L
E V I T I C U S
CHAP. XVII.
After
the law concerning the atonement to be made for all Israel by the high priest,
at the tabernacle, with the blood of bulls and goats, in this chapter we have
two prohibitions necessary for the preservation of the honour of that
atonement. I. That no sacrifice should be offered by any other than the
priests, nor any where but at the door of the tabernacle, and this upon pain
of death, ver. 1-9. II. That no blood should be eaten, and this under the same
penalty, ver. 10, &c.
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Directions
Concerning Sacrifices.
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B.
C. 1490.
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1 And the LORD
spake unto Moses, saying, 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.
This statute obliged all the people of Israel to bring all their sacrifices to
God's altar, to be offered there. And as to this matter we must consider,
I. How it stood before. 1. It was allowed to all people to build altars, and
offer sacrifices to God, where they pleased. Wherever Abraham had a tent he
built an altar, and every master of a family was a priest to his own family,
as Job i. 5. 2. This liberty had been an occasion of idolatry. When every man
was his own priest, and had an altar of his own, by degrees, as they became
vain in their imaginations, they invented gods of their own, and offered
their sacrifices unto demons, v. 7. The word signifies rough
or hairy goats, because it is probable that in the shape the evil
spirits often appeared to them, to invite their sacrifices and to signify
their acceptance of them. For the devil, ever since he became a revolter from
God and a rebel against him, has set up for a rival with him, and coveted to
have divine honours paid him: he had the impudence to solicit our blessed
Saviour to fall down and worship him. The Israelites themselves had
learned in Egypt to sacrifice to demons. And some of them, it should seem,
practised it even since the God of Israel had so gloriously appeared for them,
and with them. They are said to go a whoring after these demons; for it
was such a breach of their covenant with God as adultery is of the marriage
covenant: and they were as strongly addicted to their idolatrous worships, and
as hard to be reclaimed from them, as those that have given themselves over to
fornication, to work all uncleanness with greediness; and therefore it
is with reference to this that God calls himself a jealous God.
II. How this law settled it. 1. Some think that the children of Israel were by
this law forbidden, while they were in the wilderness, to kill any beef, or
mutton, or veal, or lamb, or goat, even for their common eating, but at the door
of the tabernacle, where the blood and the fat were to be offered to God
upon the altar, and the flesh to be returned back to the offerer to be eaten
as a peace-offering, according to the law. And the statute is so worded (v.
3, 4) as to favour this opinion, for it speaks generally of killing any ox, or
lamb, or goat. The learned Dr. Cudworth puts this sense upon it, and thinks
that while they had their tabernacle so near them in the midst of their camp
they ate no flesh but what had first been offered to God, but that when they
were entering Canaan this constitution was altered (Deut. xii. 21), and they
were allowed to kill their beasts of the flock and herd at home, as well as
the roebuck and the hart; only thrice a year they were to see God at his
tabernacle, and to eat and drink before him there. And it is probable that in
the wilderness they did not eat much flesh but that of their peace-offerings,
preserving what cattle they had, for breed, against they came to Canaan;
therefore they murmured for flesh, being weary of manna; and Moses on that
occasion speaks as if they were very sparing of the flocks and the herds,
Num. xi. 4, 22. Yet it is hard to construe this as a temporary law, when it is
expressly said to be a statute for ever (v. 7); and therefore,
2. It should seem rather to forbid only the killing of beasts for sacrifice
any where but at God's altar. They must not offer sacrifice, as they had done,
in the open field (v. 5), no, not to the true God, but it must
be brought to the priest, to be offered on the altar of the Lord: and the
solemnity they had lately witnessed, of consecrating both the priests and the
altar, would serve for a good reason why they should confine themselves to
both these that God had so signally appointed and owned. This law obliged not
only the Israelites themselves, but the proselytes or strangers that were
circumcised and sojourned among them, who were in danger of retaining an
affection to their old ways of worship. If any should transgress this law, and
offer sacrifice any where but at the tabernacle, (1.) The guilt was great: Blood
shall be imputed to that man; he hath shed blood, v. 4. Though it
