Israel’s Distinctiveness Mirrored in the Home and Farm: It might seem at first sight that the destruction of a whole apostate community and all its property (13:12–16) is worlds away from the question of what you were allowed to cook for lunch, but in fact a common principle governed both—the distinctiveness of Israel as a people wholly and exclusively committed to Yahweh. This principle, which underlies all the preaching of chapters 4–11 and finds its most succinct expression in 7:6, is repeated at the head of this chapter (v. 2) as an introduction to some domestic matters that must also conform to the demands of holiness. Such matters included funeral customs (v. 1), the distinctions between clean and unclean food (vv. 3–21), and the instructions regarding tithes (vv. 22–29). It is impor…