Leviticus 17:10-16 English Standard Version Laws Against Eating Blood 10 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. 12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. 13 “Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. 14 For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. 15 And every person who eats what dies of itself or what is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or a sojourner, shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean. 16 But if he does not wash them or bathe his flesh, he shall bear his iniquity.” This law was very much connected with the previous one so that you will usually so them given as a pair throughout most of Scripture. The Israelites (and by extension Christians as we see in the book of Acts) should not eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols as well as avoiding eating anything that had been strangled and they were forbidden from eating or drinking blood.(see Acts 15:19-20). Note: sexual immorality is also closely associated with idolatry as is the strangulation of animals and the eating and drinking of blood.
God had given them specific instructions at this point in time that every animal they were to eat was to be a peace offering which was to be offered in a particular place and in a particular way (what we studied yesterday) and that meant the animals needed to have their throats cut and be exsanguinated for the life was in the blood and the blood was used for making atonement and anyone who ate or drank of the blood of an innocent animal had bloodguilt on them. Even though the command to bring every animal you were going to eat for sacrifice as a peace offering was later rescinded when they entered the Land (I talked about the passage in Deuteronomy and provided some additional commentary for that passage), the prohibition against eating or drinking blood and killing by strangulation so that the blood remained in the sacrifice remained for all generations. Anyone, even a foreigner, who would not comply with this law was to be "cut off." God then gives rules for hunting which shows us that there would be a provision later for killing animals out in the open field and not needing to bring such animals to the altar for sacrifice. God says that any such animal whether bird or beast should also have its blood poured out on the ground where you kill the animal (it should be exsanguinated) for the reasons I mentioned earlier. And God said that anyone who failed to comply with this law, he would cause the beasts to have a bloodlust for them and to so that they would be torn apart by wild beasts, whether native, foreigner or sojourner. Anyone who does this will be considered unclean until the evening (the beginning of the next day) and will have to wash his clothes and take a bath. If he will not do so, then he bears his iniquity--it is an intentional rebellion and there is no sacrifice to atone for it.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
January 2025
Categories
All
|