was but a beast he had killed, yet, killing it otherwise than God had
appointed, he was looked upon as a murderer. It is by the divine grant that we
have the liberty to kill the inferior creatures, to the benefit of which we
are not entitled, unless we submit to the limitations of it, which are that it
be not done either with cruelty or with superstition, Gen. ix. 3, 4. Nor was
there ever any greater abuse done to the inferior creatures than when they
were made either false gods or sacrifices to false gods, to which the apostle
perhaps has special reference when he speaks of the vanity and bondage of
corruption to which the creature was made subject, Rom. viii. 20, 21, and
compare ch. i. 23, 25. Idolatrous sacrifices were looked upon, not only
as adultery, but as murder: he that offereth them is as if he slew a man,
Isa. lxvi. 3. (2.) The punishment should be severe: That man shall be cut
off from among his people. Either the magistrate must do it if it were
manifest and notorious, or, if not, God would take the work into his own
hands, and the offender should be cut off by some immediate stroke of divine
justice. The reasons why God thus strictly ordered all their sacrifices to be
offered at one place were, [1.] For the preventing of idolatry and
superstition. That sacrifices might be offered to God, and according to the
rule, and without innovations, they must always be offered by the hands of the
priests, who were servants in God's house, and under the eye of the high
priest, who was ruler of the house, and took care to see every thing done
according to God's ordinance. [2.] For the securing of the honour of God's
temple and altar, the peculiar dignity of which would be endangered if they
might offer their sacrifices any where else as well as there. [3.] For the
preserving of unity and brotherly love among the Israelites, that meeting all
at one altar, as all the children of the family meet daily at one table, they
might live and love as brethren, and be as one man, of one mind in the Lord.
III. How this law was observed. 1. While the Israelites kept their integrity
they had a tender and very jealous regard to this law, as appears by their
zeal against the altar which was erected by the two tribes and a half, which
they would by no means have left standing if they had not been satisfied that
it was never designed, nor should ever be used, for sacrifice or offering,
Josh. xxii. 12, &c. 2. The breach of this law was for many ages the
scandalous and incurable corruption of the Jewish church, witness that
complaint which so often occurs in the history even of the good kings, Howbeit
the high places were not taken away; and it was an inlet to the grossest
idolatries. 3. Yet this law was, in extraordinary cases, dispensed with.
Gideon's sacrifice (Judg. vi. 26), Manoah's (Judg. xiii. 19), Samuel's (1 Sam.
vii. 9; ix. 13; xi. 15), David's (2 Sam. xxiv. 18), and Elijah's (1 Kings
xviii. 23), were accepted, though not offered at the usual place: but these
were all either ordered by angels or offered by prophets; and some think that
after the desolation of Shiloh, and before the building of the temple, while
the ark and altar were unsettled, it was more allowable to offer sacrifice
elsewhere.
IV. How the matter stands now, and what use we are to make of this law. 1. It
is certain that the spiritual sacrifices we are now to offer are not confined
to any one place. Our Saviour has made this clear (John iv. 21), and the
apostle (1 Tim. ii. 8), according to the prophecy, that in every place
incense should be offered, Mal. i. 11. We have now no temple nor altar
that sanctifies the gift, nor does the gospel unity lie in one place, but in
one heart, and the unity of the spirit. 2. Christ is our altar, and the
true tabernacle (Heb. viii. 2; xiii. 10); in him God dwells among us,
and it is in him that our sacrifices are acceptable to God, and in him only, 1
Pet. ii. 5. To set up other mediators, or other altars, or other expiatory
sacrifices, is, in effect, to set up other gods. He is the centre of unity, in
whom all God's Israel meet. 3. Yet we are to have respect to the public
worship of God, not forsaking the assemblies of his people, Heb. x. 25.
The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob,
and so should we; see Ezek. xx. 40. Though God will graciously accept our
family offerings, we must not therefore neglect the door of the tabernacle.
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The
Eating of Blood Forbidden.
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B.
C. 1490.
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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.
We have here, I. A repetition and confirmation of the law against eating
blood. We have met with this prohibition twice before in the levitical law (ch.
iii. 17; vii. 26), besides the place it had in the precepts of Noah, Gen. ix.
