Leviticus 17

Chap. XVII. Ver. 1—16. — Sundry prohibitions.—The language of this chapter evidently means, that the Israelites, while in the wilderness, must not kill any of those animals which were appointed to be sacrificed, even for food, elsewhere, either in the camp, or without: but must bring them all, as peace-offerings, to the door of the tabernacle; that the blood might be sprinkled, the fat burnt on the altar, and the due portion allotted to the priest, according to the laws before given.—It may be supposed that few animals, in proportion to the multitudes of Israel, would at this time be slain; the manna being their principal sustenance: and when they came into Canaan, their sanctuary, they might kill and eat many of them for food in any place.

“Even as the roe-buck, and as the hart, so shalt thou eat them.” ((Deuteronomy 12:15, 22).) These animals, therefore, or any other clean animal, not appointed for sacrifice, if caught in the wilderness, might be eaten, without being brought to the door of the tabernacle. In the meanwhile, the transgression of this law would be imputed to any Israelite as a capital crime; even as if he had committed murder; and if the magistrate did not punish him, God himself would “cut him off from among his people.” —This law was intended to honour the divine institutions, and to put an end to the custom of offering sacrifices “in the open field,” or in any place indiscriminately, by habituating the people to bring all their oblations to the tabernacle; nay, to present the animals slain for food as a sacrifice to God.—It was also meant as a preservative from idolatry, which was even at that time secretly practised, in direct violation of the national covenant.

For idolatry is evidently intended, when it is said, that the people “sacrificed to devils, after whom they had gone a whoring,” the common term for idolatry in the Scriptures. The word translated “devils,” is taken from the roughness of a goat, and indeed signifies goats: and many translate it satyrs, which are fabled to have appeared in the form of goats in the woods to their votaries: and it is certain, that several imaginary deities of the Gentiles were often worshipped by images, formed nearly in the shape of goats.—Our translation, however, is not improper: for in fact all idolatry deifies devils, by rendering worship to those ambitious spirits, even as all wickedness is serving them; and by both Satan aspires to be honoured as the god and prince of this world.—T. Scott.

Notes on the verses

Ver. 22. The goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities.—[Most ancient nations had vicarious sacrifices, to which they transferred, by certain rites and ceremonies, the guilt of the community at large. ‘The white bull, sacrificed by the Egyptians to Apis, was of this kind: they cut off the head of the victim, loaded it with execrations, that “if there was any evil hanging over them, or the land of Egypt, it might be poured on that head,” and then sold it to the Greeks, or threw it into the Nile. Herodotus Petronius Arbiter says, that it was a custom among the ancient inhabitants of Marseilles, when afflicted by any pestilence, to take one of the poorer citizens, who offered himself for the purpose; and having fed him for a whole year with the purest and best food, adorned him with vervain, and clothed him with sacred vestments, they led him round the city, loading him with execrations, praying that all the evils to which the city was exposed might fall upon him, and then precipitated him from the top of a rock.

Swidas observes, that it was a custom to devote a man annually to death, for the expiation of the people, with these words, be thou our purifier, and throw him into the sea, as a sacrifice to Neptune.]—Bagster.

Ver. 26. Let go the goat.—[To what has already been adduced concerning similar practices among various nations, we may add, that the nearest resemblance to the scape-goat of the Hebrews is found in the Ashummeed Jugg of the Hindoos; which is thus explained in the Code of Gentoo Laws: “An Ashummeed Jugg is when a person, having commenced a Jugg, (i.e. a religious ceremony), writes various articles upon a scroll of paper, on a horse’s neck, and dismisses the horse, sending along with the horse a stout and valiant person, equipped with the best necessaries and accoutrements, to accompany the horse day and night, whithersoever he shall choose to go; and if any creature, either man, genius, or dragon, should seize the horse, that man opposes such attempt, and having gained the victory upon a battle, again gives the horse his freedom.

If any one in horse of himself comes to the house of the celebrator of the Jugg, and the row the flesh of him upon the fire of the Jugg, upon killing that horse, he must the Jugg is called a Jugg dehum the Jugg, and utter the prayer of his deity: such a Jugg meed, and the merit of it, as a religious work, is infinite.

Chap. XVII. Ver. 4, 5. Unto the door of the tabernacle.—To prevent the blood ne offered to idols, as was practised by the heathen, while they were in the wilderness every animal proper for sacrifice was to be brought to “the door of the tabernacle,” to be slain; but after they settled in Canaan, this law, becoming inapplicable from the distance of some tribes from the tabernacle was repealed.

(Deuteronomy 12:15, 22).: Ver. 7. Sacrifices unto devils.—[Seirim, properly signifies hairy, or hairy ones; and hence is used not only for he-goats, but also for certain fabulous beings or sylvan gods, to whom was ascribed the form of goats. Maimonides says, that the Zabian idolaters worshipped demons under the form of goats; and that this custom being spread among other nations, gave occasion to this precept. He-goats, however, are probably intended here, which were objects of divine honour among the Egyptians under the name of Mendes. Herodotus says that all goats were worshipped in Egypt; but particularly he-goats. From these seem to have sprang Pan, Silenus, and the innumerable herd of those imaginary beings, fauns, satyrs, dryads, &c.

all woodland gods, and held in veneration by the Greeks and Romans.]—Bagster.

Gone a whoring.—These idolatries were, with peculiar propriety, compared to fornication and adultery, because those crimes, in many cases, formed a part of the heathen worship.

Ver. 11. The life is in the blood.—See note on (Genesis 9:4). [This sentence which contains a most important truth, had existed in the Mosaic writings for 3600 years, before the attention of any philosopher was drawn to the subject. That the blood actually possesses a living principle, and that the life of the whole body is derived from it, is a doctrine of revelation, and a doctrine which the experiments of the most accurate anatomists have served strongly to confirm.

The proper circulation of this important fluid through the whole human system was first taught by Solomon in figurative language, (Ecclesiastes xii. 6.) and discovered, as it is called, and demonstrated, by Dr. Harvey in 1628; though some Italian philosophers had the same notion a little before. This accurate anatomist was the first who fully revived the Mosaic notion of the vitality of the blood; which was afterwards adopted by the justly celebrated Dr. J. Hunter, professor of anatomy, and established by him, by a great variety of strong reasoning and accurate experiments.]—Bagster.

Ver. 18. Which Mec yta and catcheth.—Hebrew, “That hunteth any hunting.” The hunting of wild animals was allowed for food; and as it respected the more destructive beasts, as foxes, wolves, &c. to protect the flocks and herds; but to hunt or shoot, for mere sport or amusement, has no countenance in the word of God, or the principles of humanity.

Ver. 15. That which dieth of itself.—Tavornier describes the wretched state of the poor in some countries to be such, that they will cook and eat such animals; but there is peculiar danger attending both these and those torn of beasts, as there are many wolves and wild dogs subject to hydrophobia.