1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,The Lord tells Moses to tell Aaron and sons and all the Israelites that if they kill an ox, lamb, or goat (either in the camp or out of the camp — i.e., anywhere, right?)...
2 Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, saying,
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,
4 And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:
5 To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD.
6 And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD.
7 And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.
8 And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice,
9 And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even that man shall be cut off from among his people.
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.
And if they don't offer it to the Lord at the tabernacle, they have blood on their hands and are to be excommunicated.
The first part of this chapter is vaguely worded — it kind of sounds like God and the priests get all the meat, but the context suggests that it just means that you'll be shunned if you do animal sacrifices anywhere else but at the tabernacle (where, one might note, the priests will get their cut).
The priest will then sprinkle blood and burn that sweet, savoury fat for the Lord.
The people will stop sacrificing "unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring." Ah, Mr. Bible Writer Man has an ear for the language of sin!
This rule will be in place forever (just like the ritual slaughtering of bullocks, etc.).
Tell the Israelites that they, or strangers in their midsts, who offer sacrifices elsewhere than the tabernacle, they'll be cut off (didn't we just go over that?).
And ditto for anyone (including strangers) who eats any sort of blood. I guess all meat needs to be prepared by the Ice Truck Killer.
God says "I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people." I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it doesn't sound good, especially coming from a guy with a face that makes your head melt or explode or something if you look at it.
The reason for this prohibition is that "the life of the flesh is in the blood." It's for makin' atonement, not for eatin'.
So, don't eat it. Capische?
And if you catch any game, be sure to pour the blood out of it and cover it with dust.
Because, in case you didn't get it the other four times (and in the previous chapters), it's the essence of life, so don't eat it or you'll be struck off.
Also, if you eat animals that died of natural causes or were killed by other beasts, wash your clothes and bathe, because you're dirty until the evening. If you don't, the iniquity will be upon you.
1 comment:
Notice how the language of this chapter is quite different from the previous ones. One of the most obvious difference is that Yahweh is mentioned by name (or as "LORD" in the KJV) much more frequently, and the laws are much more miscellanious and brief. Its also much more first-person "I have given...", "I will set my face...", "I said...", rather than the bureaucratically written disconnected statements of the earlier parts of Leviticus.
This is the first part of what is termed the "Holiness Code"; this continues until the end of Chapter 26. The "Holiness Code" pre-dates the other laws in the Priestly Source, which are latter additions by other priestly writers; the original Priestly Source only had "moses went to Sinai, Yahweh said [the Holiness Code], moses left sinai". The "Holiness Code" is the Priestly Source's version of the Elohist's Covenant Code (Exodus 20:22-23:22) - it might be useful for you to go back and refresh your memory of that so that you can compare it.
Verse 1 and the first half of verse 2 are framing verses added by the later priestly writers to enable the other laws to be wedged around the Holiness Code without making it seem out of context. The Holiness Code really starts at "This is the thing which Yahweh ...."
Like the Covenant Code, the Holiness Code is thought to slighty pre-date the document in which it was later embedded (the Elohist document in the case of the former, the Priestly Source in the case of the latter).
The first few verses basically say "don't kill any animal for food, without slaying it in a sanctuary as a slaughter-offering". Verse 7 explicitly forbids sacrifices to other deities.
This is a much more primitive version of the sacrifice laws - there aren't all those different types of sacrifice, there's just one.
An important contrast between the Holiness Code and the Priestly Code (the other laws in the priestly source) is that the Holiness Code does NOT here state that the priest gets any sort of cut at all, in fact, its really not concerned about the priest (unlike the Priestly Code, which is obsessed with them). It also doesn't describe the priests as "sons of Aaron".
And then its the quintessential statement of the primary Israelite taboo; the life is in the blood.
Verse 15 is particularly of note as it indirectly contradicts the rules elsewhere that forbid eating animals that have been killed by other animals. Rather than an absolute ban on such meals, it merely states that these meals make a person ritually impure - until they wash themselves and the day has passed (the ritual impurity of course arising from the indirect breach of the taking-life taboo)
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