Leviticus 17

This section explains how the people of Israel were to live in holiness. Holiness is not just one quality of God. It describes all that God is—his person, nature, and character (see study note on Exodus 3:5).

God's "glory" demonstrates his holiness (see Leviticus 9:6). God's covenant with Israel meant the people and the nation shared in God's holiness. This holiness relied on Israel's relationship with God. This relationship required Israel to meet certain ethical and ceremonial standards.

These rules show that unsupervised sacrifices could lead a mixture of pagan practices with true worship of the Lord (see also Deuteronomy 12:15–21; Leviticus 17:7). Israel camped around the Tent of Meeting so it was easy to bring an animal to the sanctuary for slaughter (see also Deuteronomy 12:15–21). Deuteronomy 12:20–24 anticipates Israel settling in the land and the challenges of this rule. It allowed slaughtering and eating meat without bringing it to the sanctuary, as long as they did not consume the blood.

• that man shall incur bloodguilt: This person unlawfully killed an animal. God gave the animal life, and its blood must return to him through sacrifice.

• cut off: See study note on Leviticus 7:20–21.

• have prostituted themselves (Hebrew zanah, which means "commit fornication"): Israel must worship only the Lord (Exodus 20:3). Israel's covenant with the LORD was like a marriage (see Hosea 1:2). Worshiping other gods was like spiritual adultery.

  Many Canaanite religions were fertility cults. This verb refers to prostitution at Canaanite pagan worship shrines. They believed these acts would make the land fertile through magic rites involving sexual intercourse.

• The Hebrew word for goat demons is the plural form of "a male goat." In ancient times, the male goat symbolized fertility or a god of the underworld. During King Jeroboam I's reign, many Levites from the northern kingdom moved to Jerusalem. The use of goats and bulls in northern worship shocked them (2 Chronicles 11:15–16).

the life of the flesh is in the blood: God forbade Israel to consume blood because it symbolized the life given by God (Leviticus 17:10). They set it aside as God's portion of each animal offering. God also designated the sacrificial blood as the way to atone. This means God's grace accepted the life of the animal in exchange for the life of the sinner.

In the New Testament, the blood of Christ—representing his life freely given—provides eternal redemption for believers (Hebrews 9:12).

cover it with dirt: This rule stopped hunters from using an animal's blood for food. Like the blood in altar offerings, the blood of wild game also symbolized life. Uncovered blood was a sign of violent crime. Innocent blood defiled the land (Numbers 35:33). It called out to God for justice (Genesis 4:10; see Job 16:18).

Covering the blood of a killed animal gave it a symbolic burial. This showed respect for both the animal's life and for God, the giver of life. The burial showed that the life was returning to God. This was similar to how the priest poured out the blood at the altar during offerings.

An animal killed by a predator or that died naturally still had blood in its tissues. This made it ceremonially unclean and a possible source of ceremonial uncleanness (Leviticus 22:8). Israelites must throw such an animal to the dogs or give or sell it to a non-Israelite (Exodus 22:31; Deuteronomy 14:21).

If an Israelite ate an animal with undrained blood, he or she became ceremonially unclean. Then they had to wash in water. The uncleanness was not a sin, but ignoring it led to punishment.