Deuteronomy 10:19 commands the Israelites to:

> "Love ye therefore the stranger."

This is held against Deuteronomy 14:21, which permits Israelites to give an animal that 'dieth of itself' (carrion) to a stranger to eat. Critics assume this demonstrates a lack of love, essentially feeding garbage to foreigners.

This imposes modern hygienic sensibilities onto the ancient world. The Israelite restriction on eating animals that died naturally was a specific, covenantal ritual purity law regarding the improper draining of blood, not necessarily a universal health hazard. For a traveling foreigner struggling with sustenance, receiving free meat was an act of vital charity and hospitality, not a malicious insult.

> Exodus 22:31
> You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.

> Leviticus 17:15
> Anyone, whether native-born or alien, who eats anything found dead or torn by wild animals must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be ceremonially unclean till evening; then he will be clean.

> Deuteronomy 14:21
> Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to an alien living in any of your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner.

Critics suppose that these three verses represent "changes of heart" on the subject of eating dead animals. But a careful reading tells us otherwise. The Exodus verse refers only to animals that are mauled by other animals and have died. Deuteronomy refers only to animals found dead of natural causes. Leviticus refers to both types and tells what to do if someone (whether native or stranger) consumes such an animal in spite of the rule against doing so. The stranger of course would have to decide whether it would be worth it to have to do the washing ritual in order to eat the animal—chances are, in an age before there was a supermarket on every corner, they wouldn't have minded.