Leviticus 17

 Domesticated Animals

Leviticus 17:2-6 MKJV  Speak to Aaron and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them, This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded, saying,  3  Any man of the house of Israel who kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or kills it out of the camp,  4  and does not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer as offering to Jehovah before the tabernacle of Jehovah, blood shall be charged to that man; he has shed blood. And that man shall be cut off from among his people,  5  so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them to Jehovah, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to the priest, and offer them for peace offerings to Jehovah.  6  And the priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of Jehovah at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savor to Jehovah.

"Every animal that was slain for food was regarded as a kind of peace-offering, and was therefore slain at the door of the Tabernacle. This law, though it expressed a great principle, was only provisional. It was kept as long as Israel dwelled in the Wilderness, but repealed when they entered the Land of Promise, where their numbers and diffusion would have rendered its strict observance impossible. See Deuteronomy 12:15-24." - F.B. Meyer, Through This Bible Day By Day

In the days of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob), sacrifices were often made where they were at an important time. God is changing that now for the time being. He says they now have a centralized place of worship and so they must offer sacrifices at the Tabernacle and administered by the priests. God has set up a religious system with a place of worship and priests to administer the place of worship. The priests had been consecrated and the Tabernacle and all it's furnishings had been consecrated. Therefore God establishes a new way of doing things.

"At first thought, the injunctions of the chapter might seem to belong rather to ceremonial than to moral law; but closer observation will show that all the injunctions here given have direct reference to the avoidance of idolatry, especially as connected with the preparation and use of food.
"It was not enough that the true Israelite should abstain from food prohibited by God, as in chapter 12; he must also use that which was permitted in a way well pleasing to God, carefully shunning even the appearance of any complicity with surrounding idolatry, or fellowship with the heathen in their unholy fashions and customs. Even so for the Christian: it is not enough that he abstain from what is expressly forbidden; even in his use of lawful food, he must so use it that it shall be to him a means of grace, in helping him to maintain an uninterrupted walk with God.
"The directions regarding the first class may be summed up in this: all such animals were to be treated as peace offerings. No private person in Israel was to slaughter any such animal anywhere in the camp or out of it, except at the door of the tent of meeting. Thither they were to be brought 'unto the priest,' and offered for peace offerings (Leviticus 17:5); the blood must be sprinkled on the altar of burnt offering; the fat parts burnt 'for a sweet savour unto the Lord' (Leviticus 17:6); and then only the priest having first taken his appointed portions, the remainder might now be eaten by the Israelite, as given back to him by God, in peaceful fellowship with Him." - Expositor's Bible Commentary

The Israelites were living in the wilderness, camping wherever God led them to camp. Their main source of meat was from their own flocks and herds. Remember the Israelites once complained about the lack of meat in the wilderness (Exodus 16). This was also a time when they dwelt in tents and close together. After they settled in the land of Canaan and were dispersed throughout the land, it wasn't practical any more (Deuteronomy 12).

So why did God make this temporary mandate to slaughter animals, even the ones for food, at the door of the Tent of Meeting/Tabernacle and with such a heavy penalty of being "cut off from among his people"? Look at the next verse:

Leviticus 17:7 MKJV  And they shall no more offer their sacrifices to goats, after whom they have gone whoring. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.

"The worship referred to was still in existence in the days of the monarchy; for it is included in the charges against 'Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin,' (2 Chronicles 11:15) that 'he appointed him priests; for the he-goats, and for the calves which he had made.' ... The words imply that the ordinary slaughter of animals for food was often connected with some idolatrous ceremony related to this goat worship.?- Expositor's Bible Commentary

The Israelite's daily food was to be a peace offering, shared with God and with the priests. God gives it back to him for food. This dedication of his food to God. this humble receiving it as a gift from God, was a reminder to the Israelite of God's mercy, His goodness and provision. It also reminds him that he is atoned for by the blood and reconciled, in relationship with, God. They can fellowship together because of the blood sacrifice.

Jesus Christ is our blood sacrifice. He has atoned for our sins and given us the right to be in God's Presence as His Child. We should be reminded of God's goodness, mercy and provision whenever we eat our daily meals. We should remember to pray before our meals in humble realization that our food is from His Hands, given because of our relationship through the blood of Jesus Christ. In the Lord's Prayer, the Jesus Himself taught us, it says, "Give us this day our daily bread". We should use this prayer before every meal in order to remind ourselves of His goodness and mercy and that we are in fellowship with a loving Father who provides. A meal, taken with this preceding recognition, is a meal taken in fellowship with God because of what Jesus Christ did in sacrifice and pouring out His blood.

