Bible Verse Lookup
Lev 17:10-11
Chapter 17
10
If anyone from the house of Israel or any foreigner living among them eats blood, I will set my face against that person, and I 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 to redeem your life on the altar. Offered blood makes atonement because of the life within it. That is why I said to the sons of Israel: No one among you shall eat blood, nor may any foreigner who lives among you eat blood.
Commentaries
On Blood.
For Semites, blood is a vital element; therefore, the various regulations that developed over time address the necessary care and measures. The requirement to present oneself at the entrance of the tent of meeting with the animal that an Israelite wished to eat suggests that it was nearly impossible for those outside Jerusalem to eat meat without risking being considered offenders. The laws on this matter were so strict that anyone who shed blood was deemed “guilty of blood” and therefore had to be excluded from the community (4), even as an action performed by God himself (10).
The requirement to approach the tent’s entrance and present the victim before the Lord might have been a way to prevent animals from being offered to unknown gods or beings in other regions. This is clarified in verse 7: “From now on you shall not sacrifice your victims to demons, with whom you have prostituted yourselves.” Peasants and villagers believed in mysterious desert beings; to “win their favor,” they symbolically offered their animals during sacrifices. This practice appears to be innate to humans. It is known that in cultures far from Israel, indigenous people pour the first part of the water they drink or food onto the ground as a gesture of gratitude and a way to seek favor without necessarily worshiping idols.