A Godly View of Life

SHOWING RESPECT FOR BLOOD

After Cain killed his brother Abel, Jehovah told Cain:  "Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground."  (Genesis 4:10) When God spoke of Abel's  blood, he was speaking of  Abel's life. Cain had taken Abel's life, and now Cain would have to be punished.  It was as if Abel's blood, or life, were crying out to Jehovah for justice.  The connection between life and blood was again shown after the Flood of Noah's day. Before the Flood, humans ate only fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts. After the Flood, Jehovah told Noah and his sons:  "Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for you.  As in the case of green vegetation, I do give it all to you." However, God set this restriction:  "Only flesh with its soul [or, life-its blood-you must not eat."  (Genesis 1:29; 9:3, 4) Clearly, Jehovah links very closely the life and the blood of a creature.

We show respect for blood by not eating it.  (for example:  eating meat that is cooked and still has blood in it; and just eating or drinking the blood or anything that contains blood)  In the Law that Jehovah gave the Israelites, he commanded:  "As for any  man . . . Who is hunting catches a wild beast or a fowl that  may be eaten, he must in that case pour  its blood out and cover it with dust. .  . . I said to the sons of Israel:  'You must not eat blood of any sort of flesh.'" (Leviticus 17:13, 14) God's command not to eat animal blood, first given to Noah some 800 years earlier, was still in force. Jehovah's view was and is still clear:  His servants could eat animal meat but not the blood.  They were to pour the blood on the ground-in effect, returning the creatures' life to God.

A similar command rests upon Christians.  The apostles and other men taking the lead among Jesus' followers in the first century met together to decide what commands had to be obeyed by all the Christian congregation.  They came to the conclusion:  "The holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you, except the necessary things, to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to Idols and from blood and from things strangled [leaving the blood in the meat]  and from fornication." (Acts 15:28, 29; 21:25)  So we must 'keep abstaining from blood.'  In God's eyes, our doing that is as important as our avoiding idolatry and sexual immorality. 

Next time: A Godly View of Life/ Conclusion of RESPECT FOR BLOOD

From the book: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE REALLY TEACH?