Leviticus 17

Now that tabernacle operations have begun, what does that mean for all other kinds of sacrifice? And so we read in chapter 17, verse one, "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.'" So the high priest, all the priests, and the whole nation, "'and say to them, This is what the Lord has commanded, saying, Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, a lamb, or a goat,'" all clean animals, all animals used for sacrifice, "'in the camp or slaughters it outside the camp and has not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the Lord in front of the tabernacle of the Lord, bloodshed is to be counted against that person.

He has shed blood, and that person shall be cut off from among his people.'" Now, if this was all that was said, we could easily get the impression that the issue was specifically about slaughtering animals and butchering meat to eat, so that if you wanted to butcher a goat for a family celebration, you'd have to go to the tabernacle and butcher it there, and if you didn't, you'd be guilty of bloodshed.

But verse five clarifies what the issue specifically is.

It's not just butchering an animal for food.

This is about sacrifice.

In other words, if you're slaughtering an ox or a goat or a sheep for sacrifice, you need to present it at the tabernacle.

Verse five makes this clear.

Look at verse five.

"This shall be done so that the sons of Israel will bring their sacrifices, which they were sacrificing in the open field," as we see Abraham do, for example, in the Book of Genesis, right? So that the sacrifices they were offering on their own in the open field, so that they will, "bring them to the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting to the priest and sacrifice them as sacrifices of fellowship offerings, peace offerings to the Lord." So the issue here is legitimate versus illegitimate sacrifices.

Prior to the opening of the tabernacle, legitimate sacrifices could be made on an altar you made for yourself out in an open field where you worship the Lord.

But we've brought all that now in to a central location at the tabernacle so that the only legitimate sacrifices now are those that are offered and presented to the Lord at his sacred tent, the tabernacle.

That's why verse four states the penalty so strongly.

You will be guilty of bloodshed and cut off from your people if you don't participate in proper covenant loyalty to God by offering legitimate sacrifices at his tabernacle.

And the reason for that is now that the tabernacle has been built, set up, and opening ceremonies have been launched, and tabernacle worship has begun, there can be no more freelance sacrifices.

So if you're gonna sacrifice an offering to the Lord, you can't just slaughter the animal wherever you want.

You have to bring it to the tabernacle.

The priest must be the one to, uh, be there to slaughter the animal and offer it as a sacrifice to the Lord.

So verse six says, "The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting and offer up the fat and smoke as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

And they shall no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat-demons with which they play the prostitute.

This is going to be a permanent statute for them throughout their generations." So to offer their own freelance sacrifices now is to offer them to false gods.

It's not honoring to Yahweh.

It's a violation of their covenant with him.

It is, as it says here, to play the prostitute, that is, to betray their covenant partner and be disloyal to him.

In other words, this is serious stuff.

If you're going to offer sacrifices now, you can't just build your own altar and do it.