Deuteronomy, the Old Law, and Smoking

Overlyconscious has objected to the general consensus that smoking is immoral (seriously or not) because it harms the body that we are bound, naturally and supernaturally, to nurture and non nocere. Now we can begin a good discussion.

While there are substantial principles upon which Overlyconscious may have based his objection (some of them subconscious perhaps), let us deal first with his use of Deuteronomy 14:26, from which he concludes that God encourages smoking, as he does drinking, as long as it is done "before the Lord."

The text of Deut. 14:26 should be considered, as all Scripture should, in its context.

Deuteronomy 1 begins with "These are the words that Moses spoke to all Isreal beyond the Jordan in the wilderness... Moses spoke to the people of Isreal according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them... Moses undertook to explain this law..."

Deuteronomy 12 begins with "These are the statutes and ordinances which you shall be careful to do in the land which the Lord ... has given you to possess." The enumeration of the statutes, now referred to as the "Old Law," continues for many chapters. Here are some examples:

Deut 12:15 "You may slaughter and eat flesh within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord..."
Deut 14:3 ff "You shall not eat any abominable thing. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat... And the swine, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is undlean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch... You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk."
Deut 21:10 ff "When you go forth to war against your enemies... and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have desire for her... then you shall take her home to your house and she shall shave her head and pare her nails... If you have no delight in her, you shall let her go where she will, but you shall not sell her for money... since you have humiliated her."

These, and others, are very interesting prescriptions, and we wonder if Overlyconscious follows them all, including Deut 24 - Moses' prescription for divorce (which Christ explained was allowed for the Jews' "hardness of heart" [Mt. 19:1-ff). The point is that the Old Law lays an enormous burden upon man which, according to St. Paul, did not have the power to save anyway. You can't choose part of the Old Law to justify your practices without swallowing the whole of it. And its bloody hard to swallow.

But Deuteronomy 14:26 doesn't allow for smoking in even the remotest senses of interpretation. Look at verse 22-23: "You shall tithe all the yield of your seed, which comes forth from the field year by year. And before the Lord, in the place which He will choose, to make His name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, your oil..." Moses is prescribing what should be done with the tithed portion of an Isrealites property or wealth. As he goes on to prescribe in 24-25, if you live too far away to carry it all, turn it into money, and then, in your verse 26: "spend the money for whatever you desire, oxen, or sheep, or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves; and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household." And, being overly conscious, we wouldn't forget the next verse 27: "And you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you."

It's obvious that what is being laid out is what to do with the tithed portion of the yearly harvest. What you could possibly conclude about cigarettes from this verse is this : once in the place where the Lord has chosen, that you can buy them, if you use your money (preferably silver) obtained from exchanging the tithed portion of your yearly harvest (or income). When you have bought your cigarettes, you may eat them, in the presence of the Lord, all the while, of course, rejoicing.