Leviticus 17 Study Notes
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17:1-16 This chapter introduces what is known as the Holiness Code (Lv 17-26), laws that call the people to live holy lives before a holy God.
17:1-6 Slaughters is a technical term for all sacrificial slaughter (1:5; 3:8; 4:29,33; 7:2). It does not refer to the killing of animals in general. This was not a command prohibiting nonsacrificial slaughter or hunting (Dt 12:20-25). The seriousness of the offense can be seen in the phrase be cut off, an expression that always refers to the death penalty when used in the context of punishment (vv. 9,10,14; 7:20-21,25,27; 18:29; 19:8; 20:3; 22:3). In broader OT context, to be cut off designated the judgment of a person who offended God or the community of the faithful. The ostracized person was usually removed or expelled, and in extreme cases, killed.
17:7-9 In their wilderness wandering, the Israelites resorted to worshiping goat-demons, which could refer to demons in the form of goats that haunted the wilderness (Is 13:21; 34:14). Unfaithfulness toward the Lord was often depicted as prostitution, so the reference here does not suggest that the Israelites were worshiping Canaanite fertility gods (Jr 2-3; Ezk 16; 23; Hs 1-3). God in his grace also included resident aliens who lived among the covenant people; they had to observe the commandment not to worship other gods (vv. 8,10,12-13,15). The expression burnt offering or a sacrifice (Nm 15:3; Dt 12:6; 1Sm 15:22; 2Kg 5:17; Is 43:23) is a figure of speech called a merism, and it points to all sacrifices. The law’s intent was to ban all sacrifices offered to any god other than Yahweh.
dam
| Hebrew pronunciation | [DAHM] |
| CSB translation | blood |
| Uses in Leviticus | 88 |
| Uses in the OT | 361 |
| Focus passage | Leviticus 17:4,6,10-14 |
The word for blood is ancient and much the same in every Semitic language. Dam can have the same meanings in the singular or plural, although some phrases are set. The OT uses blood of men, animals, and birds, but not fish. Blood could symbolize life itself (Dt 12:23) and so was important in sacrificial ritual. Dam can be translated life (Ps 72:14) but more commonly might be translated death (Ps 30:9). Dam especially connotes violent death in the phrase “to shed blood” (Gn 9:6). A “man of bloodshed” is a wicked man (2Sm 16:7). Dam sometimes has the meanings bloodshed (Ex 22:2) or bloodguilt (Is 4:4). Fat and blood are treated separately from the rest of the animal in sacrificial rituals (Lv 1:11; 3:17). Wine can be called (lit) “blood of grapes” (Dt 32:14), and blood is compared to wine (Is 49:26).
17:10 The prohibition against eating blood pertains to both sacrificial and nonsacrificial animals and is mentioned in other parts of the Torah (3:17; 7:26-27; Gn 9:4; Dt 12:16,23-25). The expression I will turn against is literally “I will set my face against.” It points to God’s decision not just to oppose those who disobey the law, but also to destroy those who committed such lawlessness (20:3; 26:17; Ezk 14:8; 15:7).
17:11-14 The concept that the life was in the blood goes back to creation (Gn 2:7; 7:22). Here the Lord gave a rationale for the law—that the blood is the life, and God has designed the blood for atonement. Eating blood would profane something that God had sanctified or set apart for the sanctuary. The NT clearly teaches that Jesus’s blood serves as atonement for the sin of humanity (Heb 9:24-26). Not eating blood was one of the requirements the Jerusalem Council placed on the Gentiles (Ac 15:29).
17:15-16 The reason an animal found dead rendered someone unclean was that its blood had not been drained. But the penalty was not as severe as if one refused to drain the blood. See the variation in the law in Dt 14:21.