Weekly Torah Lesson
Parasha: Kitisa – When you lift up the head
Torah: Shemot 30:11 – 34:35
B’laam and The Blood
12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no idol, for Avinu, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous Avinu), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their idols and sacrifice to their idols and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their idols and make your sons whore after their idols.” (Ex 34:11-16 )
“10 ¶ “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. 12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. 13 “Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. 14 For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off (karetz).” (Le 17:10-14 )
“”You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.” (Le 19:26 )
** Consuming blood happens in several different ways for most of us. Blood is naturally trapped in the muscle and skin of an animal that has not been killed by having it’s jugular vein and wind pipe severed with a sharp blade. This method leaves a minimum amount of blood in the corpse which can be extracted by “salting” the meat with a coarse salt. The great majority of meat that is sold or served today has not been killed or salted properly. In the United States, some meats, like ground chuck, are allowed to add a certain percentage of blood and fat to reach a specific weight. The early congregations were aware of the dangerous possibilities that might come as a result of consuming blood. Here is a list of the requirements for a new congregant to follow before they could even enter a meeting of the congregation.
“19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to Avinu, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”” (Ac 15:18-21 )
** We really don’t know what, if anything, lives in the blood of an animal after the animal dies. Here are some Scriptures that might stir your thinking about what you are “consuming” when you eat meat with the “blood” still in it.
“1 Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. 2 They invited the people to the sacrifices of their demon idol, and the people ate and bowed down to their idols. 3 So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of Avinu was aroused against Israel.
** The ‘meat’ that they ate was definitely ‘sacrificed to an idol’ and most likely not drained of it’s blood. Eating meat that hasn’t been butchered properly is an act of idolatry. This is why it is written,’ and the people ate and bowed down to their idols’.
Notice that the penalty for eating blood is ‘karetz’. This is the penalty that brings on an early death to the sinner.
4 Then Avinu said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before Avinu, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of Avinu may turn away from Israel.” 5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.””
“6 And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 7 Now when Pinkas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. 9 And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand. 10 Then Avinu spoke to Moses, saying: 11 “Pinkas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. 12 “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; 13 ‘and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his Avinu, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’ ” 14 Now the name of the Israelite who was killed, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a father’s house in Midian.”
“16 Then Avinu spoke to Moses, saying: 17 “Harass the Midianites, and attack them; 18 “for they harassed you with their schemes by which they seduced you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was killed in the day of the plague because of Peor.”” (Nu 25:1-18 )
Final observation:
“8 For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” 9 Then He asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. 11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” 13 And at once Yeshua gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.” (Mr 5:8-13 )
** We see that the unclean spirits brought ‘insanity’ with them when they entered the swine. Did the unclean spirits leave the swine when they died or did they remain behind in the blood to enter into someone who might later consume the meat?
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