This chapter contains a summary of the laws regarding sacrifices/offerings, as well as some stern warnings – one of which we will look at.
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, You shall eat no fat, of ox or sheep or goat. The fat of an animal that dies of itself and the fat of one that is torn by beasts may be put to any other use, but on no account shall you eat it. For every person who eats of the fat of an animal of which a food offering may be made to the Lord shall be cut off from his people. Moreover, you shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowl or of animal, in any of your dwelling places. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.’ ” (v22-27)
For each type of offering, God was very clear that the fat and blood were to be disposed of in very specific ways (note: in this context, “fat” seems to be an umbrella term for non-meat animal parts, including organs). Now, He’s reminding the people that under no circumstances should fat or blood be consumed (not even from non-sacrificed animals).
A couple days ago we learned that the blood is considered to be the symbol of life in a living creature, and the lifeblood is symbolic of containing sin (and uncleanness) so it makes sense it was not to be consumed. The result (wages) of sin is death, if blood is life, then removing the blood is death. The power of forgiveness is in the blood (especially the blood of Jesus) – the sin passes from the sinner to the sacrifice’s blood, which is shed on behalf of the sinner.
Fat is also considered to be unclean – they may not have known this in Moses’ time, but we many of the organs are designed to be filters and remove impurities from a body (eg. the liver, intestines, kidneys, etc). Eating those organs would be consuming impurities. The non-organ, non-meat parts (actual fat, connective tissue, ears, etc) would either be hard to eat, or provide little/no nutritional benefit, so of course God wouldn’t want His people eating that either (I was tempted to make a comment about them hating hot dogs, but that would not have been Kosher, so I restrained myself). Logically, it makes sense God wanted only the best (meat) portions of animals to be consumed.
The burning question is, what is the meaning of the punishment: “that person shall be cut off from his people”? The phrase “cut off from their people/nation” is only seemingly found in the OT, and it is used approximately 47 times (4 of those times are in this chapter). In almost every context, it means the person will die or be put to death.
“You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.” (Ex 31:14-15) “For whoever is not afflicted [ie. fasting] on that very day [the day of Atonement] shall be cut off from his people. And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people.” (Lev 23:29-30)
In both of those contexts (and others) God will cut off the disobedient person by having them put to death. I realize that seems harsh, though when we think about it, this is the Old Covenant, the law of sin and death. We already established that the outcome of sin (disobedience to God) is death, so having someone put to death for their sin is not a stretch. It is also clear that Israel is fairly unstable in their faith at this point, and a even single rebellious person has the potential to easily influence others toward rebellion, so bad influence required a strong response (remember the golden calf?). Thankfully, through Jesus we now have a New Covenant, the law of forgiveness and life. This is why “cut off from the people” is not a NT phrase, it’s a punishment of the Old Covenant of sin and death, not the New Covenant of forgiveness and life.
What does this all mean for us today? It’s not a warning against eating low-quality “meats” (though it certainly doesn’t hurt to avoid those), it’s a warning to take God’s word very seriously. God is more about forgiveness than He is about punishment, but that doesn’t mean we should take advantage of His grace: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Rom 6:1-4) If we continue to be rebellious and/or take advantage of God’s grace, we may not be executed, though we certainly will not experience the fullness of life that God intends for us.
Father, thank you for the newness of life that is available to us through the New Covenant. Thank you that we are no longer under the law of sin and death. May You continue to guide us down a path of integrity and love, one that both begins and ends with You, and intersects the paths of our neighbors along the way. All glory, honor and praise be to You, O Lord God Almighty. Amen.
~ Conqueror in Training