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Leviticus
Chapter Seventeen
Leviticus 17
Chapter Contents
All sacrifices to be offered at the tabernacle. (1-9)
Eating of blood
or of animals which died a natural death
forbidden. (10-16)
Commentary on Leviticus 17:1-9
All the cattle killed by the Israelites
while in the
wilderness
were to be presented before the door of the tabernacle
and the
flesh to be returned to the offerer
to be eaten as a peace-offering
according
to the law. When they entered Canaan
this only continued in respect of
sacrifices. The spiritual sacrifices we are now to offer
are not confined to
any one place. We have now no temple or altar that sanctifies the gift; nor does
the gospel unity rest only in one place
but in one heart
and the unity of the
Spirit. Christ is our Altar
and the true Tabernacle; in him God dwells among
men. It is in him that our sacrifices are acceptable to God
and in him only.
To set up other mediators
or other altars
or other expiatory sacrifices
is
in effect
to set up other gods. And though God will graciously accept our
family offerings
we must not therefore neglect attending at the tabernacle.
Commentary on Leviticus 17:10-16
Here is a confirmation of the law against eating blood.
They must eat no blood. But this law was ceremonial
and is now no longer in
force; the coming of the substance does away the shadow. The blood of beasts is
no longer the ransom
but Christ's blood only; therefore there is not now the
reason for abstaining there then was. The blood is now allowed for the
nourishment of our bodies; it is no longer appointed to make an atonement for
the soul. Now the blood of Christ makes atonement really and effectually; to
that
therefore
we must have regard
and not consider it as a common thing
or
treat it with indifference.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Leviticus》
Leviticus 17
Verse 3
[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
That killeth-Not for common use
for such beasts
might be killed by any person or in any place but for sacrifice.
In the camp
or out of the camp — That is
anywhere.
Verse 4
[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:
The tabernacle —
This was appointed in opposition to the Heathens
who sacrificed in all places;
to cut off occasions of idolatry; to prevent the people's usurpation of the
priest's office
and to signify that God would accept of no sacrifices but
through Christ and in the Church; (of both which the tabernacle was a type.)
But though men were tied to this law
God was free to dispense with his own
law
which he did sometimes to the prophets
as 1 Samuel 7:9; 11:15.
He hath shed blood — He
shall be punished as a murderer. The reason is
because he shed that blood
which
though not man's blood
yet was precious
being sacred and appropriated
to God
and typically the price by which men's lives were ransomed.
Verse 5
[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.
They offer —
The Israelites
before the building of the tabernacle
did so
from which they
are now restrained.
Peace-offerings — He
nameth not these exclusively from others
as appears from the reason of the
law
and from Leviticus 17:8
9
but because in these the
temptation was more common in regard of their frequency
and more powerful
because part of these belonged to the offerer
and the pretence was more
plausible
because their sanctity was of a lower degree than others
these
being only called holy
and allowed in part to the people
whereas the others
are called most holy
and were wholly appropriated either to God
or to the
priests.
Verse 6
[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.
Upon the altar —
This verse contains a reason of the foregoing law
because of God's propriety
in the blood and fat
wherewith also God was well pleased
and the people
reconciled. And these two parts only are mentioned
as the most eminent
and
peculiar
though other parts also were reserved for God.
Verse 7
[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.
Unto devils — So
they did
not directly or intentionally
but by construction and consequence
because the devil is the author of idolatry
and is eminently served
and
honoured by it. And as the Egyptians were notorious for their idolatry
so the
Israelites were infected with their leaven
Joshua 24:14; Ezekiel 20:7; 23:2
3.
A whoring —
Idolatry
especially in God's people
is commonly called whoredom
because it
is a violation of that covenant by which they were peculiarly betrothed or
married to God.
Verse 10
[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.
I will set my face — I
will be an enemy to him
and execute vengeance upon him immediately; because
such persons probably would do this in private
so that the magistrate could
not know nor punish it. Write that man undone
for ever undone
against whom
God sets his face.
