DEUTERONOMY 14
“Ye are sons of Jehovah your God”. Sonship is the relationship in which we stand, through infinite love, to the blessed God. He bestows eternal life upon us; it is the land of our possession — the gift of God for men. But we are sons for the pleasure of God. This thought comes out in many scriptures. “Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth” (Proverbs 3: 12). The Voice out of heaven said to Jesus, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight” (Luke 3: 22). God gives us life eternal as “the land”, but He would have us to enjoy it in the consciousness that we are sons for His pleasure. “Thee hath Jehovah chosen for a people of possession unto himself, out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth” (verse 2).
God has not only shown us mercy in cleansing and saving us, but He has called us to the blessedness of being sons — objects of delight to His heart. Nothing could touch our hearts more than that. And it brings in an entirely new standard of walk and ways and spirit. If I realise that I am one of the sons of God I am no longer a bondman (Galatians 4: 7); I do not merely ask What is my duty? or, Is there any harm in this or that? I am constrained to enquire eagerly, How can I most yield delight to God my Father? It becomes a holy and abiding exercise that there should be nothing to disfigure the moral beauty that rightly attaches to sons of God.
[p. 166] Any idolatrous mark would disfigure us (verse 1). And we are to live on food suitable for sons; we must beware of influences and associations that are unclean. “Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing”.
The creatures that may be eaten represent the influences which we allow to come into our lives and to form us morally. The kind of company we keep, the books that we read! the subjects on which we allow our minds to dwell, all tend directly to affect us inwardly, and to give us character and constitution in a moral sense. We have to exercise discrimination and holy care as to what we eat and assimilate. The clean creatures would be such as have, in a typical or symbolical way, the features and characteristics of Christ. What is not after Christ is unsuitable food for sons of God.
The clean beasts are not particularised in Leviticus 11, but a number of them are mentioned here in detail. In Leviticus 11 the people are taken account of as standing in relation to Moses and Aaron, the mediator and the priest, and thus called to be a holy people because Jehovah was holy. But in Deuteronomy 14 we are viewed as sons in family relationship, and as such the features of Christ are to mark us for the delight of God.
“The ox, the sheep, and the goat” are frequently used in Scripture as types of Christ. What, marks the ox is strength for labour; see Psalm 144: 14; Proverbs 14: 4. It is written of Christ that “coming into the world he says ... Lo, I come (in the roll of the book it is written of me) to do, O God, thy will” (Hebrews 10: 5 - 7). He came in with capability to do all that was according to God’s pleasure. There was strength to carry out the will of God in every detail in patient, persistent energy. “I do always the things that are pleasing to him” (John 8: 29). I have read that no animal draws with such a steady pull as the ox; there are no fits and starts, no rushing and halting, but an even, onward, persevering [p. 167] movement. Such was the service of the blessed Son of God as Man here. The forty times repeated “immediately” or “straightway” in the Gospel of Mark has always arrested the attention of readers. How He passed on from one service to another! Never in a hurry; always at leisure — if we may so say — to attend to the need that presented itself; but completing each act of service that He might pass on without delay to the next. Does not the consideration of it make most of us feel ashamed to reflect on how casual and intermittent our little bit of service has been!
There are, indeed, sabbaths for the ox (Deuteronomy 5: 14), and times when the Lord may say, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a little” (Mark 6: 31). But it is well to remember that the sabbath comes at the end of six days of labour. “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work”. Patient and persistent labour is to mark the sons of God. They are to feed upon Him who said, “I must work the works of him that has sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9: 4). I cannot doubt that one great corrective of the carnal state at Corinth lay in the Apostle’s words, “So then, my beloved brethren, be firm, immovable, abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15: 58). As sons we are to feed on Christ as symbolised in the ox, so as to be characterised by strength for persistent toil. It is a mark of sonship.
