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. 14 Por it is the life of all flesh, the blooi of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Yo shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut of. This passage in Leviticus is remarkable for many things: First, that it states and restates so many times the fact that the life is in the blood. This truth was so firmly imbedded in the mind of Israel that to this day the orthodox Jew will not èat other than " Ko s h e r" meat. Every city or any size has its kosher butcher shops in which meat is kept that has been killed with special provision for draining it of blood. Jews living in places too small to maintain a kosher shop will band together and have shipments made at intervals to them, and the meat is then divided among the families interested. But the great teaching of this passage from Leviticus 17 is found in the 11th verse in which the reason for this special care is stated. God has devised in all grace'that there shall be a way in which sin may be forgiven without the penal death of the sinner. " F o r the life (or soul) of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is) the blood that maketh atonement by rea- son of the l i f e ." R. V. This is to say that the sinner has for- feited his life by his sin. Acting in jus- tice alone, God would demand the forfeited life, but God does not act in justice alone; | ' Mercy glorieth against judgment, ' ' James 2:13, R. V. Love overleaps justice and man is permitted to take the blood of an animal and, by pouring it out upon the altar, to confess that his own blood ought to flow. God seeing that thè sinner con- fesses his iniquity to be worthy of death, forgives the sin and absolves the sinner. The way of salvation in Old and New Tes- tament times is identical—the way of faith. It is on condition of confession in terms that acknowledge the ruinous character of sin that God can forgive it. The sacrifices oc the Tabernacle and Temple were t'o the same end as the sacrifice on Calvary. The blood of-bulls and goats covered sin. The blood of Christ forever took it away. (To be Continued)
they that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom. 8:5-8.) But lest we should infer that there is something essentially evil about the body, and that while in the body we cannot please God, Paul immedi- ately adds, verse 9, " B u t ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit, ii so be that the spirit of God dwelleth in y o u ." In other words, the man who is still in his body, if a spirit-filled man, is not in the ' ' flesh'' in the sense used above. The " f l e s h " and the ' ' b o d y '' are not equivalent terms in Paul's nomenclature, but the flesh life is that earthly life which the " n a t u r a l ." or ' ' soulish I' man leads when soul and body coalesce for the fulfilling of the "desires of the flesh and of the m i n d ." The " n a t- ural m a n " of I Cor.. 2 that is so incapable oi perceiving the things of the spirit, is simply the " s o u l i s h" man. It is there- fore of great importance that we dis- tinguish between soul and spirit. To return to the subject of Life—the word nephesh which is translated 1 ' soul'' in 456 passages is also translated " l i f e * in 99. And this life is the physical life, for animals share it with man. It is this life that is poured out at death. It is this life at whicn sin strikes. Nor are we left in doubt as to the loca- tion of this life. The Scriptures are ex- plicit—"The life is in the blood." The ninth chapter of Genesis contains God 's commission to Noah after the flood. Until this time there is no record that ani- mal food had been permitted to man. Now. with changed conditions—conditions which i o doubt involved a far more rapid break- ing down of physical tissue than before the flood—man is given permission to re- pair the waste by the eating of animal food. " B u t flesh with the life (nephesh) thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall he not e a t ." Wen. 9:4. At Sinai where Israel's laws were codi- fied, this fundamental relation of the blood and the life was further emphasized and made the basis tor the forgiveness of sins. Lev. 17:10-14 10 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that so- journ among you, tnat eateth 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. 11 For the life of p f i flesh • is m the biood: 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 soul. 12 Therefore i said unto the children ot Israel, No sord of you shall eat bloocl, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
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