{"id":5919,"date":"2026-06-02T00:01:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T07:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=5919"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:07:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:07:41","slug":"deuteronomy-141-2-you-are-the-children-of-the-lord-your-god-you-shall-not-cut-yourselves-nor-shave-the-front-of-your-head-for-the-dead-for-you-are-a-holy-people-to-the-lord-your-god-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=5919","title":{"rendered":"Deuteronomy 14:1\u20132: “You are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead. For 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.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

God was forbidding the Egyptian religious practice of cutting and shaving the head in mourning for a person who had died. Like so many other things His people had learned while in bondage to Egypt, this too was no longer to be observed. Why? The actions themselves might appear innocent enough, but God was reminding them of their special, unique relationship with Him. Over 250 times, Moses reminded Israel of, “the LORD your<\/em> God.”<\/p>\n

The New Testament teaches that those who submit to God\u2019s Lordship enjoy a special relationship with Him, making them also a “special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” Peter the Apostle picked up on this truth in his first letter:<\/p>\n

\n

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Is this a position given to us so we can think and act as if we are better than<\/em> those who do not know God? Definitely not! The position of being a special treasure means we have a responsibility to humbly take His message of love and grace to those around us every day. What a privilege to represent the King of Kings to those who have not yet met Him.<\/p>\n

“LORD, we need Your help to not miss any opportunity that comes our way to speak freely of Your love to others. Give us the grace and confidence to be Your ambassadors to those who cross our paths this day.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

=============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deuteronomy 14 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0Ye\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>the children of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0For thou\u00a0art\u00a0<\/em>an holy people unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God, and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that\u00a0are<\/em>upon the earth. 3<\/sup> Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0These\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.\u00a0\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof;\u00a0as\u00a0<\/em>the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof;\u00a0therefore\u00a0<\/em>they\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>unclean unto you.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase. 9<\/sup>\u00a0These ye shall eat of all that\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat:\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>unclean unto you. 11<\/sup>\u00a0Of\u00a0<\/em>all clean birds ye shall eat.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0But these\u00a0are they\u00a0<\/em>of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind,\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And every raven after his kind,\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan,\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant,\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And every creeping thing that flieth\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0But of\u00a0<\/em>all clean fowls ye may eat. 21<\/sup>\u00a0Ye shall not eat\u00a0of\u00a0<\/em>any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou\u00a0art\u00a0<\/em>an holy people unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother\u2019s milk. 22<\/sup>\u00a0Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt eat before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God always.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it;\u00a0or\u00a0<\/em>if the place be too far from thee, which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath blessed thee:\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0Then shalt thou turn\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God shall choose:\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the\u00a0LORDthy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,\u00a0\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0And the Levite that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. 28<\/sup>\u00a0At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>up within thy gates:\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God was forbidding the Egyptian religious practice of cutting and shaving the head in mourning for a person who had died. Like so many other things His people had learned while in bondage to Egypt, this too was no longer to be observed. Why? The actions themselves might appear innocent enough, but God was reminding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5919"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16017,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919\/revisions\/16017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}