Verse 11
[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.
Is in the blood —
Depends upon the blood
is preserved and nourished by it.
The blood maketh atonement — Typically
and in respect of the blood of Christ which it represented
by which the atonement is really made. So the reason is double; 1. because this
was eating up the ransom of their own lives
which in construction was the
destroying of themselves. 2. because it was ingratitude and irreverence towards
that sacred blood of Christ which they ought to have in continual veneration.
Verse 15
[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.
That eateth —
Through ignorance or inadvertency; for if it was done knowingly
it was more
severely punished.
A stranger —
Who is a proselyte to the Jewish religion: other strangers were allowed to eat
such things
Deuteronomy 14:21
out of which the blood was
either not drawn at all
or not regularly.
Verse 16
[16] But
if he wash them not
nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.
His iniquity —
The punishment of it
and therefore must offer a sacrifice for it.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Leviticus》
17 Chapter 17
Verses 2-16
This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded.
Laws for holy living
From chap. 17. to chap. 23
everything relates to the duties
qualities
and associations of individuals in private life. This fact
coming
as it does right after the great Day of Atonement
is very suggestive. It
indicates that God contemplates much more respecting us than the mere pardon of
our sins; that justification is not the whole intent of the Saviour’s
redemptive services; and that there is to be a personal righteousness and
purification which rests upon our own exertions. “In Him was life
” and His
“life is the light of men.” Without some degree of conformity to Him
our
religion is but a shadow and a name. For so it is written
“If any man have not
the Spirit of Christ
he is none of His.” Let me invite attention
then
more
specifically to the means and elements of a good and holy life
as they are
shadowed forth in the chapters before us.
I. The principal
and
perhaps
the only permanent provision contained in this chapter
is that
which respects the manner of treating blood. NO matter how or from what animal
it came
it was always to be looked upon with consideration. The use of blood
was not forbidden because it was unclean
but because it was sacred. It
represents life. It is that by which life was redeemed. Now
it is easy to see
how a law of this sort would work to solemnise
restrain
and soften the heart
of a conscientious Jew. It would keep the solemn atonement before him
whithersoever he went. The very huntsman would be met by it in the deep
recesses of the forest. And if we desire to learn what constitutes the deepest
essence of a Christian life
we here have it most beautifully typified. We must
keep in view the blood of atonement. It is our clear and continual recognition
of what Jesus has done for us that weakens temptation
disposes to duty
and
prompts to the deeds of righteousness. I remember to have met with an affecting
little incident in Roman history connected with the death of Manlius
Capitolinus
a renowned consul and general
who was once proudly hailed as the
saviour of Rome. It happened one night when the Gauls threatened to overwhelm
the Capitol
that he bravely took his stand upon the wall where they came on
with their attack
and there fought singly and alone until he had repelled
them
and so saved the city from destruction. It so occurred that this
distinguished man was afterwards accused of some great public fault
and put
upon trial for his life. But just as the judges were about to pass sentence
upon him
he looked up at the walls of the Capitol
which towered in view
and
with tears in his eyes pointed to where he had fought for his accusers
and
perilled his life for their safety. The people remembered the heroic
achievement
and wept. No one had the heart to say aught against him
and the
judges were compelled to forbear. Again he was tried
and with the same result.
Nor could he be convicted until his trial was removed to some low and distant
point
from which the Capitol was invisible. And so
while Calvary is in full
view
in vain will earth and hell seek to bring the Christian into
condemnation. One serious look at the Cross
and at the love which there
unaided and alone
when all was dark and lost
interposed for our salvation
is
enough to break the power of passion at once
and to strike dead every guilty
proceeding.
