Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Moses renews the law concerning clean and unclean animals, about which see Leviticus XI. Secondly, verse 22, besides the first tithes, commanded in Numbers XVIII, he commands second tithes to be given, and third tithes, verse 28.
Vulgate Text: Deuteronomy 14:1-29
1. Be sons of the Lord your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness for the dead. 2. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God: and He chose you to be His own special people, out of all the nations that are upon the earth. 3. Do not eat what is unclean. 4. This is the animal you shall eat: the ox, and the sheep, and the goat, 5. the deer and the gazelle, the buffalo, the tragelaphus, the pygargus, the oryx, and the camelopard. 6. Every animal that parts the hoof into two and chews the cud, you shall eat. 7. But of those that chew the cud and do not part the hoof, you shall not eat, such as the camel, the hare, the coney: these because they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof, shall be unclean to you. 8. The swine also, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, shall be unclean. You shall not eat their flesh, nor touch their carcasses. 9. These you shall eat of all that dwell in the waters: whatever has fins and scales, eat; 10. whatever has no fins and scales, do not eat, for they are unclean. 11. All clean birds, eat. 12. The unclean do not eat: the eagle, the griffon, and the sea eagle. 13. The ixion, and the vulture and the kite according to its kind; 14. and every kind of crow, 15. and the ostrich and the owl, and the seagull and the hawk according to its kind; 16. the heron and the swan, and the ibis, 17. and the cormorant, the porphyrion, and the night raven, 18. the pelican, and the plover, each according to its kind; the hoopoe also and the bat. 19. And everything that creeps and has wings shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten. 20. Whatever is clean, eat. 21. But whatever is found dead, do not eat it. Give it to the stranger who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or sell it to him: for you are a holy people of the Lord your God. You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk. 22. You shall set apart a tenth part of all your produce that grows in the land each year, 23. and you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, in the place which He has chosen that His name may be invoked there, the tithe of your grain, and wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and your flocks: that you may learn to fear the Lord your God at all times. 24. But when the way is longer, and the place which the Lord your God has chosen, and He has blessed you, and you cannot carry all these things there, 25. you shall sell everything, and reduce it to money, and carry it in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God has chosen: 26. and you shall buy with that money whatever pleases you, whether from herds or from sheep, wine also and strong drink, and whatever your soul desires: and you shall eat before the Lord your God, and feast, you and your household, 27. and the Levite who is within your gates: take care that you do not forsake him, because he has no other portion in your possession. 28. In the third year you shall set apart another tithe from everything that is born to you at that time; and you shall store it within your gates. 29. And the Levite who has no other portion or possession with you, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are within your gates, shall come and eat and be satisfied; that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands that you do.
Verse 1: Be Sons of the Lord Your God
1. BE SONS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD -- conduct yourselves as sons of God, worship and adore God as your eternal and supreme Father, and obey Him in all things.
Nor Shall You Make Baldness
NOR SHALL YOU MAKE BALDNESS. -- In Hebrew, you shall not put baldness between your eyes for the dead, that is, says Vatablus, when one of your friends has died, you shall not shave the front part of the head, which is between your eyes, as the Gentiles do, who have no hope of future life and resurrection. See what was said on Leviticus XIX, 28. For even now the Jews believe in the immortality of the soul and future life: hence they pray for the dead, as is evident from their Creed, which Genebrardus cites in his Chronicle. Moreover, the Jews still observe this funeral rite today. First, when someone dies, the nearest friends and relatives immediately tear their garments, and do not eat that day in that house, but outside. Secondly, they do not eat meat, nor drink wine, unless it is the Sabbath. Thirdly, for seven days of mourning they neither wash the body, nor pour ointments. Fourthly, they spread their bed on the floor, and abstain from sexual relations. Fifthly, they follow the funeral with bare feet, and light a lamp on the floor of the house for seven nights, because they believe the soul of the deceased returns to the place where it left the body, and laments its dissolution. Sixthly, they say a prayer in which they ask that the soul of the deceased may rest, and be led into paradise.