Let us not be content to have the light of sonship as the blessed relationship to which God has called us in infinite love. If the Spirit of sonship in our hearts has put us consciously in the place and affections of sons, let us see to it that, as led by the Spirit of God, we are acting as sons, finding our delight in doing what is pleasing to God. “And they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare; and [p. 168] I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him” (Malachi 3: 17). Ephraim had to bemoan himself, and to be chastised, because he was “as a bullock not trained”, or as the Authorised Version reads, “unaccustomed to the yoke” (Jeremiah 31: 18). How we need to be trained so as to bear the sons’ yoke of Christ, and to be devoted to the service of God in the liberty of sons! We shall then find that Christ’s yoke is easy and His burden light.
The sheep is not marked by the strength or labour of the ox, nor by the stately step of the goat, but by uncomplaining submission to suffering. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, but he opened not his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before her shearers, and he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53: 7). It is precisely in that connection that we are told He has left us a model that we should follow in His steps. See 1 Peter 2: 21 - 23. It is as feeding on Him, and abiding in Him, that we shall be able to walk even as He walked.
The goat is mentioned among the things which, “have a stately step”, and which are “comely in going” (Proverbs 30: 29 - 31). How “stately” were the Lord’s steps! With what calmness and dignity He moved on amidst the contradiction of sinners, and in presence of weakness and misunderstanding in His disciples! Never halting or perturbed, never uncertain as to what step to take next! Wherever He was, in every circumstance — even the most uncongenial — He was “comely in going”. Whether in presence of the devil, or of cavilling, unbelieving men; with Pharisees, Sadducees, the chief priests, Pilate, Herod, we never see anything but stateliness, dignity, and comeliness in the way He moved. The contemplation of it makes most of us feel ashamed of ourselves. But if we fed on Him as the goat we should acquire ability to move with stately steps. Our steps [p. 169] need not fail of the grace and dignity that is proper to sons of God. It is largely a question of the kind of food our constitutions are being built up on. The different features of Christ set forth symbolically in the clean animals have to be appropriated and assimilated so that we may be sons of God in moral constitution.
The “hart” sets forth another deeply interesting feature that belongs to sons. It is expressive of inward and ardent desires after God. “As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psalm 42: 1). The wonderful heart-breathings after God which form so distinct a feature of the Psalms are all the fruit of the Spirit of Christ, and sometimes they rise to prophetic utterances of Christ Personally. His tarrying in Jerusalem at the age of twelve, and being found “in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers and hearing them and asking them questions” (Luke ii), shew the intensity of His interest in all that was of God. He was, indeed, engrossed in His Father’s business. And when afterwards He cast the money-changers and merchants out of the temple, “his disciples remembered that it is written, The zeal of thy house devours me” (John 2: 17). What a corrective of Laodicean lukewarmness would be found in feeding on the characteristic feature of Christ which is set forth in the hart! Nothing is more important than that this feature should have a very distinct place in our moral being.
The “hart” and the “gazelle” are both mentioned as symbolical of Christ in the Canticles (Song of Songs 2: 9, 17). The “gazelle” would seem to suggest the thought of what is beautiful or glorious, for the word is translated “beauty” in Isaiah 4: 2; Daniel 8: 9; Daniel 11:16; Daniel 11:41; Daniel 11:45. It is translated “glory” in Isaiah 28: 5 and other passages; “ornament” in Ezekiel 20: 6. What grace and beauty marked all the ways of Christ! He was, indeed, “fairer than the sons of men”, and in all that is morally glorious [p. 170] in its excellency He is available to be fed upon that the “sons” may take character from Him. Let us not say that it is out of our reach, for God has placed it in Christ for us that we might appropriate it into our affections as their food and joy, and what we feed on will inevitably form us. There can be no lower standard of what is suitable in the sons of God than what was found for the delight of God in His beloved Son as Man here. The heart that loves Him would refuse to cherish, or to be content with, anything lower or other than that.
So far as I know the remainder of the beasts that may be eaten are only mentioned here, save that the stag appears in the provision for Solomon’s table. We may find it difficult, through our ignorance of the animals referred to, to say just what features of Christ each one of them sets forth. In one sense it is a comfort to know that there is a wealth of suggestiveness in the Spirit’s typical presentations of Christ that is beyond us. It is something still to be searched out, and known and fed upon. Each one of these animals symbolises features which can be safely and profitably assimilated by sons of God. They all have the same kind of feet and digestive organs.
