Leviticus 17:1-16
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, saying,
3 What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp,
4 And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:
5 To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD.
6 And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD.
7 And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.
8 And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice,
9 And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even that man shall be cut off from among his people.
10 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth 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 upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
13 And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
15 And every soul that eateth that which dieda of itself, or that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean.
16 But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.
Leviticus
*Worship the *LORD in the Beauty of *Holiness
Leviticus
Gordon Churchyard
This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.Words in boxes are from the Bible, except for the words in brackets (…).
Chapter 17
More rules about religion
The importance of the blood
v1 The *LORD said (this) to Moses.
v2 ‘Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the *Israelites. Say (this) to them. “This is what the *LORD has ordered you to do.
v3-4 An *Israelite might *sacrifice an animal that he does not bring to the entrance of the *meeting tent. That animal might be a cow, a *lamb or a goat. He might kill it in the camp or outside it. But the man does not give it as an *offering to the *LORD in front of the house of the *LORD. That man shall be guilty, because he spilled (an animal’s) blood. He has spilled blood and (the *LORD) will cut him off from his people.
v5 *Israelites are now making *sacrifices in the open fields (outside the camp.) But they must (in the future) bring them to the priest and to the *LORD at the entrance of the *meeting tent. They must *sacrifice them to the *LORD as *peace offerings.
v6 The priest must splash the blood onto the *LORD’s *altar, (which is) at the entrance of the *meeting tent. He must burn the *fat so that the smell pleases the *LORD.
v7 They must not again offer their *sacrifices to the images of goats that they *worship. They are not loyal (to me when they do these things.) This is a permanent rule for them which will continue in future centuries.”
v8-9 Say (this) to them. “An *Israelite, or a foreigner who lives with them must bring his *sacrifices to the entrance of the *meeting tent. He must offer them to the *LORD there. Otherwise, (the *LORD) will *cut off that man from his people.
v10 (I will oppose any) *Israelite who eats any sort of blood. And any foreigner who lives with the *Israelites (must not do that). I, (the *LORD), will be against that person who eats blood. I will *cut him off from his people.
v11 (This is) because the life of an animal is in its blood. I have given (the blood) to you to make *atonement for yourselves on the *altar. It is the blood that makes *atonement for (your) lives.
v12 So I say to the *Israelites that none of you may eat blood. Also, a foreigner who lives with you may not eat blood.
v13 Any *Israelite, or any foreigner who lives with you, may hunt an animal or a bird. (They may hunt the kinds of animals and birds) that allow them to eat. But before they eat (that animal or bird, they must drain out the blood. They must cover (the blood) with earth.
v14 (This is) because the life of any animal is in its blood. So I have said to the *Israelites that they must not eat the blood of any animal. The life of any animal is in its blood. (I will) *cut off anyone who eats (the blood).
v15 Anyone, whether an (*Israelite) or a foreigner, may perhaps find a dead animal. Another animal may have killed it. If he eats it, (he must do these things). He must wash his clothes and he must bathe in water. He will be *unclean until the evening, and then he will be *clean.
v16 But he may, perhaps, not wash his clothes and bathe himself. Then he will be responsible (because he did not do these things).” ’
Notes
This chapter contains instructions that follow from Chapter s 1 to 7 and chapter 16. In particular, it tells us about the part that ordinary people have in the *sacrifices. The chapter also tells us that the *Israelites could not eat blood because of their religion.
Verses 1-2 These verses remind us that these are God’s rules. Moses did not make them up. The rest of the chapter gives three important rules that the *Israelites had to obey:
(1) When the *Israelites killed animals for meat, they had to offer them to God as *peace offerings (verses 3-9).
(2) The *Israelites could not eat the blood of animals (verses 10-12).
(3) The *Israelites might hunt animals. Or they might find animals that were already dead. There were special rules about the meat of those animals (verses 13-16)
Verses 3-9 When people killed animals, they had to offer them to the *LORD. So whenever the people killed *bulls, cows, sheep or goats, they had to take them to the *meeting tent. There, they *sacrificed those animals as *peace offerings (see chapter 3).
When the people offered the animal to the *LORD, then he would receive his part, Leviticus 3:1-17. The priest would also receive his part, Leviticus 7:11-18. The man who killed the animal could then eat the rest of it with his family and friends. But if someone did not obey this rule, that person was ‘blood guilty’. That was similar in those days to murder. The *LORD would *cut off that person. ‘*Cut off’ means that the *LORD would punish that person. And the *LORD would separate that person from his family or nation, perhaps by death.
This rule only lasted while the *Israelites were in the desert. When they entered Canaan, they did not still go to the *meeting tent to kill all their animals (Deuteronomy 12:21). Instead, they only offered special *sacrifices there.
So God taught the *Israelites that he provided even their daily meals. He gave them life. And as they offered their meat to him, he shared it with them. As they ate it, they had *fellowship with him. The *Jews still remember this lesson. They pray at each meal. They thank God for the food that he has provided for them.