Verse 5: The Tragelaphus
5. THE TRAGELAPHUS -- that is, the goat-deer, is an animal produced from a male goat and a female deer: not fictitious, as the Dialecticians take this name, but real and actually existing near the river Phasis, having the beard and shoulder-hair of a goat, the rest resembling a deer. So Pliny, book VIII, chapter XXXII. The Hebrews think it is the wild goat. Therefore the tragelaphus, as well as the pygargus and the oryx, were clean animals, which the Jews were permitted to eat.
The Pygargus
The pygargus here is not the eagle so called, about which Aristotle speaks: for all eagles are listed among the unclean birds, Leviticus XI, 13; but the pygargus here is reckoned a clean animal. The Chaldean thinks it is the unicorn; more truly the pygargus is a kind of roe deer, similar to the fallow deer, about which Pliny writes, book VIII, chapter LIII.
The Oryx
THE ORYX. -- The oryx is an animal born in Getulia, cloven-hoofed and one-horned, otherwise not unlike a goat, having its hair lying contrary to the nature of other animals, turned toward the head: at the rising of the Dog Star, as if sensing the approach of that constellation, it gazes with fixed eyes at that region of the sky where this sign first rises, and upon seeing it, sneezes and as if reverently adores it. So Pliny, book II, chapter XL, and book VIII, chapter LIII, and Columella, book X.
The Camelopard
THE CAMELOPARD. -- It was a clean animal, and therefore different from the camel, which was unclean. The camelopard then is an animal of the height of a camel, with the color of a panther, having spots, with a slender neck, a head like a camel, and feet and legs like an ox. So Pliny, book VIII, chapter XVIII, and Dio, book XLII of Roman History. See Antonio de Nebrija in the Quinquag. chapter VIII.
Tropological Sense of the Camelopard
Tropologically, the camelopard is a symbol of the changeable and hypocritical man. For just as it has the neck of a horse, the feet of an ox, the head of a camel, and the spots of a tiger or leopard: so some men, unequal to themselves, display various human forms: if you look at their neck, you would think them some saint; if you hear their speech, you would think a satrap speaks; if you examine their life, you find a scoundrel; if their writings, a plowman. Thus some in the temple are angels, in the market and court are demons, in conversation are men, at table are wolves, in the bedchamber are Venuses.
But because the camelopard was a clean animal, one may more aptly understand by it a versatile and gracious man, who accommodates himself to the manners and dispositions of all, as far as is lawful, and knows how to turn himself in all directions and forms: such was Ulysses, whom Homer accordingly calls a man of many turns. Thus St. Paul became all things to all men, that he might gain all: hence with the Jews he observed the legal ceremonies, with the Gentiles he lived in the manner of the Gentiles.
Verse 13: The Ixion
13. THE IXION. -- It is a bird of the vulture kind; hence in Leviticus XI, Moses passed over it in silence, and included and prohibited it under the vultures. In Hebrew it is called raa, from seeing, because it is strong in the sharpness of its eyes. So Vatablus and Abulensis. The remaining clean and unclean animals are explained in Leviticus XI.
Verse 21: Give It to the Stranger
21. GIVE IT TO THE STRANGER TO EAT. -- By stranger understand a Gentile, remaining in paganism: for he was not bound by the Jewish laws, and therefore could eat unclean animals. It was otherwise with the Gentile proselyte, that is, one converted to Judaism: for he was bound by the Jewish law, and consequently by abstinence from unclean foods. So Abulensis.
Verse 22: The Threefold System of Tithes
22. YOU SHALL SET APART A TENTH OF ALL YOUR PRODUCE. -- From this passage and from Josephus, Theodoret in his Question XIII here, Abulensis, Oleaster and Cajetan conclude that a double tithe was prescribed for the Jews each year. The first tithes were of all the produce of the land, flocks and herds, which were given entirely to the Levites; nor were they brought to Jerusalem, but the Levites, to whom they belonged, collected them throughout the cities near them; from these tithes, the Levites in turn paid a tenth to the high priest and priests, as is evident from Numbers XVIII, 26 and 28. For there it concerns these first tithes.