II. Passing to
chap. 18.
we find sundry laws
but all bearing upon two general points. The
first relates to the customs of the egyptians
from among whom the jews came
and of the canaanites
whose land they were to inherit. Israel was to be a holy
nation
and therefore was not to follow the ways of the unclean. The greatest
danger of a purified man arises from his old habits and associations. It is not
easy to turn a stream quite out of the channel in which it has been flowing for
ages. It is a mighty work to revolutionise a character which has been forming
for years
or to tear quite away from a long-continued routine which includes
all our recollections of infancy
and in which our life took its chief
attractions. The sow that has been washed
still has strong affections for the
mire. The second grand element of a good Christian life
therefore
is a
complete and thorough reformation with regard to old habits. If we have been in
close intimacy with the vile
we must withdraw from their communion
and keep
aloof from their wicked ways. If we have been giving way to bad passions
we
must cut ourselves off from the occasions of our transgressions
and beware of
putting ourselves into circumstances which invite temptation.
III. The other
specifications of chap. 18. all relate to sexual purity. They typically refer
to the necessity of a proper government of the affections. We may love
but we
must love virtuously. We may cherish the most tender regards
but they must not
rest upon criminal hopes. Our warmest feelings may be enlisted and indulged
but we must be cautious that they do not betray us into sin and shame. Even the
secret thought of unchasteness
the hidden incontinent wish
the impure desire
the cherished hope of unclean gratifications
must be spurned and crucified as
criminal before God
and crushed as an enemy to the peace and good of society.
The heart must be kept with all diligence
for out of it are the issues of
life. It is God who saith
“Defile not yourselves in any of these things.”
IV. We come now to
chap. 19. Here we have quite a list of moral precepts
setting forth an
extensive code of christian righteousness. The provisions of the preceding
chapter were negative;
these are mostly positive. In the one God shows us how we are to “cease to do
evil”; in the other He instructs us how to “do well.”
V. A remark or
two
now
upon chap. 20. We have been contemplating the laws of holy living. In
this chapter we have God’s threatenings against those who violate them. It is a
chapter of penalties. God is not only our adviser
but our Lord and Judge. His
commands are not only gracious counsels
but authoritative laws. The gospel is indeed glad
tidings--glad tidings of great joy. It is a call of mercy from the heavens to the
suffering and the lost. But it is a call to holiness. And whilst it is a
glorious savour of life unto life
to them that yield to it
and walk in its light
it is a fearful
savour of death unto death to those who despise or disobey it. (J. A. Seiss
D. D.)
Various regulations in chaps. 17-22.
First
in regard to those passages which caution the people
against vices of special enormity
we must remember that they were about to be
settled in dangerous proximity to peoples who were thoroughly corrupted by
these very vices
and therefore the cautions were not by any means unnecessary.
Accustomed as most of us are to the pure air of Christian society
in which
notwithstanding all the selfishness and sin that still abound
vices such as
these are “not so much as named
” and the very possibility of them seems out of
the question
it is difficult for us to imagine how different was the condition
of society before these purifying influences were brought to bear on it
which issued from
Mount Sinai first
and afterwards from Gennesaret’s shore and “the place called
Calvary.” And when we find such warnings in the Book of Leviticus
we ought in
the first place to feel humbled by the thought of the fearful lengths to which
sin unrestrained by Divine grace will carry its wretched victim; and
in the
second place
to lift up our hearts in gratitude to God
that in these latter days
though
evil still abounds
we are nevertheless protected from such outrages to our
moral and spiritual nature as those to which even the chosen people were
exposed in the ancient times. On the other hand
it is pleasant to find in
these chapters the evidence that the Mosaic Law came in many respects nearer to
the morality of the New Testament than most people are willing to admit (see Leviticus 19:9-10; Leviticus 19:32-34). Finally
it is
interesting to notice in these regulations
and throughout the entire law
the
care which is taken to keep religion and morality closely wedded and welded
together. “I am the Lord your God” is continually put forth
not as a creed
article
but as an unanswerable argument for strictest obedience and the most
scrupulous integrity. The relations of privilege which the people enjoyed are
continually set forth as increasing their responsibility. “To whom much is
given
of them much shall be required
” is a principle taken for granted all
through. (J. M. Gibson
D. D.)
Before the Tabernacle of
the Lord.
