900 B
900 B
Leviticus 17 General Notes
Special concepts in this chapter
Sacrifices
Sacrifices could only be offered by the priests at the temple. Any other sacrifice was strictly prohibited. This was probably intended to ensure that the people were only offering sacrifices to Yahweh and not to another god. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/priest and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/falsegod)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
"The life of each creature is its blood"
It is unclear why the life is described as being in the blood. It is possible that diseases were more common in the blood and this is why it was prohibited. Blood is also necessary for life to continue in a creature. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/life and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/blood)