Separation in walk must be accompanied by inward rumination, or what we are in our true inwardness may be quite different from what we appear to be outwardly. This is the case with the swine, representing those who may be very separate outwardly, like the Pharisees, but who are unclean inwardly. Paul could say of Timothy that he had followed up his teaching and conduct and purpose and faith. He not only heard things, and passed them on to others, but he followed them up in the exercises of his own soul. Meditation and reflection are essential; it is most important that we should have the “knowledge which cometh of reflection” (Proverbs 8: 12). For lack of it many earnest persons are very [p. 171] immature in the knowledge of God and His things which should mark His sons. We cannot be intelligent sons for the pleasure of God by merely receiving what others say; an inward reflective process has to go on answering to chewing the cud. As we truly feed on Christ, with inward consideration, we retire more and more from the world, and from what marks it, because we perceive that there is no delight for God in it, or in its things. Anything outside what was true in Christ has the character of what is unclean. A separate walk, and inward occupation with the things of God, are features that are not to be lacking in sons of God.
We are not to be deceived by persons who have, or appear to have, some of the features which are approved of God. Some may be like the camel, the hare, and the rock-badger, who chew the cud, or appear to do so, but have not cloven hoofs. Such appear to give place in their thoughts to the things of God, but their practical ways are not at all in keeping therewith. And, on the other hand, the walk may be exemplary in a legal way while the heart is a stranger to the inward movements which are proper to those into whom the Spirit of God’s Son has been sent forth. Such inconsistencies are not to be found in the sons of God. “Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch”.
The creatures “in the waters” have to move through an element which comes closely into contact with them, and only those who can do so with purpose and definiteness, and without being unduly affected by it, are to be eaten. The natural is very near to every one of us, and if we are to move through it as sons of God for His pleasure we need “fins and scales”. Probably many of us are more tested by what is natural than by what is worldly; we are in danger of being diverted or unduly deflected by the natural influence of relatives or friends, with the result that our course lacks spiritual definiteness.
If Barnabas had been characterised by “fins” he would not have parted from Paul. He allowed, at any rate for a time, a natural partiality to govern him, and under its influence he lost the immense privilege of being the companion of Paul in his labours. A definite following of Christ, and a walk in the Spirit, are needed if we are to move through the natural influences, which are so close to us, in a way that is suitable to sons of God.
The birds represent influences — good or evil — that move in the spiritual sphere. The “clean birds” are not specified here, but twenty-one are mentioned as not to be eaten. There are many evil influences in a spiritual sense. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, if they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4: 1). We must beware of spiritual influences that are not of the Holy Spirit. Satan is the prince of the power of the air; he is the prime mover in all that is contrary to God; but the forms which evil takes are very varied, and we must not forget that they are found now within the Christian profession. We read in Revelation 18: 2 that “Great Babylon ... has become the habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird”. “But the Spirit speaks expressly, that in latter times some shall apostatise from the faith, giving their mind to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons speaking lies in hypocrisy” (1 Timothy 4: 1, 2).
There are not only systems of teaching that are in bold and open opposition to Scripture, but others that are specious and make a great show of being accurate in their deductions from Scripture. But every evil teaching strikes in some way at the Person or the atoning work of the Son of God, or obscures the glad tidings of God so that men are turned away from the [p. 173] great salvation which is in Christ Jesus. Other evil influences obscure the truth of the heavenly calling of the saints. It is sad to see even true believers carried away by such things as Anglo-Israel theories, or the imagined prophecies of the great pyramid! There is a certain fascination for many minds in the attempt to fit current events into scriptural prophecy, but such occupations tend to divert from the present witness of the Holy Spirit to a glorified Christ in heaven.
