Deuteronomy 14

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Clean and Unclean Food

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. The Lord’s people should be different than the world’s people in what they consume.

  2. The Lord’s people should be different than the world’s people in how they give.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Dare to be different!

QUESTIONS

  1. Explain the command in Deuteronomy 14:1.

  2. Deuteronomy 14 gives two areas where Israel was to be different and distinct among the nations. What are they?

  3. Give three reasons that help explain the dietary laws for God’s people in the Old Testament.

  4. What provision did the Lord make regarding tithing for those who lived far from Jerusalem?

  5. How was this tithe on produce used to benefit others?

ANSWERS

  1. These were pagan practices of the Canaanites in connection with their false religion. The Children of Israel were not to get involved.

  2. The area of food and the area of money.

  3. 1. For hygienic purposes
    2. To keep God’s people separate from any pagan practices and any possible syncretism
    3. For the spiritual lessons associated with these laws

  4. If the distance from Jerusalem was great, then the grain and flocks could be exchanged for money and the money brought before the Lord (verses 24-25).

  5. Every third year the Israelites would give their tithe to the Levites who lived in their hometown. This tithe was also to provide for the orphans, widows, and aliens who were in that town (verses 28-29).

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. How can the phrase “You are what you eat” hold true both physically and spiritually? If you kept a “food diary” of the spiritual foods you consume what patterns would you see?

  2. There is not a command in the New Testament for Christians to tithe, but if we follow the principles of giving in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 we will be generous and at least tithing. What are these principles?

CHALLENGE

  1. Will you dare to be different than the world in what you consume and how you give? Dare to be different!

KEY VERSES

  • “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Deuteronomy 14:2

  • “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year.” Deuteronomy 14:22

Deuteronomy, Old Testament, TalksRon ReidDEUTERONOMY 14