Leviticus 17

Le 17:1-16.

BLOOD OF

BEASTS

MUST

BE

OFFERED AT THE

TABERNACLE

DOOR.

3, 4. 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

[Ge 18:7],

an 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 as in the

case of those offerings, namely, that they should be killed publicly,

and after being devoted to God, partaken of by the offerers. This law,

it is obvious, could only be observable in the wilderness while the

people were encamped within an accessible distance from the tabernacle.

The reason for it is to be found in the strong addictedness of the

Israelites to idolatry at the time of their departure from Egypt; and

as it would have been easy for any by killing an animal to sacrifice

privately to a favorite object of worship, a strict prohibition was

made against their slaughtering at home. (See on

De 12:15).

5. To the end that the children of Israel may bring their

sacrifices, which they offer in the open field--"They" is supposed

stand thus: "the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices which

they (the Egyptians) offer in the open field." The law is thought to

have been directed against those whose Egyptian habits led them to

imitate this idolatrous practice.

7. they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto

devils--literally, "goats." The prohibition evidently alludes to

the worship of the hirei-footed kind, such as Pan, Faunus, and Saturn,

whose recognized symbol was a goat. This was a form of idolatry

enthusiastically practised by the Egyptians, particularly in the nome

or province of Mendes. Pan was supposed especially to preside over

mountainous and desert regions, and it was while they were in the

wilderness that the Israelites seem to have been powerfully influenced

in this idolatrous worship were extremely licentious and obscene, and

the gross impurity of the rites gives great point and significance to

the expression of Moses, "they have gone a-whoring."

8, 9. Whatsoever man . . . offereth . . . And

bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle--Before the

promulgation of the law, men worshipped wherever they pleased or

pitched their tents. But after that event the rites of religion could

be acceptably performed only at the appointed place of worship. This

restriction with respect to place was necessary as a preventive of

idolatry; for it prohibited the Israelites, when at a distance, from

repairing to the altars of the heathen, which were commonly in groves

or fields.

10. I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and

will cut him off from among his people--The face of God is often

used in Scripture to denote His anger

(Ps 34:16;

Re 6:16;

Eze 38:18).

The manner in which God's face would be set against such an offender

was, that if the crime were public and known, he was condemned to

death; if it were secret, vengeance would overtake him. (See on

Ge 9:4).

But the practice against which the law is here pointed was an

idolatrous rite. The Zabians, or worshippers of the heavenly host, were

accustomed, in sacrificing animals, to pour out the blood and eat a

part of the flesh at the place where the blood was poured out

(and sometimes the blood itself) believing that by means of it,

friendship, brotherhood, and familiarity were contracted between the

worshippers and the deities. They, moreover, supposed that the blood

was very beneficial in obtaining for them a vision of the demon during

their sleep, and a revelation of future events. The prohibition against

eating blood, viewed in the light of this historic commentary and

unconnected with the peculiar terms in which it is expressed, seems to

have been levelled against idolatrous practices, as is still further

evident from

Eze 33:25, 26;

1Co 10:20, 21.

11. 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--God, as the

sovereign author and proprietor of nature, reserved the blood to

Himself and allowed men only one use of it--in the way of

sacrifices.

13, 14. whatsoever man . . . hunteth--It was customary

with heathen sportsmen, when they killed any game or venison, to pour

out the blood as a libation to the god of the chase. The Israelites, on

the contrary, were enjoined, instead of leaving it exposed, to cover it

with dust and, by this means, were effectually debarred from all the

superstitious uses to which the heathen applied it.

15, 16. every soul that eateth that which died of itself

(Ex 22:31;

Le 7:24;

Ac 15:20),

be unclean until the even--that is, from the moment of his

discovering his fault until the evening. This law, however, was binding

only on an Israelite. (See

De 14:21).