Without attempting to point out in detail the characteristic features of each unclean bird mentioned here, it may suffice to say that many of them are birds of prey, and some are lovers of darkness, and none of them represent what God can approve as giving character to His sons. It is to be noted that the paragraph begins with “All clean birds shall ye eat”, and it ends with “All clean fowls shall ye eat” The best preservative against what is unclean is to be actively occupied in the assimilation of what is clean. And those “born of water and of Spirit”, have an inward cleanness that enables them to judge accurately between what is clean and unclean. The sons of God know the difference. It is suggestive that in Genesis 7, where we have the first mention of “clean” and “not clean”, there is no list given to guide Noah in the selection. It is written that “Noah was a just man, perfect amongst his generations: Noah walked with God”. Such a man did not need a list; his own inward perceptions, as taught of God, sufficed to distinguish the clean from the unclean. And the “sons” of God know the difference; they “have their senses exercised for distinguishing both good and evil”. Every child of God knows intuitively the difference between what is of Christ and the Spirit and what is of the mind and tastes of the flesh. Of course it is possible to put away a good conscience, and to have the spiritual sensibilities so perverted or deadened that the [p. 174] power of discrimination is practically lost, but this is a sad state of departure from God. John writes to “little children” — the babes in the family of God — that they have the unction from the holy One, and know all things . “I have not written to you because ye do not know the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth” (1 John 2: 20, 21). There is capacity even in babes to discern what is of Christ and of the Spirit. The sheep of Christ “follow him, because they know his voice. But they will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they know not the voice of strangers” (John 10: 4, 5).
We have to be exercised as to what we receive in connection with ministry — even ministry in the assembly as referred to in 1 Corinthians 14 “And let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge”. Everything is to be tested. “Do not lightly esteem prophecies; but prove all things, hold fast the right” (1 Thessalonians 5: 21, 22). But it must be remembered that ability to judge lies in being spiritual ourselves. “The things of the Spirit of God ... are spiritually discerned; but the spiritual discerns all things, and he is discerned of no one” (1 Corinthians 2: 14, 15).
“All clean birds shall ye eat ... . All clean fowls shall ye eat”. It is as much as to say, Go on with what is clean, and leave alone all that is otherwise! I do not think that it would greatly profit us to know in detail what every unclean bird represents. We must beware of occupying ourselves with what is evil, even if professedly to judge it. Some may be called as a matter of service to investigate wrong teachings and to refute them, but for saints generally it is well not to know them. “I wish you to be wise as to that which is good, and simple as to evil” (Romans 16: 19). When we see that things are not of God, it is well to leave them alone. Let us go on with what is spiritual. The sons of God must feed on [p. 175] Christ, and take character from such features as are “clean” in the sight of God. I think it must be admitted that most believers are not well developed in spiritual constitution. A good constitution can only be built up by feeding on good food. No doubt the saints appreciate spiritual features — the features of Christ — when they are set before us objectively, but it is another thing to be possessed of them as developed in ourselves. Of how many of the features of Christ could I say that I have eaten and assimilated them so that they have become incorporated in my moral being?
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”. How blessed when the inward thoughts and feelings are the product of the leading of the Spirit of God! It is in this way that the saints come out characteristically and definitely as the sons of God. Through mercy we are where there is the comfort and blessing of the light of sonship. We know that it is the thought, and purpose of God’s love that we should be His sons in Christ Jesus by faith. The gospel gives us the precious light of this. But then if we are to answer to the thought and pleasure of God we must appear in the character and wealth which are seen to attach to “sons of Jehovah” in Deuteronomy 14, Deuteronomy 15. And in view of this what we feed upon is of the utmost importance.
“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”. There are things which may be permissible, or even profitable, for strangers or foreigners that are not at all suitable for sons. There is a wholly different, and far more elevated, standard for the people of God than could be thought of by the natural man, However excellent his ideals might be. A “carcase” is something that has not been devoted to death with any [p. 176] definite purpose in relation to God. It has died in the natural course of things, or by misadventure. God’s sons are not to be characterised by what speaks merely of the absence of natural energy. People may give up the things of the world, or some of them, simply because their tastes have changed in a natural way, and they prefer a quieter life. In some cases the power to enjoy the pursuits of the natural man may no longer be present. There is no value in this for God. His sons are to be marked by positive spiritual energy which will impart a sacrificial spirit and value to their course. Their bodies are to be presented a living sacrifice. “The deeds of the body” in a fleshly sense are not to cease by the failing of natural energy to carry them into effect, but they are to be put to death by the Spirit.
