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NASB | Deuteronomy 14:21 ¶ "You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Deuteronomy 14:21 ¶ "You shall not eat anything that dies on its own. You may give it to the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) who is in your [city] gates, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner [since they are not under God's law], but you are a people holy (set apart) to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat or a lamb in its mother's milk. |
Bible Question: "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk," is a command which appears three times: Exodus 23:19 and 34:26 after a discussion of firstfruits; and Deuteronomy 14:21 after an instruction on not eating what dies on its own. The first two instances seem to be tied to offering firstfruits and the third to personal holiness. Would you explain why this was a forbidden practice? When I first read these verses, it seemed to me to be a matter of violating God's lovingkindness. Then I heard from someone else that the nations around them used to have a fertility rite involving this practice and G-d did not want His people to follow it because of His desire for their separation to Him. Are either of these ideas on the right track, or is it something else? |
Bible Answer: Most commentators I have read suggest that there was likely a pagan ritual associated with this use of a mother's milk to boil its young, since the context is consistently associated with the commands of the festival sacrifices. However, I do not believe the specific ritual has ever been verified in any writings currently available, so this is to a large degree speculative. On the face of it, however, the image itself is also repulsive, and any such ritual by the pagans would no doubt add to this repulsion. In the animal kingdom especially (and with humans as well), a mother's milk is the dearest form of caring for her helpless infant suckling, providing its most basic nourishment in the most intimate and endearing way imaginable from her own breast. (Consider the tender imagery of Isaiah 66:10-13, Psalm 22:9, and Matthew 23:37.) Therefore, to take a mother's milk and use it as the means of boiling her own child to tenderize it for the consumption of the priests (or the morbid appeasement of a false god) is to take that which God has given by design as a means of sustenance and intimacy between a mother and her young and turn it into an abominable celebration of abuse of power over another. If this was done in pagan worship, this would seem to be the symbolism invoked. I do not believe it is a significant stretch to apply this personally to forbid the abuse of another's tenderness or maleability (due to concern for others) evilly against them to lead them into sin, to draw them to ourselves selfishly and separate them from others whom they love, and/or to otherwise use their vulnerability for our own benefit or sport. However, this command, although repeated three separate times, remains quite obscure as to any significant application beyond basic obedience to the command itself and the image of corrupting the beauty of mother-child intimacy (and tender care of the mother for her helpless infant) into something hideous. To go further in exploiting such a currently non-contextual command with illustrations or application toward other doctrines of personal interest would seem similarly inappropriate. |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Deut 14:21 | Author | ||
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loavesnfish | ||
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Jalek | ||
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Brent Douglass |