God forgive me for forgetting to pray before my meals. I was raised to do it and yet, I forget so often. I give the Holy Spirit permission to remind me to stop and pray, in humble thanksgiving, before I eat. God is good, In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Hunted Animals

Leviticus 17:10-16 MKJV  And any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that are staying among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that soul 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 to you on the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.  12  Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that is staying among you eat blood.  13  And any man of the sons of Israel, or of the strangers that are staying among you, who hunts game, beast or fowl, that may be eaten, he shall even pour out its blood and cover it with dust.  14  For it is the life of all flesh. Its blood is for the life of it. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any flesh. For the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.  15  And any soul that eats a dead body, or a torn thing, whether a native or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. Then he shall be clean.  16  But if he does not wash, nor bathe his flesh, then he shall bear his iniquity.

MKJV

• "who eats any blood"
• "I will set My face against that soul who eats blood"
• "For the life of the flesh is in the blood"
• "For it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul"
• "No soul of you shall eat blood"
• "Neither shall any stranger... eat blood"
• "he shall even pour out its blood and cover it with dust"
• "For (the blood) is the life of all flesh"
• "Its blood is for the life of it"
• "You shall not eat the blood of any flesh"
• "For the life of all flesh is its blood"
• "Whoever eats (the blood) shall be cut off"
• "Any soul that eats a dead body,,, and be unclean until the evening" (talking about an animal that dies naturally in the wild or is killed by beasts)

Genesis 9:3-7 KJV (God speaking to Noah after The Flood) Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.  4  But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.  5  And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.  6  Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.  7  And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

Before The Flood, God gave Adam and Eve eating instructions which included a strictly vegetarian diet (Genesis 1:29, Genesis 2:9). After The Flood, the Earth was changed and was not as productive. God gave Noah a new eating allowance. He could eat animals but they had to be killed, blood drained, and cooked. Man is not to torture an animal by removing pieces of it, while still alive, to eat. The animal must be killed, his blood spilled. In Leviticus 17, the blood of a wild animal had to be drained on the ground and buried by covering it with dirt. This prevented a peculiar cruelty to animals that evidently had been practiced. It should not be eaten alive like a wild predatory animal would do. We are not animals. It should not be eaten raw like animals do. The same with human beings. We are not wild animals and thus should not kill humans, spill their blood, wantonly. And certainly not consume human flesh as in cannibalism.

 

God also gave animals a new protection: "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth" (Genesis 9:2). Before The Flood, animals didn't fear man. After The Flood they feared man which helped protect animals but also helped make them useful to men who could train them for work.

 

God also gave man the responsibility to perform capital punishment for crimes that God designates calling for it. It is to restrain man's natural depravity. God established human government to protect the innocent. Not all killing is murder. There is self defense, capital punishment under law and killing in a just war. But we must realize that God sees, and knows, of the spilled blood of all humans. It is precious in His sight. And the blood of another human will be required at the hand of any wanton murderer. You will be called to account. The victim's blood will cry out to God against you. If a murderer is NOT captured, tried by law, found guilty and punished by death... you haven't gotten away with your murder. It will be required from you, to account for the blood you spilled, before God. In fact, you may wish you had gone to trial and gone to jail after God gets through with you, unless you repent. You can be forgiven, but murder leaves a lasting stain that scars you and you will answer to God even if you are saved and spend eternity in Heaven. There are consequences.

I wish every family and friend of someone who has been murdered understood this. Even if the body of their loved one is never found... God knows what happened and knows where they are. Even if the murderer is never caught... God knows who did it and will require an accounting from the murderer. Even if the murderer goes through the court of law and doesn't receive the just punishment (as prescribed by law) you think they deserve... God knows it and that person will face God about it.

Let's say John Doe killed Sally Sue out in a deep dark forest in the dead of night and buried her and she's never been found and he's never been caught. God knows. The blood of Sally Sue was sacred. Her life was God's to bring into this world and God's to take out. It didn't belong to a murderer to take her life away. But don't for one moment think that Sally Sue didn't matter. She mattered to God and God knows what happened. He will pursue that murderer. There are only two futures for a murderer. 1) That they realize their sin, truly repent and ask for forgiveness from Jesus. They can be saved no matter how vile their sin. But there are consequences for their sins. It may be jail or it may be looking into God's eyes once they've passed into eternity, knowing they had sacred blood on their hands. They are saved, loved, but will have an accounting of some type. 2) They never repent but God hounds them 'til the day they die, in which, if they haven't repented, they go to hell for eternity. We shouldn't wish that on our worst enemy. It would be better if they followed the first course. But one way or another, murder is a sin that requires an accounting.

