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1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
16 But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.
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GiGi's Leviticus Chapter 17 comment on 12/09/2022, 9:48pm...
Leviticus 17 continued.
The prohibition of consuming blood was reiterated at the council in Jerusalem in Acts 15 for both Jew and Gentile. So, this law is still in effect for believers. To me, I just trust that God's reasons for this commandment are for my benefit, so it is easy to obey this. I choose to eat meat that is medium done with no blood seeping from it.
Interesting that in John Ch. 6 Jesus says that unless one eats His flesh and drinks His blood one cannot have eternal life. This was greatly disturbing to the religious leaders and most of the Jews that heard these words. Most left off of following Him after this discourse. But the apostles stayed with Him even though this command was quite incredulous for them and the thought of cannibalizing Jesus (as they interpreted His words) was very offensive to them. Yet, they stayed and at a later time grew to understand what Jesus was speaking about here. The Last Supper was the time when Jesus instituted Communion using bread and wine to be as His body and blood of the New Covenant that was cut and sealed by His shed blood and the sacrifice of His body for the sins of the world for the forgiveness of sins.
The last section of this chapter speaks of regulations concerning eating animals that have died a natural death (not from disease) or torn apart by a beast. They were again prohibited from eating any of it blood and if they did eat the flesh, they would need to bathe themselves and be unclean until the evening.
God took the shedding of any blood from any creature He had made a serious matter, not so much prohibited, but that since sins must be covered by the shedding of blood, His people should be careful to be respectful of the animals they slaughter for food or for sacrifice.
In 1 Cor. 11:17-34 Paul gives instructions on partaking in Communion in church worship. His words emphasize the respect and honor we are to give to this ordinance as in we are partaking of the body and blood of Jesus in fellowship
GiGi's Leviticus Chapter 17 comment on 12/09/2022, 9:28pm...
Leviticus Chapter 17.
This chapter has a few different subjects:
God's law concerning the slaying of animals for sacrifice
Prohibition of consuming blood
Directives concerning animals who die naturally or are killed by a beast.
From Adam to the time of the Exodus-those who had faith in the true God would create altars and sacrifice animals to God wherever and whenever they felt it was good to do so. Each man was his own priest for himself and his household. But now with the priesthood installed and sacrificial ceremonies in place and the law given to the Israelites, the common people were to stop killing animals and sacrificing them in the open fields. Instead, they were to bring each animal they wished to sacrifice to the door of the tent of meeting to be offered by the priests in the correct way instructed in Leviticus 1-16. It was the priests' job to accept each animal for sacrifice at the tent of meeting. So they were spending most of their time in this tabernacle. People could slaughter the animal at home, but then they were to bring it to the tent of meeting to be sacrificed on the brazen altar by the priest. All of the blood was to be drained from the animal and if done so outside of the tabernacle, the blood was to be covered with dust. Some of it would be brought to the tabernacle to be poured out at the altar. The fat was burned, and if a peace offering, they could take of the meat of the butchered animal and eat it with their families and the priests.
God was concerned that if allowed to sacrifice anywhere and anytime they chose, the Israelites would revert to sacrificial practices of the pagan around them and make sacrifices to idols and be led astray from YHWH.
In the middle of the chapter, the Israelites are sternly commanded again to never consume the blood of any animal, like the heathens did, but also because God says that the life is in the blood. So, to consume the blood one would be consuming a live substance rather than dead food.
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