THE LEVITICAL PASSAGES: Additional Resources

THE LEVITICAL PASSAGES

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

CANANNANITE IMMORALITY - The Bible firmly states that the Canaanites’ religion and lifestyle were immoral. The Canaanites destroyed themselves by their sinful living. This is what God means when He tells Abraham, “but in the fourth generation they [Abraham’s descendants] shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites [Canaanites] is not yet full” (Gen. 15:16). God will not give the land to His people too soon. He will wait until evil has run its full course. The Lord said to His people through Moses, “Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works.... Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against Me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee” (Exod. 23:24a, 32–33).

 

BLOOD — the red fluid circulating in the body that takes nourishment to the body parts and carries away waste. The word “blood” is often used literally in Scripture. Sometimes the word refers to the blood of animals (Gen. 37:31); at other times it refers to human blood (1 Kin. 22:35). The word is also used figuratively in the Bible. It may mean “blood red” (Joel 2:31) or murder (Matt. 27:24). The phrase “flesh and blood” means humanity (Heb. 2:14).

But the most important biblical concept in regard to blood is the spiritual significance of the blood of sacrificial animals. Although some scholars believe the blood primarily means the animal’s life, most agree that blood refers to the animal’s death. Most of the Old Testament passages that discuss sacrifices mention the death of the animal, not its life (Lev. 4:4–5). The Bible makes it clear that the satisfaction or payment for human sins was made by the death of a specified animal substitute: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:11).

In the New Testament, this Old Testament idea of sacrifice is applied to Christ’s blood. References to the “blood of Christ” always mean the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. References to the blood of Christ were made by Paul (Rom. 3:25); Peter (1 Pet. 1:19); John (Rev. 1:5) and the author of Hebrews (Heb. 9:14). Although all have sinned, “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7).