Note verse 7. This rule means that people must not offer *sacrifices to bad spirits, such as images of goats. They thought that these false gods lived outside their camps. Exodus 32:1-6 reminds us that people easily persuaded the *Israelites to have false gods. Perhaps the *Israelites were giving *sacrifices to the bad spirits because they were afraid of the bad spirits. Perhaps they thought that they could protect themselves by their *sacrifices. But God teaches that we must not do this. We must not give to devils or to bad spirits the honour that God alone deserves.
Verses 10-12 These verses tell us that God did not want the *Israelites to eat blood. The blood is precious to God, because it represents (stands for) the life of the animal. And the blood of a *sacrifice represents the life of the person who offered it. All life belongs to God, because he made it.
*Jews still obey this rule. Meat with no blood in it is called ‘kosher meat’.
For Christians, the blood of Jesus, who is their *sacrifice, is very important. His blood, that is, his death, gives them life. And they must receive it into their own lives (John 6:53).
The first Christians did not believe that it was right to eat blood. They also made some other rules about food – see Acts 15:29. Paul discussed some similar matters in 1 Corinthians 10:18-33. He said that it was a matter of conscience. A Christian should not eat any food if he considers it wrong to eat that food. But also, a Christian must not do anything that offends another Christian’s conscience. Christians must always be careful not to cause problems for other people. They must care about people whose belief and trust in God may be weaker than theirs.
Verses 13-16 The *Israelites could not offer animals that they hunted as *sacrifices. They could eat them, but only after they had drained away the blood.
An animal may have died, or another animal may have killed it. If an *Israelite ate such an animal, he would be *unclean. He could not join in public *worship that day. And he had to bathe and to wash his clothes first.
These rules again emphasise the importance of the blood.
Something to do
1. Read Isaiah 13:21 and Isaiah 34:14. These verses remind us that ‘images of goats’ were ‘outside the camp’. They were false gods.
2. Study these verses, which tell us about the blood of Jesus. Here are some of the things that it gives to Christians.
Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7. His blood means that God can forgive us.
Hebrews 10:22. His blood allows us to come into the place where God is.
Revelation 12:11. His blood helps us to defeat evil things.
Revelation 7:15. His blood means that we can always live with God.
worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.
LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.
Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.
Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.
holiness ~ the quality of somebody who is holy, or very, very good.
holy ~ very, very good; only God is really holy. Or, a description of something that belongs to God.
Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.
LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.
Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.
Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.
sacrifice ~ something that people burned on an altar for God; or to burn on an altar for God. People also gave sacrifices to false gods.
altar ~ a special table where the priests burned incense, grain and animals.
incense ~ a material that gives a good smell when people burn it.
'meeting tent ~ the special tent where God met with Moses. The priests could enter it to worship; they burnt sacrifices on the altar in front of it.worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.
sacrifice ~ something that people burned on an altar for God; or to burn on an altar for God. People also gave sacrifices to false gods.
altar ~ a special table where the priests burned incense, grain and animals.
incense ~ a material that gives a good smell when people burn it.
lamb ~ a young sheep.
offering ~ gift.
peace ~ absence of war. Or, the calm and content attitude that one receives because of a right relationship with God and with other people.
altar ~ a special table where the priests burned incense, grain and animals.
incense ~ a material that gives a good smell when people burn it.
fat ~ part of an animal’s body that is not red meat, nor skin, nor bone. Fat is an oily substance.
worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.'cut off ~ to give someone a punishment that separates that person from his family or nation. That punishment may be death. But it may be to force that person to live abroad.
atonement ~ another word for what happens when God forgives us. After God forgives us, we are ‘at one’ with him. In other words, we are united as friends (or have friendly relations) with him.
unclean ~ unsuitable for God or for God’s people. When someone was unclean, that person was unable to worship at God’s house.
worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.
clean ~ suitable for God or for God’s people. A clean person could go to God’s house to worship him.
worship ~ to praise someone (usually God). You tell him that you believe him to be very, very great. Also, you love him and you will obey him.
bull ~ the male animal of the same kind as a cow.'cut off ~ to give someone a punishment that separates that person from his family or nation. That punishment may be death. But it may be to force that person to live abroad.
fellowship ~ a special type of friendship between God and his people. Or, the special type of friendship that God’s people have with each other.
Jews ~ another word for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the LORD’s people whom Moses led out of Egypt. Afterwards, they lived in the countries called Judah and Israel.
LORD ~ a special name for God. In the Hebrew Bible it translates YHWH. YHWH probably means ‘he is always alive’. So the word LORD (which means ‘master’) is not a proper translation.
Judah ~ the name of the southern part of the country where the Jews went to live.
Israel ~ the name of the country where the Jews went to live, especially the northern part of that country.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.