Leviticus 17:10

Eating Blood and Carcasses Prohibited

10 "Anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who live among them who eats any blood, I will turn[a] against that person who eats blood and cut him off from his people.[b]

Leviticus 17:10 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 17:10

And whatsoever man [there be] of the house of Israel
That is by birth an Israelite, of every age, sex, or condition, as before:

or of the strangers that sojourn among you;
proselytes of righteousness, for the following law was only obligatory on such, and upon Israelites, as appears from its being lawful to give or sell that which dies of itself to a stranger, that is, to a proselyte of the gate, or to an Heathen, ( Deuteronomy 14:21 ) ;

that eateth any manner of blood;
that is, as Ben Gersom interprets it, of beasts and birds, concerning which the prohibition only is, according to him; for as for the blood of others there was no obligation, nor were any guilty on account of them; particularly the blood of fishes, and of locusts, or human blood, the blood of a man's teeth, which a man might swallow without being guilty of the breach of this law F7. Some restrain this to the blood of the sacrifices before treated of; but Jarchi observes, lest any should think, because it is said, it is "the blood that maketh the atonement for the soul": that a man is not guilty only on account of the blood of sanctified things, therefore it is said "any manner of blood":

I will set my face against that soul that eateth blood;
signifying how greatly he should be provoked thereby, how much he should resent it, how exceedingly displeasing it would be to him, and what severity might be expected to be exercised towards him for it; for dreadful it is to have the face of God set against a man, see ( Psalms 34:16 ) . Maimonides F8 observes, that this form of speech does not occur in any third precept besides these two, concerning idolatry or sacrificing a son to Moloch, ( Leviticus 20:3 ) , and eating blood; because eating of blood gives an occasion to one species of idolatry, worshipping of devils, see ( Leviticus 19:26 ) ;

and will cut him off from among his people;
which confirms the above sense of the phrase of cutting off as expressive of death by the hand of God; (See Gill on Leviticus 17:4).


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Hilchot Maacolot Asurot, c. 6. sect. 1.
F8 Ut supra. (Moreh Nevochim, p. 3. c. 46.)

Leviticus 17:10 In-Context

8 "Say to them: Anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who live among them who offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice
9 but does not bring it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to sacrifice it to the Lord, that person must be cut off from his people.
10 "Anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who live among them who eats any blood, I will turn against that person who eats blood and cut him off from his people.
11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement.
12 Therefore I say to the Israelites: None of you and no foreigner who lives among you may eat blood.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Lit will set My face
  • [b]. Lv 3:17; 17:12-14; Dt 12:16,23,27
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