Then the remarkable injunction that comes in here, and elsewhere, “Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk”, would seem to be a reminder that God would have His sons to regard all that is of Himself in nature. It was God who established the relationship between a kid and its mother, and because He established it, He would have it to be regarded by His sons with tender and refined sensibilities. God would have tender considerations and sympathies in His people. The natural mind would be ready to say, What difference would it make either to the kid or its mother if it were boiled in its mother’s milk? What would either of them know about it? But God would say, It is a matter that I concern myself about; I wish my sons to think tenderly of natural relationships. The more we regard what is of God in nature the more deeply we shall feel the sufferings which have came into the natural sphere through sin, and sympathies will be developed which are worthy of God. When the blessed Son of God saw disease and death it was an intense grief to Him because it traversed all God’s original order. He was deeply moved [p. 177] when He saw in the sorrow and suffering of the creature the evidence of the power of evil having come in. It is written that He “healed all that were ill; so that that should be fulfilled which was spoken through Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Matthew 8: 17). As it has been said, He bore in His spirit what He removed by His power.
The groan of a suffering creation is a grief to the heart of God. It is a marvellous statement that not one sparrow falls to the ground “without your Father”. He bears every creature in His mind, even, as we should say, the most insignificant. And if this is the case how much more does He think of, and feel for, the intelligent creature man, on whom He has so specially set His heart? At the present time His sons have to suffer with the groaning creation, and as part of it, that we may be sympathetic with all its sorrow. When the Son of God came into the world in the fulness of divine power to heal every disease and meet every need He came in sympathetically, so that we not only find Him speaking words of power, but touching those He healed. His touches spoke of sympathy. Divine power was there in Him to annul death and call the dead Lazarus out of the grave. But what tender sympathies were expressed in the tears of Jesus! The sons of God have to suffer now, both actually and sympathetically, that they may be qualified to come out at the “revelation of the sons of God” in a sympathetic spirit for the emancipation of the groaning creation. It is not for the pleasure of God that His creatures should groan, and His sons would never willingly add to the sufferings of any creature of God. But sufferings being present, as the result of man’s sin, they give occasion for the development and expression of consideration and sympathy which is of God. Such feelings are proper to the sons of God. We may [p. 178] learn much of the heart of God in what He says of a kid and its mother.
The tithe of Deuteronomy 14: 22 - 27 is clearly additional to that spoken of in Numbers 18, which was to be given to the children of Levi for their service. The first charge upon spiritual prosperity is the support of what is levitical. The temporal support of those who serve the Lord in spiritual things has its place (1 Corinthians 9), but the tithes would represent rather that spiritual prosperity is to yield an abundant supply for the sustenance in a spiritual way of service for God. The levitical element in ourselves, and in the saints generally, is to be nourished and supported. If we have the wealth of the land, what answers to corn, new wine, oil, firstlings — a supply of what is connected with Christ and the Spirit and with spiritual increase — let us not forget that it is all to be tithed for service. If we do not render the tithes we rob God, and we shall lose His blessing. See Malachi 3. If those who have increase in spiritual blessing are not found serving the Lord proportionately in diligent zealousness and fervency of spirit they will assuredly lose what they have. The maintenance of service is perhaps more important than it is generally supposed to be; it is a definite mark of sons of God.
In presence of much fleshly activity in the Christian profession it is greatly for the pleasure of God that we should diligently maintain spiritual and devoted service. It is the practical evidence of spiritual prosperity. We were taken account of for service from the outset, as the Levites were numbered from a month old, but every year should see us coming to greater maturity in that respect. All the elements of what is levitical are seen in Romans, but they are seen in full maturity in Philippians.
We must not think entirely of the Levites as representing a separate class — while, of course, recognising [p. 179] that there are distinct gifts — but rather as typifying the whole company of saints as united together to render holy service. Service does not take the same form in every one; it is taken up by each according to the measure of faith given by God; but it all blends in unity. When each is going on diligently with his appointed service things work happily and in harmony; there are no elements of discord or divergence.
