Okay, so the ancient Israelites weren’t supposed to eat blood or fat. What can we possibly learn from that fact?

Well, in ancient times, fat was considered the best part of an animal (and fans of bacon and pork rinds would continue to agree!). And God made it clear that when His people made an animal offering to Him, the fat was to be burned up as His portion (see Leviticus 3:3-5, for example). In other words, the best of the sacrifice belonged to God – and that’s still a good rule for us to follow, isn’t it? After all, if we really love God with all we are and all we have, shouldn’t we want Him to have the best instead of holding it back for ourselves?

Okay, but what about the prohibition against eating blood? Well, back in Genesis chapter 9, God told Noah that, even though he would be allowed to eat animals after the flood, he was not to eat their blood. And why not? Because loss of blood means loss of life, people have always closely related them. Blood was therefore to be treated reverently, as the very stuff of life, because God is the only true source of life.

And in Leviticus 17:11, we see that this association between blood and life lies at the core of the entire Old Testament sacrificial system: the only way for sin to be forgiven was for blood to be shed, because any form of rebellion against God deserves the death penalty. That’s why the blood of animals was for atonement, not for consumption – as they gave up their lives, they pointed forward to the more perfect sacrifice of Christ.

So, if Old Testament people were supposed to be reverent with the blood of animals, how much more should we be reverent toward Christ Himself? Because He has given His best for us, doesn’t He deserve our best? Because He has given His life for us, doesn’t He deserve our life, all that we are and all that we have?

Leviticus 7:22-27 (NASB)

22 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
23 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall not eat any fat from an ox, a sheep, or a goat.
24 ‘Also the fat of an animal which dies, and the fat of an animal torn by beasts, may be put to any other use, but you must certainly not eat it.
25 ‘For whoever eats the fat of the animal from which an offering by fire is offered to the LORD, even the person who eats shall be cut off from his people.
26 ‘And you are not to eat any blood, either of bird or animal, in any of your dwellings.
27 ‘Any person who eats any blood, even that person shall be cut off from his people.'”

Leviticus 17:10-12 (NASB)

10 ‘And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
11 ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’
12 “Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.’