Leviticus 17:1 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"

Leviticus 17:2 " "Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them: `This is the thing that the Lord had commanded saying,"

We saw the first occurrence of this phrase, "unto all the children of Israel", in Leviticus 5:14, when it marked the seriousness of the charge, and the subject by God. God did not take lightly the things that pertained to Him and instructions that were specific by Him. Aarons two sons were were struck dead, when they tried to take the common fire from back home, and use it on the altar of God, as we read in Leviticus 16:1. God's holy things are holy, and not to be made lightly of.

Leviticus 17:3 "What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp,"

The "killeth" as used here is "shachat" in the Hebrew tongue. So this is looking at all those animals that are killed both in the camp, and outside the camp. The killing of these animals were for the purpose of being used for food, and also for sacrifice. So this chapter is referring to the rendering of a sacrifice in an unlawful place, and how our heavenly Father looked down on that practice. In that Old Testament time, God was leaving no doubt in the mind of Moses exactly how any sacrifice offered to Him was to be made.

Leviticus 17:4 "And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: ' "

Any animal killed anywhere had to be brought before the tabernacle, before the congregation for a sacrifice unto YHVH. So what we are starting to see here in this verse are the laws dealing with sacrifices to other gods, for it was going on at this time amongst the children of Israel.

The "offering" that is referred to here is called "Korban" in the Hebrew tongue. It is a gift, or an admittance-offering in order to secure an audience, or to see the face of the superior, and find access to his presence. This happens even in our society today, when a company or man gives a gift to an individual for the sake of just having access to be listened to. Some may call it a bribe, but without the bribe, or "Korban", that person would have no chance of being listened to. When the admittance has been secured and entrance has been obtained, then the real offering, or present has to be given. Hence, "Korban" is vital to the admittance, the offering is securing the entree to an individual to be herd.

Leviticus 17:5 "To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the Lord."

When the person that slays the animal in the open field brings that animal to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, he is showing by this action that he recognizes that it is God, YHVH, that is the supplier of all good things. God receives the honor and praise in thanksgiving for the gifts that he received for his food. This peace offering is called the "Shelem", and it is given when it is not time, or any reason for a sin or burnt offering, and God is telling the people to make a peace offering to Him for this blessing.

Leviticus 17:6 "And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the Lord."

It specifies that any time the people would slaughter an animal, they must bring the sacrifice of the animal to the priest, who was to burn this fat as incense upon the altar to God. We will see later in this chapter that there were other altars that the Israelites had to face in the countryside, other than God's altar.

Leviticus 17:7 "And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations."

By the use of the words, "no more" implies that this is what the children of Israel had done while in their bondage back in Egypt. That sacrifice was not to the true God, YHVH, "Jehovah", but to the devils of the goat image "Pan". To "offer", or "zabach" in the Hebrew tongue, is to "slay in sacrifice" to devils called "sa'ir" or "satyrs" in Hebrew. It is from this imaginary demon: half-goat, half-man "Pan" of the Egyptians that god "fauns" of the Greeks and Romans, and "devil" came into Christendom.

Even to this day, the symbols for Satan and demons are represented by the same symbols from ancient Egypt. In Egypt, the children of Israel was whoring after other demonic forms and gods. This is pointed out by Moses in the song of Moses.

Deuteronomy 32:15 "But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; Then he forsook god Which made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation."

"Jeshurun" is another term for Israel in its fat state, when the richness and blessings of God are bestowed upon her, she turns from God to chase after their idols. Though this is speaking of Israel in Egypt, it is also talking about other times also, for Revelation 15:3 tells us that this will also be the case just prior to the coming of our Lord at the seven trump. those that overcome will be singing this song because it is the song of victory. In times of wealth and plenty Israel has a habit of falling away from God and His ways.

Deuteronomy 32:16 "They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they Him to anger."

God is a jealous God, especially when we put other things before Him.

Deuteronomy 32:17 "They sacrifice unto devils, not to God; To gods whom they knew not, To new gods that came newly up, Whom your fathers feared not."

As we read on through the "song of Moses", verse 21 tells us that we have a very jealous God, and when we go against his instructions, we provoke our Heavenly Father to anger. Israel sacrificed to the gods of Egypt when they were living in the land for those four hundred years.

Deuteronomy 32:21 "They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their vanities: And I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation."

