But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Genesis 9:4 gives the first permission to use animal flesh as food to those preserved after the flood, though eating flesh had become allowable after the fall when death became man's portion. Flesh had not been used until then and had formed no part of man's food in the beginning, and the permission was for the long-lived race to eat the flesh of clean animals. God gave this permission because the flood had destroyed all vegetation, choosing to permit animal food rather than work a miracle to provide food. The permission never included swine's flesh, which has ever been prohibited because the swine was made only as a scavenger and was pronounced unclean and forbidden because it eats everything that is defiled.
Flesh may be eaten only without its blood, because the blood is its life. When beasts are killed for food, the blood of the permitted animals must be carefully drained and made to flow from the body before the meat is eaten. The injunction was given as divine instruction about food to preserve health and strength, and meat whose blood has not flowed out is not regarded as wholesome.
Blood is sacred as an emblem of the Son of God, and its shedding is in consequence of sin, so to use blood as food is sinful and disregards what is sacred. In keeping this instruction the Jews drain the blood when killing animals and regard eating blood as sinful. The custom was adopted under God's special direction and must not be changed, so Jews are shocked and outraged when Gentiles eat the flesh of strangled animals and catch the blood of the sacrificial victim for use in food, which makes it impossible for Jew and Gentile to eat at the same table.
Genesis 9:4 gives the first permission to use animal flesh as food to those preserved after the flood, though eating flesh had become allowable after the fall when death became man's portion. Flesh had not been used until then and had formed no part of man's food in the beginning, and the permission was for the long-lived race to eat the flesh of clean animals. God gave this permission because the flood had destroyed all vegetation, choosing to permit animal food rather than work a miracle to provide food. The permission never included swine's flesh, which has ever been prohibited because the swine was made only as a scavenger and was pronounced unclean and forbidden because it eats everything that is defiled.
Flesh may be eaten only without its blood, because the blood is its life. When beasts are killed for food, the blood of the permitted animals must be carefully drained and made to flow from the body before the meat is eaten. The injunction was given as divine instruction about food to preserve health and strength, and meat whose blood has not flowed out is not regarded as wholesome.
Blood is sacred as an emblem of the Son of God, and its shedding is in consequence of sin, so to use blood as food is sinful and disregards what is sacred. In keeping this instruction the Jews drain the blood when killing animals and regard eating blood as sinful. The custom was adopted under God's special direction and must not be changed, so Jews are shocked and outraged when Gentiles eat the flesh of strangled animals and catch the blood of the sacrificial victim for use in food, which makes it impossible for Jew and Gentile to eat at the same table.