Our first exercise should be to acquire spiritual substance, but then it is given that it may be tithed for the support of service. If what we suppose to be spiritual gain does not promote what is levitical there is something wrong about it; the tithes are not being rendered. Whenever we get any spiritual increase it must always be a definite exercise that it shall contribute to direct service to God and to His people. This is the first charge on the wealth of the inheritance.
Then the chapter before us speaks of a second tithe, which is to be eaten before Jehovah in the place which He chooses to cause His Name to dwell there. It suggests the peculiar gain and joy which is connected with honouring God in the assembly conditions which He has established. It has been made possible, through the grace of the Lord, for us to “come together” in conditions which are suitable to God, and to eat the Lord’s supper together (see 1 Corinthians 11), and thus to be convened in assembly character. This involves separation from evil, for God’s Name is in His assembly, and it is a holy Name. We must remember that any spiritual blessing which we have individually is to be tithed for the assembly; it is to contribute to our joy as those privileged to meet at a centre common to all saints, To recognise that there is such a centre, and that all saints are under obligation to regard it, is bound up with the fear of God. “That thou mayest learn to fear Jehovah thy God continually” (verse 23).
[p. 180] This is a word for any who may think that they can enjoy the Lord and His precious things at home, and that they are not under any obligation to take practical account of God’s assembly. There are certain things, represented by this tithe, which cannot be enjoyed at home for the pleasure of God. To eat them there would not be “before Jehovah thy God”. We are thus reminded that whatever we gather up of the wealth of the inheritance is to be held relative to the common meeting place of saints. For here it is not something to be offered to God, but something for us to eat ourselves. It suggests a peculiar spiritual gain and joy which accrues to us from recognising what is due to God as to the assembly. We get our joy full. Such is the precious link between God and His sons that their enjoyment is secured and enhanced by the recognition that He has a place which He has chosen to cause His Name to dwell there. If we have not that in mind we are not behaving suitably to sons of God.
The provision for cases in which the way might be “too long” intimates that it may not always be easy to avail oneself of assembly conditions. Fellowship with God’s people according to the truth of His assembly is not always easily obtainable. We are in “difficult times”, but it is peculiarly pleasing to the Lord to see that we value what is of Himself even when it makes unusual demands. It has often happened that when believers have found themselves at a distance from privileges of assembly character they have been tempted to give up the truth, and to fall in with a human order of things. But difficulties are not to be succumbed to, but surmounted. The full value of the tithe is to go to God’s appointed centre. The two going to Emmaus gathered in much on that eventful resurrection day, but we may say that they carried their tithe to the common fund with those who were “gathered together”
([p. 181] Luke 24: 33). And on the day of Pentecost the Spirit of God gave the saints a sense that they were all bound up together as having common interests, possessions and joys. Who can doubt that this intensified the joy of each?
Then “at the end of three years” there is another tithe; it suggests the result of a prolonged experience of the wealth of the land. The third year is called specifically “the year of tithing” (Deuteronomy 26: 12). And this tithe is to be laid up “within thy gates; 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”. The result of three years’ enjoyment of the plenty of the inheritance is that one becomes qualified for a very large-hearted ministry to those who have need. A solemn affirmation as to this has to be made, as we see in Deuteronomy 26: 13 - 15, from which we may learn how important as a condition of blessing was the faithful rendering of those hallowed things to those for whom they were appointed.
The favour and love of God bestows the inheritance. Then spiritual diligence is needed, set forth in the requisite tilling of the ground and gathering in of the crops. Without this there will not be much to tithe. The land is good, but it is the diligent soul that is made fat in it. Then the tithes are abundant. There is nothing said of more than one tithe until we come to Deuteronomy, but now we see the people, viewed as “sons of Jehovah”, so enriched that they can render even three tithes, and out of their abundance can minister satisfaction to every kind of need. This chapter and the next, dealing with tithes, the year of release, the giving bountifully to a poor brother, the furnishing of the Hebrew servant — man or woman — all bring out in a striking way the wealth of “sons of Jehovah”. God counts upon enriched affections in His sons, so that, as in the wealth of the inheritance, they can be large-hearted in liberality without putting any strain on their resources.