The grand principle of right action--God in everything
The principle which underlies this stringent law
as also
the reason which is given for it
is of constant application in modern life.
There was nothing wrong in itself in slaying an animal in one place more than another. It
was abstractedly possible--as
likely enough
many an Israelite may have said
to himself--that a man could just as really “eat unto the Lord” if he
slaughtered and ate his animal in the field
as anywhere else. Nevertheless
this was forbidden under the heaviest penalties. It teaches us that he who will
be holy must not only abstain from that which is in itself always wrong
but
must carefully keep himself from doing even lawful or necessary things in such
a way
or under such associations and circumstances
as may outwardly
compromise his Christian standing
or which may be proved by experience to have
an almost unavoidable tendency toward sin. The laxity in such matters which
prevails in the so-called “Christian world” argues little for the tone of
spiritual life in our day in those who indulge in it
or allow it
or apologise
for it it may be true enough
in a sense
that
as many say
there is no harm
in this or that. Perhaps not; but what if experience have shown that
though in
itself not sinful
a certain association or amusement almost always tends to
worldliness
which is a form of idolatry? Or--to use the apostle’s
illustration--what if one be seen
though with no intention of wrong
“sitting
at meat in an idol’s temple
” and he whose conscience is weak be thereby
emboldened to do what to him is sin? There is only one safe principle
now as
in the days of Moses: everything must be brought “before the Lord”--used as
from Him and for Him
and therefore used under such limitations and
restrictions as His wise and holy law imposes. Only so shall we be safe; only
so abide in living fellowship with God. (S. H. Kellogg
D. D.)
Peace-offerings unto the
Lord.--
Dedication of food to God
Very beautiful and instructive was the direction that the
Israelite
in the cases specified
should make his daily food a peace-offering.
This involved a dedication of the daily food to the Lord; and in his receiving
it back again then from the hand of God
the truth was visibly represented that
our daily food is from God; while also
in the sacrificial acts which preceded
the eating
the Israelite was continually reminded that it was upon the ground
of an accepted atonement that even these everyday mercies were received. Such
also should be
in spirit
the often neglected prayer before each of our daily
meals. It should be ever offered with the remembrance of the precious blood
which has purchased for us even the most common mercies; and should thus
sincerely recognise What
in the confusing complexity of the second causes
through which we receive our daily food
we so easily forget that the Lord’s
Prayer is not a mere form of words when we say
“Give us this day our daily
bread”; but that working behind
and in
and with
all these second causes
is
the kindly providence of God
who
opening His hand
supplies the want of every
living thing. And so
eating in grateful
loving fellowship with our Heavenly
Father that which His bounty gives us
to His glory
every meal shall become
as it were
a sacramental remembrance of the Lord. We may have wondered at what
we have read of the worldwide custom of the Mohammedan
who
whenever the knife
of slaughter is lifted against a beast for food
utters his “Bism Allah” (“In
the name of the most merciful God”); and not otherwise will regard his food as
being made halal or “lawful”; and no doubt in all this
as in many a
Christian’s prayer
there may often be little heart. But the thought in this
ceremony is even this of Leviticus
and we do well to make it our own
eating
even our daily food “in the name of the most merciful God
” and with uplifting
of the heart in thankful worship toward Him. (S. H. Kellogg. D. D.)
For the life of the flesh
is in the blood.--
The Scriptural doctrine of blood
“Blood” is one of the characteristic
regent words of Scripture
occurring in it more than four hundred times. A word so recurrent must mean
something fundamental. In fact
it is the blood of Christ which is the basis of
Christianity
the very pivot of the Christian religion.
