“And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that 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.”
I will set my face against any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who eats blood, and I will cut off that person from the people. The divine first-person declaration against blood-eating: I will set my face against — a phrase indicating divine active opposition and judgment. The I will cut off communicates that the blood-eating prohibition is directly enforced by God, not only by the community's legal process. The divine personal engagement in enforcing the blood prohibition communicates the theological weight of what blood represents: the life that belongs to God cannot be consumed by humans without provoking the direct opposition of the God to whom that life belongs.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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