Deuteronomy 14:1

Deuteronomy 14:1

Improper Mourning

1 “You are ^athe children of the Lord your God; ^byou shall not cut yourselves nor¹ shave the front of your head for the dead.

2 ^aFor 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.

Clean and Unclean Meat

3 ^a“You shall not eat any¹ detestable thing.

4 ^aThese are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Deuteronomy 14:2 >>

GOD'S PEOPLE MUST NOT DISFIGURE THEMSELVES IN MOURNING. (Deuteronomy 14:1-2)

ye shall not cut yourselves . . . for the dead—It was a common practice of idolaters, both on ceremonious occasions of their worship (I Kings 18:28), and at funerals (compare Jeremiah 16:6; Jeremiah 41:5), to make ghastly incisions on their faces and other parts of their persons with their finger nails or sharp instruments. The making a large bare space between the eyebrows was another heathen custom in honor of the dead (see on Leviticus 19:27-28; Leviticus 21:5). Such indecorous and degrading usages, being extravagant and unnatural expressions of hopeless sorrow (I Thessalonians 4:13), were to be carefully avoided by the Israelites, as derogatory to the character, and inconsistent with the position, of those who were the people of God [Deuteronomy 14:2].

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Deuteronomy 14:1:**

Deuteronomy 14:1
Deuteronomy 28:10
Jeremiah 41:5
Ezekiel 27:31

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Deuteronomy 14:2 >>

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