I. First of all
let us ponder what in light of modern physiology is certainly a remarkable
Scripture. Moses
in forbidding the eating of blood
assigns for his
prohibition the following reason: “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” (Leviticus 17:11).
1. The fact asserted: “The life (soul) of the flesh is in the blood.”
“Will
all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean
from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The
multitudinous seas incarnadine
Making
the green one red.”
(“Macbeth
”
II:2.)
Again--
“Sluic’d
out his innocent soul through streams of blood:
Which
blood
like sacrificing Abel’s
cries
Even
from the tongueless caverns of the earth
To
me
for justice and rough chastisement.”
(“King
Richard II.
” I:1.)
So England’s poet-laureate--
“Defects
of doubt
and taints of blood.”
(“In
Memoriam
” 53.)
Again
“Through
all the years of April blood.”
(“In
Memoriam
” 108.)
So Virgil--
“His
purple life (purpuream animam) he poureth forth.”
(“AEneid
”
9:349.)
So Homer
and very frequently
thus--
“The
soul comes floating in a tide of gore.”
(“Iliad
”
4.537.)
Again--
“He
sobs his soul out in the gush of blood.”
(“Iliad
”
16.419.)
Once more--
“And
the soul issued in the purple flood.”
(“Iliad
”
16.624.)
So the Scriptural writers; for example: “The voice of thy
brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground”; “Earth
cover not thou my
blood”; “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness
O God”; “Precious shall their blood
be in His sight”; “All the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of
righteous Abel unto the blood of Zachariah the son of Barachiah”; “I have
sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.” “How long
O Lord
holy and
true
dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth?” The blood being thus instinctively conceived as the seat of life
and
so the representative of the soul or person
no wonder that blood has ever been
regarded as a sacred thing. Here is the secret of the Mosaic prohibition to eat
blood
a prohibition frequently repeated
and in Leviticus 17:10-14 with solemn minuteness
of detail. The blood being regarded as the symbol and home of the personality
to eat it was to be guilty of sacrilegious cannibalism. Here is the key to that
chivalrous
pathetic incident in David’s life: “Be it far from me
O Lord
that
I should do this; is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of
their lives?” (2 Samuel 23:15-17). But the Divine
prohibition was not peculiar to the Jews. A millennium before Moses
when the
new stock of humanity
just escaped the Deluge
was still young
God commanded
Noah
saying
“Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you . . . But
flesh with the life (soul) thereof
which is the blood thereof
shall ye not
eat” (Genesis 9:1-4). As the prohibition
antedated the Mosaic Dispensation
so it postdated it. A score of years after
Christ was crucified
a controversy arose in the Church at Antioch respecting
the subjection of Gentile converts to circumcision and the Mosaic institutions
generally (Acts 15:1-35). So much for the
instinctive belief that the life
or soul
of the flesh is in the blood.
“Murder
though it have no tongue
will speak
With
most miraculous organ.”
(“Hamlet
”
II:2.)
Ay
“blood will tell.” Thus the blood is in an eminent sense the
seat and organ of life. The language of Hervey
the demonstrator at least
if
not the discoverer
of the circulation of the blood
is striking: The blood is
the “primigenial and principal part
because that in it and from it the
fountain of motion and pulsation is derived; also because the animal heat or
vital spirit is first radicated and implanted
and the soul takes up her
mansion in it The blood is the genital part
the fountain of life
primum
vivens
ultimum moriens.” It is a solemn thing to observe the
rhythmical systole and diastole of the heart
especially as recorded by that
delicate instrument
the sphygmograph. The blood is a very river of life
the
arterial and venous systems of circulation constituting an intricate network of
canals
making the body a corporeal Amsterdam or human Venice. Each corpuscle
is a barge
moving with various rates of speed in different parts of the body
toiling through the capillaries
at the rate of two inches a minute
rushing through the arteries at the rate of from twelve to
twenty feet a second
ceaselessly carrying on the organic functions of the body
by perpetually exchanging freight
depositing at the depot of this and that
tissue oxygen
and taking up carbonic acid. What money is to society
that
blood is to the bodily system; it is the means of exchange
or the circulating
medium. The scientific accuracy of the assertion
“the life of the flesh is in
the blood
” is strikingly shown in such facts as blood-letting
strangling
fainting
pyoemia
or blood-poisoning
and especially transfusion--a
sometimes beneficent surgical operation
in which blood from a strong and
healthy person
or from one of the lower animals
is injected into the veins of
a feeble or anaemic patient. The life or soul of the flesh is in the blood.
