Leviticus 17:3

_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,_ What man ... killeth an ox. The Israelites, like other people, living in the desert, would not make much use of animal food; and when they did kill a lamb or a kid for food, it would almost always be, as in Abraham's entertainment of the angels, on occasion of a feast, to be eaten in company. This was what was done with the peace offerings; and accordingly it is here enacted that the same course shall be followed in slaughtering the animals for family consumption, as in the case of those voluntary offerings-namely, that they should be killed publicly at the door of the tabernacle, and, after being devoted to God, partaken of by the offerers, in token of their peaceful and happy communion with God. This law, it is obvious, could only be observable in t...

1-9 All the cattle killed by the Israelites, while in the wilderness, were to be presented before the door of the tabernacle, and the flesh to be returned to the offerer, to be eaten as a peace-offering, according to the law. When they entered Canaan, this only continued in respect of sacrifices. The spiritual sacrifices we are now to offer, are not confined to any one place. We have now no temple or altar that sanctifies the gift; nor does the gospel unity rest only in one place, but in one heart, and the unity of the Spirit. Christ is our Altar, and the true Tabernacle; in him God dwells among men. It is in him that our sacrifices are acceptable to God, and in him only. To set up other mediators, or other altars, or other expiatory sacrifices, is, in effect, to set up other gods. And though God will graciously accept our family offerings, we must not therefore neglect attending at the...

Every domesticated animal that was slain for food was a sort of peace-offering Leviticus 17:5. This law could only be kept as long as the children of Israel dwelt in their camp in the wilderness. The restriction was removed before they settled in the holy land, where their numbers and diffusion over the country would have rendered its strict observance impossible. See Deuteronomy 12:15, Deuteronomy 12:20. Leviticus 17:4 BLOOD SHALL BE IMPUTED UNTO THAT MAN - i. e. he has incurred guilt in shedding blood in an unlawful manner....

EXPOSITION This chapter finds its natural place here as the supplement of all that has gone before. The first part of the book contains the institution or regulation of the sacrificial system (chapters 1-7). This chapter, therefore, which gives injunctions as to the place where all sacrifices are to be offered, might well, as Knobel has remarked, have taken its place as Leviticus 8:1. The second part contains the institution of the hereditary priesthood (chapters 8-10). This chapter, therefore, which forbids for the future all offering of sacrifices in the open fields, and commands that they shall be brought "unto _the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation," _would still more fitly find its place after Leviticus 10:1. But the first two sections of the third

WHAT MAN SOEVER [THERE BE] OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL,.... Whether high or low, rich or poor: THAT KILLETH AN OX, OR LAMB, OR GOAT IN THE CAMP; which are particularly mentioned, as Gersom observes, because of these the offerings were; for the law respects the killing of them not for common food, but for sacrifice, as appears from the following verses; for this law was to be a statute for ever, whereas in that sense it was not, and could not be observed, especially when they were come into the land of Canaan; nor would it have been decent or convenient to have brought such vast numbers of cattle every day to be killed at the door of the tabernacle, and must have made the service of the priests extremely laborious to kill them, or even to see that they were killed aright: OR THAT KILLETH [IT] OUT OF THE CAMP; which furnishes out another reason against the same notion, since it was not usual...

2. THE TESTIMONY CONCERNING THE BLOOD CHAPTER 17 _ 1. Concerning slain animals (Leviticus 17:1)_ 2. Concerning the eating of blood (Leviticus 17:10) This chapter needs little comment. Everything in this chapter speaks of the sanctity of the blood, what great value God, to whom life belongs, places upon the blood and with what jealous care He watches over it. The center of all is verse 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.” Every slain animal had to bear witness to this fact. Even the hunter had to pour out the blood and cover it with dust. No blood was to be eaten. But in the New Testament we are commanded to eat spiritu

ALL SLAUGHTER MUST BE SACRIFICIAL, _i.e._ at the sanctuary (_cf._ Deuteronomy 12:2 ff., 2 Kings 23:8; Jeremiah 7:18). All slaughter had originally this sacrificial character, among the Hebrews, as among other pastoral and some agricultural peoples; animals were practically never killed except for sacrifice. Then, any other kind of slaughter easily came to be regarded as impious. To Hindus, there is no greater crime than slaughtering an ox (_cf._ Manu, v. 31), and to-day, except among outcastes, sacrifices of animals are a thing of the past. The abolition of sacrifices in the country (the open field, Leviticus 17:5),

WHAT MAN SOEVER. Hebrew. _'ish 'ish_. KILLETH [in sacrifice]. The Figure of speech _Ellipsis_ (App-6. d) must be thus supplied. For, although the word is Hebrew. _shachat_ (App-43.) and not _zabach_ (App-43.), the context (verses: Leviticus 17:7) shows that only _sacrifices_ in unlawful places are being treated of. There is no contradiction, therefore, of Deuteronomy 12:15; Deuteronomy 12:21, where the context shows equally clearly that only _food_ is in question. Compare Leviticus 17:5....

THE -LAW OF HOLINESS 1 [53] " [53] It should be noted that the -Law of Holiness" denoted by His sometimes used to mean the _whole_of chs. 17 26, sometimes the old laws embedded in these chs., and sometimes again these laws together with their hortatory settings. The leading features of this code, the probable date of its compilation, and an explanation of its origin and development, are discussed in _Introd_. The Law of Holiness, pp. 22 ff., and in App. I, pp. 167 ff. It is there shewn that laws drawn from various sources have been collected by an editor (R h [54]), and this collection has been revised by a later writer (R p [55]). The analysis of the separate Chapter s which follows will shew their composite character; in drawing the distinction between R h [56] and R p [57] the inferences that these represent two stages in the composition of the code will be further illustrated; with...

WHAT MAN SOEVER THERE BE OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, &C.— This law forbids any beast to be slain for domestic use, unless the blood be poured or sprinkled upon the altar; lest, if they should be slain out of the camp, and the blood poured on the ground, it should give room for idolatry, the Gentiles often sacrificing to their gods after this manner: therefore this law was only temporary; neither did it oblige the children of Israel any longer than while they were travelling through the desart; for being newly come out of Egypt, they had hardly put off the idolatrous customs which they had imbibed there. This is the opinion of the judicious Spencer, and Dr. Cudworth also is of the same mind: "for all the while," says he, (in his Treatise on the Sacrament) "the Jews were in the wilderness, they were to eat no meat at all at their private tables, but that whereof they had first sacrificed to Go...