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, they shall be unclean to you. 14:8. The swine also, because it divideth the hoof, but cheweth not the cud, shall be unclean, their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. 14:9. These shall you eat of all that abide in the waters: All that have fins and scales, you shall eat. 14:10. Such as are without fins and scales, you shall not eat, because they are unclean.
Lines 20140–20163
14:11. All birds that are clean you shall eat. 14:12. The unclean eat not: to wit, the eagle, and the grype, and the osprey, 14:13. The ringtail, and the vulture, and the kite according to their kind: 14:14. And all of the raven’s kind: 14:15. And the ostrich, and the owl, and the larus, and the hawk according to its kind: 14:16. The heron, and the swan, and the stork, 14:17. And the cormorant, the porphirion, and the night crow, 14:18. The bittern, and the charadrion, every one in their kind: the houp also and the bat. 14:19. Every thing that creepeth, and hath little wings, shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten. 14:20. All that is clean, you shall eat.
Lines 20165–20168
14:21. But whatsoever is dead of itself, eat not thereof. Give it to the stranger, that is within thy gates, to eat, or sell it to him: because thou art the holy people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam.
Lines 20170–20192
14:22. Every year thou shalt set aside the tithes of all thy fruits that the earth bringeth forth, 14:23. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, that his name may be called upon therein, the tithe of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, and the firstborn of thy herds and thy sheep: that thou mayst learn to fear the Lord thy God at all times. 14:24. But when the way and the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, are far off, and he hath blessed thee, and thou canst not carry all these things thither, 14:25. Thou shalt sell them all, and turn them into money, and shalt carry it in thy hand, and shalt go to the place which the Lord shall choose: 14:26. And thou shalt buy with the same money whatsoever pleaseth thee, either of the herds or of sheep, wine also and strong drink, and all that thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, and shalt feast, thou and thy house: 14:27. And the Levite that is within thy gates, beware thou forsake him not, because he hath no other part in thy possession.
Lines 20194–20202
14:28. The third year thou shalt separate another tithe of all things that grow to thee at that time, and shalt lay it up within thy gates. 14:29. And the Levite that hath no other part nor possession with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be filled: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands that thou shalt do.