Leviticus 17:10

10 And whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers abiding among you, shall eat any blood, I will even set my face against that soul that eats blood, and will destroy it from its people.

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).

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Leviticus 17:10 In-Context

8 And thou shalt say to them, Whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the sons of the proselytes abiding among you, shall offer a whole-burnt-offering or a sacrifice,

9 and shall not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of witness to sacrifice it to the Lord, that man shall be destroyed from among his people.

10 And whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers abiding among you, shall eat any blood, I will even set my face against that soul that eats blood, and will destroy it from its people.

11 For the life of flesh is its blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for its blood shall make atonement for the soul.

12 Therefore I said to the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, and the stranger that abides among you shall not eat blood.