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Deuteronomy 14

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1 Ye are sons of Jehovah your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for a dead person.

2 For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God, and thee hath Jehovah chosen for a people of possession unto himself, out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

3 Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.

4 These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat;

5 the hart, and the gazelle, and the stag, and the wild goat, and the dishon and the oryx, and the wild sheep.

6 And every beast that hath cloven hoofs, and the feet quite split open into double hoofs, [and] which cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that ye shall eat.

7 Only these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those with hoofs cloven and split open: the camel, and the hare, and the rock-badger; for they chew the cud, but have not cloven hoofs -- they shall be unclean unto you;

8 and the swine, for it hath cloven hoofs, yet cheweth not the cud -- it shall be unclean unto you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch.

9 These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales shall ye eat;

10 but whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat: it shall be unclean unto you.

11 All clean birds shall ye eat.

12 But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the sea-eagle,

13 and the falcon, and the kite, and the black kite after its kind;

14 and every raven after its kind;

15 and the female ostrich, and the male ostrich, and the sea-gull, and the hawk after its kind;

16 the owl, and the ibis and the swan,

17 and the pelican, and the carrion vulture, and the gannet,

18 and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

19 And every winged crawling thing shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten.

20 All clean fowls shall ye eat.

21 Ye shall eat of no carcase; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it, or sell it unto a foreigner; for thou art a holy people to Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, the produce of the field, year by year.

23 And thou shalt eat before Jehovah thy God, in the place which he will choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear Jehovah thy God continually.

24 And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which Jehovah thy God will choose to set his name there, when Jehovah thy God blesseth thee;

25 then shalt thou give it for money, and bind the money together in thy hand, and go to the place which Jehovah thy God will choose,

26 and thou shalt give the money for whatever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever thy soul asketh of thee; and thou shalt eat there before Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thy house.

27 And thou shalt not forsake the Levite that is within thy gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee.

28 At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates;

29 and the Levite -- for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee -- and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou doest.

   

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Gate

  
People around a village gate, by Adrianus Eversen

Gates" in ancient times had a significance that does not hold in the modern world. Cities then were enclosed by walls for protection; gates in the walls let people in and out to do their business, but were also the weak points in the cities' defenses. In the Bible, cities on one level represent the minds of individual people. On a broader level, they represent beliefs shared by a community. The gates, then, represent openings where the Lord can feed us an understanding of truth and a desire for good. They also represent points where the hells can invade and sway us with false ideas and evil desires. We are kept in balance during our lifetimes, with influences from both the Lord and from hell. Ideally, we will over our lifetimes continue to invite the Lord farther and farther in and drive the hells back until ultimately the Lord can occupy our minds completely. And that point our belief in Him and His power and love will hold the gates and deny evil any entrance. As individuals, we at that point become angels. As communities, we at that point become part of the Lord's church. And at that point the gates become an entry point, introductory truths that allow people to enter churches and start bringing the Lord into their lives.