Leviticus 17:7-16

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 17:1-9

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 Job 1:5. 2. This liberty had been an occasion of idolatry. When every man was his own priest, and had an altar... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 17:10-16

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 (Lev. 3:17; 7:26), besides the place it had in the precepts of Noah, Gen. 9:4. But here, 1. The prohibition is repeated again and again, and reference had to the former laws to this purport (Lev. 17:12): I said to the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood; and again (Lev. 17:14), You shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh. A great... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 17:7

And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils ,.... As it seems they had done, which was monstrously shocking, and especially by a people that had the knowledge of the true God. Such shocking idolatry has been committed, and still is among the Indians, both East and West: when Columbus discovered Hispaniola, and entered it, he found the inhabitants worshippers of images they called Zemes, which were in the likeness of painted devils, which they took to be the mediators and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 17:8

And thou shalt say unto them ,.... To Aaron and his sons, and to the children of Israel, as in Leviticus 17:2 , whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel : belonging to that nation, and to any of its tribes and families, of whatever age; as a young man or an old man, as the Targum of Jonathan; or of whatsoever rank, class, and condition in life: or of the strangers which sojourn among you ; that is, of the proselytes among them; not the proselytes of the gate, who were not... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 17:9

And bringeth it not to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the Lord ,.... In a public manner, by one of the priests of the Lord; by which it might appear that he did not take upon him to be a priest himself, nor to offer it to an idol: even that man shall be cut off from his people ; from being one of them, and having communion with them, and sharing in their privileges; or by death, either by the hand of the civil magistrate, or rather by the hand of God; so... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 17:11

For the life of the flesh is in the blood ,.... The animal life or soul, the life and soul of every creature, and even the animal life and soul of man; agreeably to which our famous Dr. Harvey, who found out the circulation of the blood, says of it, that it is the principal part which first appears in generation; is the genital part, the fountain of life the first that lives, and the last that dies; the primary seat of the soul or life, from whence motion and pulsation take their rise; in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 17:12

Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, no soul of you shall eat blood ,.... Great or small as Jarchi observes, for the reason above given; which, though not expressed before, was the true reason of this law, which had been given before, and now repeated; see Leviticus 3:17 , neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood ; any proselyte of righteousness; this is not observed before. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 17:13

And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you ,.... This form of speaking, which is often used in this chapter, is still observed to point out the persons on whom the law is obligatory, Israelites and proselytes of righteousness: which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten ; that is, clean beasts and fowls, such as by a former law are observed; and this excepts unclean ones, as Jarchi, but includes all clean ones,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 17:14

For it is the life of all flesh ,.... Of every animal: the blood of it is for the life thereof ; for the production, preservation, and continuance of life; that on which life depends, as Jarchi observes: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh ; of beasts or birds, whose flesh was fit for food; but their blood was not to be eaten, for the reasons before given: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof ; which is... read more

Group of Brands