If you need "closure" because of a missing or murdered loved one, don't get it from whether or not the culprit has been caught and put on death row or sentenced to life in prison. Human government is all kinds of faulty and will let you down. But try to trust in God to bring true and righteous judgment to the culprit wherever they are. He alone knows when mercy is due and when it is not. He alone knows if a person is truly repentant or putting on a show to get parole. He is never fooled like a parole board. And He will not let someone off the hook even if a judge does. There will be an accounting. Just leave it to God and let Him sort it out. "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19). Let it be His. You try to let it go and let God handle it for your own sanity and your own peace of mind. As much as it is within your power, pray and ask God to give you the ability to forgive and move on, to let Him handle the culprit in His way, in His time. I can only imagine how hard it would be if it were my loved one. But there is no other way to live. If you give in to hatred, vengeance, depression, unforgiveness, despair, victimization... you are the loser and you've still not brought justice to your loved one and the culprit. You've hurt yourself and ruined your own life. I can understand it and my heart goes out to you. It could be me one day. It's not that I judge you or are harsh. Just telling you the only healthy way to keep living is to give it up to God and trust Him for the outcome. Otherwise, it eats you up. There are too many examples of family members who end up destroying their own lives over such a terrible loss and you don't want to go that way. Let God handle it.

 

Man would have had no right to take the life of any animal for food, if God had not given them that right in Genesis 9.

 

What is it about blood?

Genesis 4:8-16 ESV  Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.  9  Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?”  10  And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.  11  And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.  12  When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”  13  Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.  14  Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”  15  Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.  16  Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

"To blood, is ascribed in Scripture, the mysterious sacredness which belongs to life, and God reserved it to himself, when allowing man the dominion over and the use of the lower animals for food." - Smith's Bible Dictionary

Acts 15:19-20 ESV  Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,  20  but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

"Things Strangled, we are to understand the flesh of those animals which were strangled for the purpose of keeping the blood in the body" - Adam Clark's Commentary on the Bible

Pagans often performed animal and human sacrifice and used the blood in rituals. It seems the Israelites were practicing a pagan ritual when hunting. Maybe God was addressing the fact that Israelites were acknowledging idols when they went hunting and performed some type of pagan ritual with the blood of the animals they killed.

Psalms 16:1-5 CEV  (A special psalm by David.) Protect me, LORD God! I run to you for safety,  2  and I have said, "Only you are my Lord! Every good thing I have is a gift from you."  3  Your people are wonderful, and they make me happy,  4  but worshipers of other gods will have much sorrow. I refuse to offer sacrifices of blood to those gods or worship in their name.  5  You, LORD, are all I want! You are my choice, and you keep me safe.

Isaiah 1:13-18 ESV  Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.  14  Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.  15  When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.  16  Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,  17  learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.  18  “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

God says, "apart from shedding of blood there is no remission of sins"

Hebrews 9:22-28 ESV  Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.  23  Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  24  For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.  25  Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,  26  for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.  27  And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,  28  so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

1 John 1:7-9 ESV  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  8  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We tend to associate blood with death but God associates blood with life, "for the life of flesh is in the blood". The wages of sin are death. Sin=Death, Blood=Life.

When Adam and Eve sinned they died spiritually and would die physically. God was robbed of the life He created. Everything on earth dies. It lives and then it dies... mankind, animal, even plant life. According to God, life is in the blood. What could pay God back for the life He lost when Adam and Even sinned? Only blood. But there is no untainted, sinless, pure blood that could pay God back and bring life again to mankind, animal and plant life. So God impregnated Mary. She provided the egg with the humanness. God provided the seed with the deity. The product was Jesus Christ incarnated in flesh. He was all God, perfect, sinless and in right relationship with God. But He was all man. He paid for our sins with His sinless Blood. He gave life back to God and cleansed us from all unrighteousness. In faith we can trust in the efficacy of His Blood! It's why there is no other way to God but through Jesus Christ. We cannot save ourselves. Nothing we do can save us because we are born with tainted blood, tainted with sin and the end is death. But He gives His Life Blood for us and His Blood is sufficient because it is perfect. What one man, Adam did to bring death to all, Jesus reversed and brought life! Thanks be to God and our Savior, Jesus Christ!