This is the victory song that those that are overcomers will be singing as we enter into the Millennium age. These people knew that the Antichrist was coming first, and they knew the signs of the times where they would not be taken in by lies and the deceptions of the end times. The point here is that we are to be aware of new religions, for most of the new religions are shoots of the old religious practices. Prime examples of this is the modern day Easter, the shoot of Ishtar, the ancient Canaanite heathen religious goddess that has taken many forms down through the centuries of time. The "new gods that came up", reminds me of laughing churches [replacing the Word of God with their laughing], those dealing with forms of tongues, and all sorts of other vanities that have crept into the Christian churches.

Leviticus 17:8 "And thou shalt say unto them, "Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice,"

Israel had been brought up in Egypt to worship other gods and making animal sacrifice of heathen altars, and that is why God is requiring that the children of Israel bring all killed animals before the tabernacle, and make a peace offering to the True God. God is also requiring that those even visiting in the area that are not part of Israel are to follow this practice of bring their killed animals to the tabernacle and making this peace offering of praise to God.

Leviticus 17:9 "And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the Lord; even that man shall be cut off from among his people."

This was to make the practice of sacrificing to other gods to cease. This law would be relaxed in time, as we will see in chapters ahead.

Leviticus 17:10 "And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eatheth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people."

This law was given early to the people, but here it was extended to strangers that were living and passing amongst the children of Israel. "I will even set my face against that soul" means that God will judge you for doing that act. This was a crime against the commandments that could easily go undetected by the priest, so there would be no way for anyone to know that this crime had been committed, except by God.

Leviticus 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the souls."

This tells us exactly why these laws dealing with the eating of blood were important, "The life of the flesh is in the blood:" The soul of all flesh is in its blood. Only the blood can make atonement for the soul for sin. Back in Moses day, it was the blood of animals that made atonement on a annual basis; then Jesus Christ came and made the final atonement with His blood, to atone for sin for one and all times. Christ's blood is the only atonement now, and His precious blood was shed for all those that believe and come to Him in repentance under His blood.

I don't know why God made the blood to be the means for the forgiveness for sin, but That, the blood is the only means for the blotting out of our sins. Animal blood was only the temporary means for making sacrifice for sin, until the time was full, and God would present the perfect sacrifice in the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Leviticus 17:12 "Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, `No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.' "

God did not want the practices of heathen pagan worship to even enter into the cities and camps of the children of Israel, when they had entered into the promise land. After all, as they were making their journey to the promise land, those people living in the land were doing this thing of eating blood.

Leviticus 17:13 "And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust."

God is giving instruction to those that would go hunting and carrying out their animals to bring them to the camp; before they returned home, they must bleed the animal and cover over the blood with earth to prevent other animals from eating that blood. The blood is the life of the body of the animal, and this manner would prevent the desecration of that blood.

Leviticus 17:14 "For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, `Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosever eateth it shall be cut off.' "

This law required that all animals that they did eat would be properly bled before being prepared to eat as food. This would stop the putrefying the meat before it was eaten.

Leviticus 17:15 "And every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean."

In Exodus 22:31 it points out that this meat of the animals that have died by itself, or killed by another beast of prey, is fit only for the dogs. In another passage God says:

Deuteronomy 14:21 "Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk."

The difference here is that God's people are holy and must keep themselves holy unto God. Remember that it would be through the children of Israel, the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that the Messiah would come. God set them aside as a holy people unto Himself The heathen and aliens are not directed by this verse, for they are already cut off from the Lord.

Leviticus 17:16 "But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity."

Deuteronomy 12:16-24 repeals this requirement, that domestic animals be slaying and brought to the tabernacle before it is eaten. Of course the laws of Leviticus were given at the beginning of the forty year journey through the wilderness, while the instructions given in Deuteronomy by Moses were given at the end of the journey; just before the children of Israel were to march in that take the land of Canaan that God would give to them. The generation that had grown up in Egypt and practiced those heathen customs of animal sacrifices to strange gods, and eaten blood of dead animals had all died off in the wilderness. The new generation that were born in the wilderness, grew up under the Leviticus laws were now going into the promise land, to set up a new nation. They would be scattered out, and this law dealing with bring domestic and game animals to the tabernacle and temple was done away with at the end of the journey.