Deuteronomy 26:14

In my mourning, i.e. either,

1. In my funeral solemnities for the dead. But this falls in with the last branch. Or,

2. In my distress or poverty, or upon pretence of my own want, in which case men are tempted and inclined to fall upon sacred or forbidden things. Or,

3. In sorrow, or grieving that I was to give away so much of my profits to the poor, but I have cheerfully eaten and feasted with them, as I was obliged to do. For though it be taken for granted by some learned expositors, from Deuteronomy 14:28,29, that the owner was not to eat any part of the third year's tithe, but to give it all away to the stranger and fatherless, &c., the contrary seems to me more probable from that very place, where it is said, thou shalt lay it up within thy gates, and then it follows, that the Levite, stranger, &c. shall come, to wit, to thy gates, and shall eat, to wit, there, as is expressed Deuteronomy 26:12, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled; which implies that these tithes, or some part of them, were eaten in the owner's gates or dwelling, with holy rejoicing and feasting, wherein it is most probable the owner had his share, though it be not there expressed, because it was evident in itself from the foregoing passage, Deuteronomy 14:23, &c., where the owner is allowed and commanded to eat those tithes together with the Levites. And howsoever some think the third year's tithes, Deuteronomy 14:28, were not the same with those Deuteronomy 14:23, yet it cannot with any colour of reason be thought that those tithes which were to be eaten, not only by the Levites, but also by the strangers, Deuteronomy 14:29, were more sacred than those that were to be eaten by none but the Levites and the owners, Deuteronomy 14:23,27, or that the owner might eat of the one, and not of the other. For any unclean use, i.e. for any common use; the words common and unclean being oft indifferently used one for the other, or for any other use than that which thou hast appointed, which would have been a pollution of them. For the dead, i.e. for any funeral pomp, or service, or feast; for the Jews used to send in provisions to feast with the nearest relations of the party deceased, of which see Jeremiah 16:7 Ezekiel 24:17 Hosea 9:4; and in that case both the guests and food were legally polluted, Numbers 19:11,14, and therefore the use of these tithes in such cases had been a double fault, both the defiling of sacred food, and the employing of those provisions upon sorrowful occasions, which by God's express command were to be eaten with rejoicing, Deuteronomy 14:26, Deuteronomy 26:11.