“However, you may slaughter and eat meat wherever you live and whenever you want, in keeping with the degree to which Adonai your God has blessed you. The unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer. But don’t eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.”-Deuteronomy 12:15-16
We’ve been discussing the new regulation that once the Israelites have entered into and are settled in the Land of Canaan, they will be free to eat domestic animals from their herds and flocks minus those animals having to be part of a ritual sacrifice.
Connected to this, I finished off my post by pointing out that there was one regulation the Lord decreed would NEVER change.
I’m talking about the decree that the blood from an animal whether domestic or wild had to be poured out on the ground and never used for any purpose.
Based on what we studied in Leviticus, the reasoning behind this command makes good sense.
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for yourselves; for it is the blood that makes atonement because of the life.“-Leviticus 17:11
Since life is in the blood, your average Israelite was barred from using blood in any manner for anything.
It was only the Levitical Priesthood who had been given divine authorization to use the blood to make atonement for the children of Israel.
When a common Israelite killed an animal for food, his only choice was to return the “life” in the blood back to the soil.
This was in a sense returning the life essence of that animal back to God.
On the other hand, in the priests’ hands on the holy grounds, blood took on a totally different characteristic because there it was used in the purification process of the Tabernacle and its various artifacts.
As part of the atonement procedures, some of the blood of the sacrificed animal was splashed onto the Bronze Altar.
This splashing of blood on the Altar is key to understanding one of the most important characteristics concerning how God’s holiness operates.
Namely, that God’s holiness is contagious.
It can be transmitted from one thing to another.
As a form of review, let’s revisit some of the foundational principles we were first exposed to in the Book of Leviticus.
The first principle of holiness which serves as the bedrock foundation upon which all the other attributes of holiness stand on is this.
ONLY GOD IS INHERENTLY HOLY.
It is only God Himself who by nature is holy.
Why is this so?
The reason is because everything but God is a created thing.
That’s right.
There is absolutely nothing else existing in the heavens and the earth, seen or unseen, that is holy in and of itself like God is.
It is only the Creator Himself who bestows holiness upon the things of His Creation by divine fiat (this means by declaration).
And even when He does this, it is always in accordance with the immutable laws and principles He has woven into the very fabric of the universe.
Now one of the things the Lord declared to be Holy was the Brazen Altar of Sacrifice and the other instruments and furnishings of the Tabernacle that were to be used in very close proximity to His Presence.
This brings me to the next point of review which is that…
…holiness is so powerful and precious it must be carefully guarded…
…from coming into contact with something common…
…minus divine authorization.
Did you catch that?
If something HOLY comes into contact with something COMMON minus God’s permission, the object that inadvertently received God’s HOLINESS must be destroyed.
Period.
We saw this with Aaron’s sons when they tried to approach the Lord with strange fire…
…and with Ananias and Sapphira when they tried to take back property they had already declared holy to God.
Another point that’s important to understand is that being COMMON is NOT the same thing as being UNCLEAN or impure.
These are two different things.
If something is COMMON, it just means it has NOT been declared by God to be Holy.
Or another way to put it is to simply say it has not been divinely endowed with the Lord’s holiness.
During the process of establishing His Holiness on this planet, God divided the human race into two groups and declared one group HOLY which meant that the other group by default was declared common.
Obviously, we now know that the people He chose to be HOLY unto Himself was Israel…
…and this will NEVER EVER and I mean NEVER change.
Let me say this again.
Via divine declaration, the people group God has selected as set apart for Himself is Israel.
It is only Israel who He has declared HOLY and thus every other people group on the planet are by definition COMMON.
And again, being COMMON does NOT mean one is ritually UNCLEAN.
It just means they are not of HOLY status.
Understand that per the Torah (not my opinion), there are four categories of spiritual states any human being or created thing can fall under.
They are…
HOLY
COMMON
CLEAN
and
UNCLEAN.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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