Thus the Bible of Scripture and the Bible of Nature is one; Scripture
announcing a truth
Nature echoing it.
2. The rite appointed: “And I have given it to you upon the altar to
make atonement for your souls.”
3. The reason assigned: “For it is the blood that maketh atonement”--i.e.
by the life thereof
in virtue” of the soul in it.
II. And now we have
the key to the Scriptural doctrine of blood.
1. The blood of Jesus Christ it is which is the antitype or fulfilment
of the blood of the Levitical victims. To prove this forms a great part of the
argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Take chap. 9.
Leviticus 9:13-14
as a typical specimen
of the argument.
2. The blood of Jesus Christ is the antitypal
real atonement for our
souls on the same principle which held under the Old Dispensation--the
principle of vicarious representation. That is to say
Christ’s blood
as being
the vehicle and representative of His own personality
was vicariously shed;
and in this way He became the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.
This
then
is the Scriptural doctrine of blood. It is based on the ancient
Mosaic affirmation and on the modern scientific observation--“The life of the
flesh is in the blood.” How significant now the New Testament allusions to the
efficacy of Christ’s blood. For example: “Purchased with His own blood”; “Set
forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood”; “Justified by His blood”;
“Redemption through His blood”; “Made peace through the blood of His Cross”;
“Boldness to enter into the holiest through the blood of Jesus”; “The blood of
sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel”; “The blood of the
everlasting Covenant”; “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all
sin”; “Washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb
”
&c. Thus blood is the scarlet thread winding through both the Covenants
their crimson rubric. This
then
is the conclusion of the whole matter--blood
is the natural
physiological basis of the Scriptural doctrine of the
Atonement. “Science” inexorably holds us to “orthodoxy” in the prime
pivotal
article of the Christian religion. (G. D. Boardman
D. D.)
Ye shall eat the blood of
no manner of flesh.--
Restrictions respecting the use of blood
The moral and spiritual purpose of this law concerning the use of
blood was apparently twofold. In the first place
it was intended to educate the people to a
reverence for life
and purify them from that tendency to bloodthirstiness
which has so often distinguished heathen nations
and especially those with
whom Israel was to be brought in closest contact. But
secondly
and chiefly
it was intended everywhere and always to keep before the mind the sacredness of the blood as being
the appointed means for the expiation of sin
given by God upon the altar to
make atonement for the soul of the sinner
“by reason of the life” or soul with
which it stood in such immediate relation. Not only were they
therefore
to
abstain from the blood of such animals as could be offered on the altar
but
even from that of those which could not be offered. Thus the blood was to
remind them
every time they ate flesh
of the very solemn truth that without
shedding of blood there was no remission of sin. The Israelite must never
forget this
even in the heat and excitement of the chase; he must pause and
carefully drain the blood from the creature he had slain
and reverently cover
it with dust: a symbolic act which should ever put him in mind of the Divine
ordinance--that the blood
the life
of a guiltless victim must be given in
order to the forgiveness of sin. A lesson lies here for us regarding the
sacredness of all that is associated with sacred things. All that is connected
with God
and with His worship
especially all that is connected with His
revelation of Himself for our salvation
is to be treated with the most profound
reverence. (S. H. Kellogg
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》