Leviticus 17:4

17:1-9 All the cattle killed by the Israelites, while in the wilderness, were to be presented before the door of the tabernacle, and the flesh to be returned to the offerer, to be eaten as a peace-offering, according to the law. When they entered Canaan, this only continued in respect of sacrifices. The spiritual sacrifices we are now to offer, are not confined to any one place. We have now no temple or altar that sanctifies the gift; nor does the gospel unity rest only in one place, but in one heart, and the unity of the Spirit. Christ is our Altar, and the true Tabernacle; in him God dwells among men. It is in him that our sacrifices are acceptable to God, and in him only. To set up other mediators, or other altars, or other expiatory sacrifices, is, in effect, to set up other gods. And though God will graciously accept our family offerings, we must not therefore neglect attending at the tabernacle.

Near to which stood the altar of burnt offering to offer it upon, and the priests ready for such service: now the Lord would have every sacrifice brought thither to offer an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord; that it might be offered publicly, and be known to be offered to the Lord, and not to idols or devils, as in Leviticus 17:7; and so to prevent private idolatry, and private persons from intruding into the priest's office; and this was typical of the acceptance of all spiritual sacrifices in the church of God, through Christ the minister of the tabernacle, which God pitched, and not man; and who is the door into the house of God, where such sacrifices are publicly to be offered up: blood shall be imputed unto that man, he hath shed blood; which though it was only the blood of a beast, yet being shed as a sacrifice for man, and typical of the blood of Christ to be shed for man, was sacred and precious to God; and therefore he resented the shedding of it to any but himself, or by any person, or in any place but by his appointment; such a man was to be punished as a murderer, idolatry being equally heinous in the sight of God as murder, see Isaiah 66:3, and that man shall be cut off from among his people; not merely excommunicated from the church of God, deprived of the privileges of his house, but even put to death; for such a man was guilty of blood, that is, of death, and therefore to be put to death either by the hand of the civil magistrate, if his

Verse 4. - In case a man offers a sacrifice elsewhere than at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,... blood shall be imputed unto that man; that is, it shall no longer be regarded as a sacrifice at all, but an unjustifiable shedding of blood, for which he is to be cut off from among his people, that is, excommunicated. Leviticus 17:4

Leviticus 17:4 . The tabernacle — This was appointed in opposition to the heathens, who sacrificed in all places; to cut off occasions of idolatry; to prevent the people’s usurpation of the priest’s office, and to signify that God would accept of no sacrifices but through Christ and in the church; of both which the tabernacle was a type. But though men were tied to this law, God was free to dispense with his own law, which he did sometimes to the prophets, as 1 Samuel 7:9 ; 1 Samuel 11:15 . He hath shed blood — He shall be punished as a murderer. The reason is, because he shed that blood, which, though not man’s blood, yet was precious, being sacred and appropriated to God, and typically the price by which men’s lives were ransomed.

This was appointed, partly, in opposition to the heathens, who sacrificed in all places; partly, to cut off occasions of idolatry; partly, to prevent the people’s usurpation of the priest’s office; and partly, to signify that God would accept of no sacrifices but through Christ and in the church, (of both which the tabernacle was a type: see Hebrews 9:11 ) and according to his own prescript. But though men were tied to this law, God was free to dispense with his own law, which he did sometimes to the prophets, as 1 Samuel 7:9 11:15 ; &c., and afterwards more fully and generally in the days of the Messiah, Malachi 1:11 John 4:21,24 . Blood shall be imputed unto that man; he shall be esteemed and punished as a murderer both by God and by men. See Isaiah 66:3 . The reason is, because he shed that blood, which, though not man’s blood, yet was as precious, being sacred and appropriated to God, and typically the price by which men’s lives were ransomed. He shall be cut off by death, either by the hand of God, in case men do not know it or neglect to punish it, or by men, if the fact was public and evident.

And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; {c} blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: (c) I abhor it as much as if he had killed a man as in Is 66:3.

3, 4. What man … killeth an ox—The Israelites, like other people living in the desert, would not make much use of animal food; and when they did kill a lamb or a kid for food, it would almost always be, as in Abraham's entertainment of the angels [Ge 18:7], an occasion of a feast, to be eaten in company. This was what was done with the peace offerings, and accordingly it is here enacted, that the same course shall be followed in slaughtering the animals as in the case of those offerings, namely, that they should be killed publicly, and after being devoted to God, partaken of by the offerers. This law, it is obvious, could only be observable in the wilderness while the people were encamped within an accessible distance from the tabernacle. The reason for it is to be found in the strong addictedness of the Israelites to idolatry at the time of their departure from Egypt; and as it would have been easy for any by killing an animal to sacrifice privately to a favorite object of worship, a strict prohibition was made against their slaughtering at home. (See on [43]De 12:15).

(4) And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. —Better, and bringeth it not to the entrance of the tent of meeting; that is, if he does not bring it to the place where the sacrifices are killed, and offer it first as a peace offering to Jehovah, he is to be regarded as wantonly shedding blood, and will be visited with the penalty of excision.