1S14-16: How Manmade Commands Cause Men To Break God’s Torah

“That day they had attacked the P’lishtim from Mikhmas to Ayalon; but the people were very exhausted.  So the people rushed at the spoil, seizing sheep, cows and calves, slaughtering them on the ground, and eating the flesh with the blood.  Sha’ul was told, ‘Look how the people are sinning against Adonai, eating with the blood.’ He said, ‘You have not kept faith! Roll a big stone to me immediately!'”-1 Samuel 14:31-33

Saul’s ridiculous oath that prohibited the soldiers from taking any food and drink lasted until the evening of the day he made it.

In verse 31, we’re told the Israelite soldiers battled the Philistines without stopping and without food until the sun began to set.

Once dusk arrived, the soldiers seized the domestic animals and slaughtered them on the ground.

We’re then told they were “eating the flesh with blood”.

Now, you’re probably imagining a bunch of Hebrew soldiers tearing into and eating the flesh raw like a bunch of savages here.

But, that’s not the case.

The men weren’t eating the animals raw.

The problem was that they hadn’t properly drained the blood from the meat before cooking it.

It’s in this way that they broke the command to not eat blood.

Here’s the Torah reference.

“When someone from the community
of Isra’el or one of the foreigners living
with you eats any kind of blood, I will
set myself against that person who eats
blood and cut him off from his people.”
-Leviticus 17:10

The important thing to understand here is that the phrase “eating blood” didn’t just mean to literally drink blood or to drain and store the blood for consumption later.

It was referring to the activity of making sure any meat was reasonably free of blood before cooking it.

In fact, one of the purposes of salt during ancient times was to use it as an absorbent of blood.

Huge quantities of salt would be used to soak up the blood drained from the animals.

These clumps of blood-soaked salt would then be thrown onto the ground to create pathways and roadways.

In other words, it served to poison the ground so that no vegetation would grow.

This kept the roads and pathways clear so that men could use them for travel.

One of Yeshua’s famous verses refers to this very practice.

“You are salt for the Land.
But if salt becomes tasteless,
how can it be made salty again?
It is no longer good for
anything except being thrown
out for people to trample on.”
-Matthew 5:13

Yeshua was referring to the very common practice that served a useful purpose in creating the country’s interconnected network of roads and highways.

Onward.

When Saul got wind of the fact that his men were not properly draining the blood, he called for a large stone to be brought to him.

This was so each soldier could slaughter his animal on the stone and Saul could oversee the whole process.

Killing the animal on a flat rock allowed the blood to flow out of the creature and drain out onto the ground.

This was the typical way an animal was drained of its blood so it would be acceptable to eat.

Now, one question that arises is didn’t the men know they were sinning by not properly draining the blood?

Of course, they knew but they were so starved because of Saul’s dumb vow they couldn’t help themselves.

There’s a big takeaway here and it’s connected to leadership.

When a leader of any kind, whether a company president, a parent, or a pastor places unreasonable demands on his or her people, the harsh commands could cause their flock to sin.

That’s exactly what Saul did when he forced his soldiers to take an oath saying “A curse on any man who eats any food until evening, when I will have finished taking vengeance on my enemies.”

It was this unreasonable vow that caused his men to sin by eating blood.

Saul had set them up for failure.

It was also this very thing that Yeshua spoke out against:

‘The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim,’
he said, ‘sit in the seat of Moshe.
So whatever they tell you,
take care to do it.
But don’t do what they do,
because they talk but don’t act!
They tie heavy loads onto people’s
shoulders but won’t lift a finger
to help carry them.  Everything
they do is done to be seen by others;
for they make their t’fillin broad
and their tzitziyot long, they love
the place of honor at banquets
and the best seats in the synagogues,
and they love being greeted deferentially
in the marketplaces and
being called ‘Rabbi.’”
-Matthew 23:2-7

That part about “tying heavy loads onto people’s shoulders but not lifting a finger to help carry them” is quite an accurate expression of Saul’s behavior here I would say.

In Yeshua’s day, the religious leaders were notorious for creating a ton of unscriptural doctrines, traditions, and manmade instructions that only served to burden and not help the people.

I think it’s worth noting that Yeshua took the opposite approach when he said:

“Come to me, all of you who
are struggling and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me, because I am
gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for
your souls. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light.”
-Matthew 11:28-30

Saul may have done the right thing when he stopped his men from eating blood.

But it was his retarded vow that caused that sin in the first place.

So ultimately Saul was responsible.

The blood of this sin would be on his head as much as it was on his soldiers’.

Ya feel me?