Leviticus 17:10 ¶ 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 died 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.
It is interesting to note that eating of blood is forbidden before
the Law was given, here under the Law given to Moses, and after the
Resurrection in the age of grace and the church.
Genesis 9:4 But flesh with
the life thereof, which is the
blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Acts 15:20 But that we
write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Blood offerings and the consuming of blood was not uncommon in
this ancient religious context as will be noted later. Besides the fact that a
LiveScience article reports that blood drank in large doses is toxic the more
fitting parallel for us should be in how Christ’s blood paid for our sins and
purchased us to be appointed as heirs of eternal life of which there are many
verses.[1]
We are to be careful of blood as it is one of the most potent
symbols of man’s tainted blood and his need for salvation and of God’s work in
that salvation. Here in verse 11 is our link with Christ and this mention of
blood.
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.
Acts 20:28 Take heed
therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased
with his own blood.
Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us.
Hebrews 13:12 Wherefore
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Revelation 1:5 And from
Jesus Christ, who is the
faithful witness, and the first
begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that
loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Paul
made the point that sins are not remitted without the shedding of blood.
Hebrews 9:22 And almost all
things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Also note here that it was unclean for the Hebrew to eat the flesh
of an animal that died on its own or was killed by other animals. Blood is not
drained out of animals killed by other animals and carrion tissue starts
decomposing earlier than slaughtered animals from which the blood is drained. On
top of that animals that have died of a disease can transmit that disease to
humans.
It has been noted that English peasants often ate animals that
died of disease during the Middle Ages. This was a time when Christians were
kept from a personal experience with the Bible and even priests were woefully
ignorant of what it said.[2]
Just remember that the context in verse 15 is one of blood.
Scavenging on carrion or animals that died on their own was forbidden,
understandably so.
[1]
Benjamin Radford, “Is it safe to drink blood?”, LiveScience, June 6, 2016, https://www.livescience.com/15899-drinking-blood-safe.html,
(accessed 11.2.2019).
[2]
Edward Young, Labor in Europe and
America, (Philadelphia, S.A. George & Co.), 1975, 87. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2517479W/Labor_in_Europe_and_America.
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