Deuteronomy 26:14

Hebrew Bible

12 When you finish tithing all your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages. 13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. I have not violated or forgotten your commandments. 14 I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; I have obeyed you and have done everything you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey.” 16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul.

Psalm 106:28

Hebrew Bible

26 So he made a solemn vow that he would make them die in the wilderness, 27 make their descendants die among the nations, and scatter them among foreign lands. 28 They worshiped Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. 29 They made the Lord angry by their actions, and a plague broke out among them. 30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, and the plague subsided.

 Notes and References

"... Like 1 Samuel 28:3, Psalm 106:28 and Numbers 25:2 have been taken as criticisms of death cult prac­tices. Psalm 106:28 reads: “They yoked themselves to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead." Psalm 106:28 is dependent on the older passage, Numbers 25:2, which does not condemn practices associated with the dead; rather, it forbids “sacrifices of their gods.” Psalm 106:28 condemns “sacrifices of their gods,” since the dead are called elohim, “gods,” in 1 Samuel 28:3 and Isaiah 8:19. One may compare the parallelism of “Rephaim” with “gods,” and the further juxtaposition of these two terms with “gods” and “the dead,” in KTU 1.6 VI 45-49. It appears that only Psalm 107:28 and not Num­bers 25:2 is pertinent to the question of practices for the dead. In its present form. Psalm 106 is generally considered to be exilic or later (see verses 40:47). To be sure, one can argue that verse 28 predates the Exile. Nonetheless, it would be difficult to argue for its pertinence for examining practices for the dead prior to the seventh century ..."

Smith, Mark S. and Elizabeth M. Bloch-Smith Death and Afterlife in Ugarit and Israel (pp. 277-284) Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 108, 1988

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