Blood was strictly prohibited from being eaten by Israel because it represented life, and life belongs to God alone. Consuming blood was forbidden as an act of reverence for the sanctity of life and the role of blood in atonement.
Leviticus 17:11 says:
“For the life 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 makes atonement for the soul.”
God had assigned blood a unique and sacred purpose… it was to be used only in the context of sacrifice, never as food. Eating it would show disrespect for its holy function and for the life it represented.
Leviticus 17:14 reinforces the command:
“For it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not eat the blood of any flesh.'”
This law taught Israel to regard life as sacred and to understand that atonement comes through the shedding of blood by God’s design. It reinforced that forgiveness required the giving of life, ultimately pointing to the sacrifice of Christ.
Hebrews 9:22 affirms this principle:
“Without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
The prohibition on eating blood was not simply ceremonial, it upheld the deeper truth that life and atonement are God’s domain alone.