4. But here, 1. The prohibition is repeated again and again, and reference had
to the former laws to this purport (v. 12): I said to the children
of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood; and again (v. 14), You
shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh. A great stress is laid upon it,
as a law which has more in it than at first view one would think. 2. It is
made binding, not only on the house of Israel, but on the strangers
that sojourned among them (v. 10), which perhaps was one reason why
it was thought advisable, for a time, to forbid blood to the Gentile converts,
Acts xv. 29. 3. The penalty annexed to this law is very severe (v. 10):
I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, if he do
it presumptuously, and will cut him off; and again (v. 14), He
shall be cut off. Note, God's wrath will be the sinner's ruin. Write that
man undone, for ever undone, against whom God sets his face; for what creature
is able to confront the Creator? 4. A reason is given for this law (v.
11): because it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul; and therefore
it was appointed to make atonement with, because the life of the flesh is
the blood. The sinner deserved to die; therefore the sacrifice must die.
Now, the blood being so the life that ordinarily beasts were killed for man's
use by the drawing out of all their blood, God appointed the sprinkling or
pouring out of the blood of the sacrifice upon the altar to signify that the
life of the sacrifice was given to God instead of the sinner's life, and as a
ransom or counter-price for it; therefore without shedding of blood there
was no remission, Heb. ix. 22. For this reason they must eat no blood,
and, (1.) It was then a very good reason; for God would by this means preserve
the honour of that way of atonement which he had instituted, and keep up in
the minds of the people a reverent regard to it. The blood of the covenant
being then a sensible object, no blood must be either eaten or trodden under
foot as a common thing, as they must have no ointment nor perfume like that
which God ordered them to make for himself. But, (2.) This reason is now
superseded, which intimates that the law itself was ceremonial, and is now no
longer in force: the blood of Christ who has come (and we are to look for no
other) is that alone which makes atonement for the soul, and of which the
blood of the sacrifices was an imperfect type: the coming of the substance
supersedes the shadow. The blood of beasts is no longer the ransom, but
Christ's blood only; and therefore there is not now that reason for abstaining
from blood which there was then, and we cannot suppose it was the will of God
that the law should survive the reason of it. The blood, provided it be so
prepared as not to be unwholesome, is now allowed for the nourishment of our
bodies, because it is no longer appointed to make an atonement for the soul.
(3.) Yet it has still useful significancy. The life is in the blood; it is the
vehicle of the animal spirits, and God would have his people to regard the
life even of their beasts, and not to be cruel and hard-hearted, not to take
delight in any thing that is barbarous. They must not be a blood-thirsty
people. The blood then made atonement figuratively, now the blood of Christ
makes atonement really and effectually; to this therefore we must have a
reverent regard, and not use it as a common thing, for he will set his
face against those that do so, and they shall be cut off, Heb. x. 29.
II. Some other precepts are here given as appendages to this law, and hedges
about it, 1. They must cover the blood of that which they took in hunting,
v. 13. They must not only not eat it, but must give it a decent burial,
in token of some mystery which they must believe lay hidden in this
constitution. The Jews look upon this as a very weighty precept and appoint
that the blood should be covered with these words, Blessed be he that hath
sanctified us by his precepts, and commanded us to cover blood. 2. They
must not eat that which died of itself or was torn of beasts (v.
15), for the blood was either not at all, or not regularly, drawn out of them.
God would have them to be curious in their diet, not with the curiosity that
gratifies the sensual appetite, but with that which checks and restrains it.
God would not have his children to eat every thing that came in their way with
greediness, but to consider diligently what was before them, that they might
learn in other things to ask questions for conscience' sake. Those that flew
upon the spoiled sinned, 1 Sam. xiv. 32, 33. If a man did, through
ignorance or inconsideration, eat the flesh of any beast not duly slain, he
must wash himself and his clothes, else he bore his iniquity, v.
15, 16. The pollution was ceremonial, so was the purification from it; but if
a man slighted the prescribed method of cleansing, or would not submit, he
thereby contracted moral guilt. See the nature of a remedial law: he that
obeys it has the benefit of it; he that does not, not only remains under his
former guilt, but adds to that guilt of contemning the provisions made by
divine grace for his relief, and sins against the remedy.
Contents
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