The second tithes were those which each year the Hebrews set apart, after the first-mentioned tithing, taking a tenth from the nine remaining parts for themselves, so that from this, when going to the tabernacle (which had to be done three times a year, as is evident from Exodus XXIII, 17, and chapter XXXIV, 23), they might partly live on the journey, partly offer peace offerings, from which they would eat before the Lord, together with the Levites whom they invited to feast with them. What I said about these tithes, I say the same about the first-fruits: because after the first-fruits which were given entirely to the Lord, each person set aside something for himself, as second first-fruits, which he would use when going up to the Lord. I say the same about the firstborn of sheep and oxen, namely that after the firstborn given to God, the Hebrews set aside another animal as a peace offering: I say the same about vows and gifts. Therefore this law speaks about these second tithes, up to verse 28, and chapter XII, 17 also dealt with these.
The third tithes were tithes which were separated every three years and given to the poor, widows, orphans, and Levites as a kind of alms, lest they, on account of poverty, should be compelled to serve the Gentiles, by whom they could easily have been led into idolatry. These third tithes are discussed at verse 28, where it says: "In the third year you shall set apart another tithe." Hence it is clear that this was not the same tithe as the first, as if the tithes which for two years belonged to the Levites were in the third year commanded to be shared with the poor equally with the Levites, as some wish; but it was another, namely a third: for so the translator renders it. Thus it is said of Tobias, chapter I, verse 7, that in the third year he gave all his tithing to proselytes and strangers. If the Jews paid triple tithes, why should not Christians give single and simple tithes to God? If the Jews fed their poor with tithes, why should not Christians do the same? I know great men in public life who give a tenth of their wealth, indeed of all their profit, to the poor, and think themselves bound to this by the law of charity and religion.
The Church Fathers on Almsgiving
Beautifully says Gregory of Nyssa, in his book On the Beatitudes: "If the title of merciful befits God, to what else does the word of Christ urge you, than that you become God, as it were marked with the proper note of divinity?" And Gregory of Nazianzus in his oration On the Love of the Poor: "Be God to the afflicted by imitating God's mercy." And Chrysostom, homily 3 to the People: "It is better to know this art of giving alms than to be a king. For this builds houses in heaven that will last forever; this teaches how you can become like God." And in homily 36: "A great thing is man, and precious is the merciful man. This is a greater grace than raising the dead: for here you earn merit from Christ; there He earns merit from you: for miracles you owe to God."
Example of St. Severinus and the Citizens of Lauriacum
Hear a remarkable example concerning these tithes, which Eugippius narrates in the Life of St. Severinus, Apostle of Noricum, chapter XVII, and which occurred around the year of the Lord 475. The citizens of Lauriacum, having been admonished by St. Severinus to give tithes to the poor, had delayed doing so, and therefore blight invaded their otherwise beautiful crops; they, returning to their senses, confessed their fault and begged pardon from St. Severinus, who answered them: "If you had offered tithes to the poor, you would not only enjoy an eternal reward, but would also abound in present comforts; but because you punish your fault by your own confession, I promise you from the Lord's mercy that this blight, although so severe, will not harm: only let your faith waver no longer;" then he urged that a fast be proclaimed, and when it was completed, a gentle rain removed the disasters of the despairing harvest. Thus far Eugippius, disciple of St. Severinus, and an eyewitness of what happened.
Indeed, even now the more religious Jews, although they have no temple, priests, or Levites, nevertheless give a tenth coin of all their goods to the poor, and have this proverb: "Give tithes, that you may grow rich:" for this, they say, God promised through Malachi, chapter III, verse 10, and it is true.