Deuteronomy 14:1-16: a reflection

1You are the children of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 2For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. 3You shall not eat any abominable thing. 4These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the chamois. 6Every animal that parts the hoof, and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 7Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of those who have the hoof split: the camel, the hare, and the rabbit. Because they chew the cud but don’t part the hoof, they are unclean to you. 8The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses. 9These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat whatever has fins and scales. 10You shall not eat whatever doesn’t have fins and scales. It is unclean to you. 11Of all clean birds you may eat. 12But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, 13the red kite, the falcon, the kite of any kind, 14every raven of any kind, 15the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the hawk of any kind, 16the little owl, the great owl, the horned owl,

These are laws distinguishing clean from unclean foods, and they open with the reason behind them: You are a holy people to the LORD your God, chosen to be a people for his own treasured possession. The dietary distinctions were one way Israel's whole life was marked as different, set apart, a daily, tangible reminder that they belonged to God and were not to live like the nations around them. Their distinctiveness reached even to the table.

Notice the ground given for these laws: you are a holy people, chosen as God's own possession. The point of the distinctions was not the food in itself, but what it signified, that Israel was set apart, belonging to God, called to be different from the peoples around them. Even in something as ordinary as eating, they were reminded that they were not their own, but God's, a people marked out to live distinctly as his.

That call to distinctiveness carries over, in its spirit, to God's people still. We are not under these particular food laws; but we are still called to be a people set apart, belonging to God, living distinctly rather than simply blending into the world around us. Our distinctiveness now shows not in what we eat but in how we live, in holiness of conduct that marks us as God's own. Remember, in the ordinary details of your life, that you belong to God and are called to live as his, set apart, not simply conformed to the pattern of the world around you. Let your daily living, even in ordinary things, reflect that you are a people for God's own possession, marked out to be his, and live distinctly as one who belongs to him.

Lord, these food laws open with their reason: Israel was a holy people, chosen as your own treasured possession, and even their eating was marked as set apart, a daily reminder that they belonged to you and were not to live like the nations around them. Let that call to distinctiveness carry over, in its spirit, to me. I am not under these particular food laws; but I am still called to be set apart, belonging to you, living distinctly rather than simply blending into the world around me. My distinctiveness now shows not in what I eat but in how I live, in holiness of conduct that marks me as your own. Help me remember, in the ordinary details of my life, that I belong to you and am called to live as yours, set apart, not simply conformed to the pattern of the world around me. Let my daily living, even in ordinary things, reflect that I am one of a people for your own possession, marked out to be yours. Help me live distinctly as one who belongs to you, Lord, holy as you are holy.