Annotations upon the Holy Bible · public domain
Leviticus 17:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Sacrifices to be offered only in the temple,
Leviticus 17:1-6, and not to devils,
Leviticus 17:7, on pain of death,
Leviticus 17:8 ,9. Blood not to be eat, on the same pain; the life being in the blood, and it given for an atonement,
Leviticus 17:10-14; nor any beast that died of itself, or was torn by beasts,
Leviticus 17:15.
No text from Poole on this verse.
Leviticus 17:2 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, No text from Poole on this verse.
Leviticus 17:3 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 or eating, for such beasts might be killed by any person or in any place, but for sacrifice, as manifestly appears both from
Leviticus 17:4, where that is expressed, and from the reason of this law, which is peculiar to sacrifices,
Leviticus 17:5, and from
Deu 12:5 ,15,21. in the camp, or out of the camp: in Canaan, the city answered to the camp, and so it forbids any man doing this either in the city or in the country.
Leviticus 17:4 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: This was appointed, partly, in opposition to the heathens, who sacrificed in all places; partly, to cut off occasions of idolatry; partly, to prevent the people’s usurpation of the priest’s office; and partly, to signify that God would accept of no sacrifices but through Christ and in the church, (of both which the tabernacle was a type: see
Hebrews 9:11) and according to his own prescript. 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; &c., and afterwards more fully and generally in the days of the Messiah,
Malachi 1:11 John 4:21 ,24.
Blood shall be imputed unto that man;
he shall be esteemed and punished as a murderer both by God and by men. See
Isaiah 66:3. The reason is, because he shed that blood, which, though not man’s blood, yet was as precious, being sacred and appropriated to God, and typically the price by which men’s lives were ransomed.
He shall be cut off
by death, either by the hand of God, in case men do not know it or neglect to punish it, or by men, if the fact was public and evident.
Leviticus 17:5 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. Which they offer;
either,
1. The Egyptians and other idolatrous nations, which commonly sacrificed to idols or devils in fields or any places; who are not here named, but may be designed by the particle
they, in way of contempt, as if they were not worthy to be named, as that particle is used,
Luke 14:24 19:27 John 7:11 8:10. Or rather,
2. The Israelites now mentioned, and plainly understood in the following they, who, before the building of the tabernacle, took the same liberty herein which the Gentiles did, from which they are now restrained.
He nameth not
peace-offerings
exclusively to others, as appears from the reason of the law, and from
Leviticus 17:8 ,9, but especially, 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 something of a lower degree than others, these being only called
holy, and allowed in part to the people, when the other are called
most holy, and were wholly appropriated either to God or to the priests.
Leviticus 17:6 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. 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.
Leviticus 17:7 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, pleased, and honoured by it. And as the Egyptians were notorious for their idolatry, as appears by the testimony of Scripture, and of all ancient writers, so the Israelites were infected with their leaven,
Joshua 24:14 Ezekiel 20:7 23:2,3. And the name of
devils
is commonly given in Scripture to idols, yea, even to those which seemed most innocent, as to Jeroboam’s calves,
2 Chronicles 11:15, by which he and the people designed and professed to worship the true God, as is manifest from the nature of the thing, and from many places of Scripture; and the worshippers of idols are esteemed and called worshippers of devils. See
Deu 32:17 Psalm 106:37 1 Corinthians 10:20 Revelation 9:20. The Hebrew word rendered
devils
signifies
goats, either because goats were eminently worshipped by the Egyptians, as Herodotus, Strabo, and others note, and divers of the idols of the heathens were of that or a like form; or because the devil did oft appear to the heathens in that shape, as their own authors note.
After whom they have gone a whoring;
for idolatry, especially in God’s people, is commonly called
whoredom, as
Ezekiel 16:16 ,26 23:8,19,21, &c., and that justly, because it is a violation of that covenant by which they were peculiarly betrothed or married to God. See
Hosea 2:18-20.
Leviticus 17:8 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, No text from Poole on this verse.
Leviticus 17:9 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. No text from Poole on this verse.
Leviticus 17:10 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.e. I will be an enemy to him, and execute vengeance upon him immediately; because such persons probably would do this in private, so as the magistrate could not know nor punish it. See this or the like phrase
Leviticus 20:3 26:17 Jeremiah 3:12 Ezekiel 14:8.
Leviticus 17:11 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. Of the flesh,
i.e. of living creatures.
Is in the blood,
i.e. it depends upon the blood, is preserved and nourished by it, and is extinguished when the blood is gone. And this law was given to the Jews, and hard-hearted people, as they are oft said to be, that by this restraint from the blood of brute creatures they might be wrought to the greater abhorrency of taking away the life of a man.
It is the blood that maketh an atonement;
typically, and in respect of the blood of Christ, which it represented, by which the atonement is really made,
Hebrews 9:12. So the reason is double:
1. Because this was the eating up of the price or ransom of their own lives, which in construction was the destroying of themselves.
2. Because this was ingratitude and irreverence towards that sacred blood of Christ which they ought to have in continual veneration.
Leviticus 17:12 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. No text from Poole on this verse.
Leviticus 17:13 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. Any beast;
he instanceth in this kind, either because persons much given to that exercise are commonly too licentious, and being in haste might easily transgress; or because some might think the former prohibition did reach only to the blood of such creatures as were offered to God in sacrifice. Cover it with dust; partly, to beget an honourable respect unto the blood even of beasts, and much more of men; partly, lest the beasts should lick it up, and by tasting the sweetness of it be made more fierce and cruel to devour and destroy others; and partly, as a license from God upon this condition giving them a right to kill and eat such creatures, without any fear of the blood being imputed to them; for as the not covering of the blood portends the punishment which the sin of bloodshedding calls for,
Job 16:18 Ezekiel 24:7 ,8, so covering it notes impunity.
Leviticus 17:14 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. No text from Poole on this verse.
Leviticus 17:15 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. Every soul that eateth,
to wit, through ignorance or inadvertency, as appears by the slightness of the punishment; for if it was done knowingly, it was a presumptuous sin against an express law here, and
Deu 14:21, and therefore more severely punished. Or a stranger; understand of the proselytes; either of the proselytes of the gate, who were obliged to observe the precepts of Noah, whereof this was one; or of the proselytes of righteousness, or converts to the Jewish religion; for other strangers were allowed to eat such things,
Deu 14:21.
Leviticus 17:16 But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity. i.e. The punishment of it, and therefore must offer a sacrifice for it.
Leviticus 5:1 ,2 7:18