Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20080312.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Leviticus: Fellowship With A Holy God
Part III: Acceptable Living Before A Holy God, Leviticus 11:1-27:34
F. The Believer's Need For Separation From Paganism In Handling His Food
(Leviticus 17:1-16)
  1. Introduction
    1. When God calls us to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16), most of the time we Christians think He means we should live free from obvious sins such as lying or murder.
    2. However, evil exists in a wide variety of cultural practices in our world, and wherever evil exists, we must be vigilant to separate from it, even if doing so affects an ordinary realm like the handling of food.
    3. Israel faced such a challenge, so God gave specific directives on how to be holy in handling food:
  2. The Believer's Need For Separation From Paganism In Handling His Food, Leviticus 17:1-16.
    1. The stipulations in Leviticus 17:1-16 on the proper way for animals to be slain are given in view of Israel's vulnerability to falling back into pagan demon worship in her slaying of such animals (as follows):
      1. After giving a number of the stipulations on properly slaying an animal for food or sacrifice in Leviticus 17:1-6, God explained His reason for these stipulations in Leviticus 17:7.
      2. That reason was Israel's vulnerability to sacrificing to demons, or seirim, that literally means "hairy ones" and refers to "goat demons," cf. J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible, vol. I, p. 403; Lev. 17:7 ESV.
      3. Apparently, the Egyptians, who worshiped Mendes, the goat god, had heavily influenced Israel during her 400-year stay in their land (Ibid.), leaving the people of Israel vulnerable to lapsing into Egyptian goat demon worship in how they slew their animals in preparation for eating, Ibid.
      4. To counter such a vulnerability to temptation, God directed that Israel bring all animals to be slain, whether it be for food or for sacrifice, and go to the tabernacle, Leviticus 17:1-4. There the priests could properly honor the Lord in the slaying of these animals in striking contrast to the goat demon worship of Egypt that was associated with slaying animals, cf. Leviticus 17:5-6, 7!
      5. Of course, when Israel prepared to enter Canaan and spread out over its territory, this ritual became impractical, so Deuteronomy 12:15-16 and 20-25 modified its directive, requiring only that the animal blood be poured out on the ground wherever it was slain! (Ibid.)
    2. Accordingly, we view the details of Leviticus 17:1-16 with a focus on how its commands worked to protect the people of Israel from temptations to lapse into Egyptian goat demon worship (as follows):
      1. While Israel was in the wilderness and fresh out of the influence of Egyptian paganism, every animal to be slain for sacrifice or for food was to be brought to the tabernacle where it would be slain, and the priest would offer its blood and inner fat portions as an offering to God, Lev. 17:1-6.
      2. Also, any person in the community of Israel who failed to bring his animal sacrifice to the temple to be offered there would be removed from the nation's fellowship, Leviticus 17:8-9.
      3. Also, any person in the community of Israel who ingested blood for food would be removed from the nation's fellowship, Leviticus 17:10. God directed that the life of the animal to be represented in its blood, so God had granted the shedding of animal blood to indicate the loss of life that substitutionally atoned for sins; thus, blood was forbidden as a food in reverence for the Lord, Leviticus 17:11-12.
      4. Since hunting often involved killing wild game just to obtain it as food, making it impossible to heed the Leviticus 17:1-6 directives, God modified His command regarding wild game: the blood of the slain animal was to be poured out on the ground and covered with dust in reverence for God, 17:13-14.
      5. Then, if someone had eaten an animal that had died of itself, or that had been killed by another animal, he was ceremonially unclean by touching a previously dead body, so he had to wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, Leviticus 17:15-16; Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, p. 200.
Lesson: To avoid their vulnerability of lapsing back into Egyptian goat demon worship associated with the killing of animals, the people of Israel were given rituals to honor God opposite such evil worship.

Application: If we find ourselves vulnerable to sinning in some way in relation to the handling of food, may we take steps to avoid being tempted in the first place just as God directed Israel in the wilderness!