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Matthew Henry |
L E V I T 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,
II. That no blood should be eaten, and this under the same penalty,
&c.
| Directions Concerning Sacrifices. | 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
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
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,
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,
and compare
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
Samuel’s
(1 Sam. vii. 9; ix. 13; xi. 15),
David’s
and Elijah’s
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
in him God dwells among us, and 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. 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,
The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of
Jacob, and so should we; see
Though God will graciously accept our family offerings, we must not
therefore neglect the door of the tabernacle.
| The Eating of Blood Forbidden. | 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
besides the place it had in the precepts of Noah,
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,
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,
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,
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.
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