Leviticus 17 - Laws for Eating Blood and Meat | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Leviticus 17 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

In Leviticus 17 two things are highlighted clearly. First that sacrifices MUST be done at the tabernacle/temple, and that blood must NOT be eaten.

First on the tabernacle, we see this is important because it makes a clear differentiation from the other worship in the land of Canaan which was under every spreading tree. It was a strengthening of the holy priesthood. It made people dependent on God, and it helped strengthen a nation. All the twelve tribes of Israel had the tabernacle as their central point and this rule was useful not just for worship, but politically.

Of course, later King Jeroboam the first deliberately built two golden calves to purposely undermine this rule, and cement his political control over ten of the tribes. This undermined everything God was highlighting in this chapter. But God still worked miraculously just the same to bring about his ends, through Christ who was the real meaning behind all these symbols.

Today, we must come to Christ who is our temple, and not try to work out our own righteousness any other way. We cannot go anywhere else except to Him, adn this is the key lesson here. But secondly on blood. Nowhere in the scripture is it more strongly prohibited than here. But contrastingly in John 6, Jesus said to drink his blood. This was a ghastly thought and the greek word scandalo described the idea of it.

Other nations consumed blood in their meat, but God wanted them separate. He also wanted them to consume his blood metaphorically as it contained the true life that would last forever. Later in the New Testament in Acts 15, the prohibition against blood continues as one of just a few remaining instructions from the Law, still relevant for all believers.