Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God commands that the Jews sacrifice not to a demon, but to Him alone, and that not in the field, but only in the tabernacle; secondly, in verse 10, He forbids them the eating of blood and of carrion.
Vulgate Text: Leviticus 17:1-16
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, saying to them: This is the word which the Lord has commanded, saying: 3. Any man of the house of Israel, if he shall kill an ox, or a sheep, or a goat, in the camp or outside the camp, 4. and has not offered it at the door of the tabernacle as an oblation to the Lord, he shall be guilty of blood; as if he had shed blood, so shall he perish from the midst of his people. 5. Therefore the children of Israel ought to offer their sacrifices to the priest, which they kill in the field, that they may be sanctified to the Lord before the door of the tabernacle of testimony, and sacrifice them as peace offerings to the Lord. 6. And the priest shall pour the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of testimony, and shall burn the fat for a sweet odor to the Lord; 7. and they shall no more sacrifice their victims to demons, with whom they have fornicated. It shall be an everlasting ordinance to them and their posterity. 8. And to them you shall say: Any man of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who sojourn among you, who offers a holocaust or a victim, 9. and does not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of testimony, that it may be offered to the Lord, shall perish from his people. 10. Any man whatsoever of the house of Israel, and of the strangers who sojourn among them, if he eats blood, I will set My face against his soul, and will destroy him from among his people, 11. because the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you, that you may make atonement with it upon the altar for your souls, and the blood may be for an expiation of the soul. 12. Therefore I said to the children of Israel: No soul of you shall eat blood, nor of the strangers who sojourn among you. 13. Any man whatsoever of the children of Israel, and of the strangers who sojourn among you, if by hunting or fowling he takes a wild beast or a bird, which it is lawful to eat, let him pour out its blood, and cover it with earth. 14. For the life of all flesh is in the blood; therefore I said to the children of Israel: You shall not eat the blood of any flesh at all, because the life of the flesh is in the blood; and whosoever eats it, shall perish. 15. The soul that eats that which has died of itself, or has been caught by a beast, whether he be one of your own country, or a stranger, shall wash his garments and himself with water, and shall be defiled until the evening: and in this order he shall be made clean. 16. But if he does not wash his garments and his body, he shall bear his iniquity.
Verses 3-4: Sacrifice Only in the Tabernacle
3 and 4. Any man of the house of Israel, if he kills an ox, or a sheep, or a goat in the camp or outside the camp, and has not offered it at the door of the tabernacle as an oblation to the Lord, he shall be guilty of blood. — Some take this to refer to any killing, not only for sacrifice, but also for food, as if God here commands that butchers and other private persons who slaughter oxen, sheep, and goats for eating should not slaughter them anywhere but in the tabernacle, nor slaughter them unless they have first offered them to the Lord. Theodoretus seems to hold this view, saying that the high priest of the Jews was still required by this law to sacrifice their food animals. But then the high priest would truly have been a butcher, and the tabernacle would have been a place of butchery. Moreover, it would have been impossible, given the great multitude of the Jews, for all the sheep, oxen, and goats that were slaughtered throughout all Judea (for those that were killed in Jerusalem where the temple was, there was a different rationale, as I shall explain at Deut. XII, 21) to be brought to Jerusalem and slaughtered there in the temple, and afterward carried back home to other cities. Therefore it is certain and clear that what is discussed here is not killing for food, but only for sacrifice; for this passage deals with the immolation of victims, as is evident from the following verse. The meaning therefore is: Whoever sacrifices and offers a sheep, ox, or goat outside the tabernacle is guilty of death. The one who thus sacrificed sinned in two ways: first, by killing the victim if he was a layman — for by sacrificing he usurped the priestly office; second, by doing the same thing outside the tabernacle. For God wished sacrifices to be offered to Him in one place only, and this in order to ward off the danger and suspicion of idolatry, and lest the Jews worship the gods of the Gentiles on mountains, in groves, and in caves. For this reason, when these causes ceased, certain holy men, inspired by God, sacrificed outside the tabernacle, says St. Augustine, Question XVI. So did Manoah, the father of Samson, Judges XIII, 19; so also Samuel, who sacrificed at Mizpah, I Kings VII, 9, and at Gilgal, I Kings XI, 15, and at Bethlehem, I Kings XVI, 2; so also David sacrificed at the threshing floor of Ornan, II Kings XXIV, 18; and Elijah on Mount Carmel, III Kings XVIII, 23.
Allegorically, the tabernacle is the Church, outside of which no sacrifice, nor even martyrdom, can be pleasing to God. So says Radulphus.
Verse 4: He Shall Be Guilty of Blood
4. He shall be guilty of blood (that is, he shall be guilty of death; he shall be punished with death by the judge, if the matter is established; but if the matter is hidden, he shall be punished by God. Whence it follows), As if he had shed blood, so shall he perish from the midst of his people — that is, he shall be killed just as a murderer is killed. Because of this law the Israelites prepared war against the Reubenites, who had erected another altar, Joshua XXII, 12.
Verse 5: Peace Offerings to the Lord
5. Therefore (lest they become guilty of blood and death) the children of Israel ought to offer their sacrifices to the priest (you see that here only sacrifices and offerings are discussed, as I said at verse 3) which they kill in the field. — That is, which according to the custom of other nations they are accustomed to kill and sacrifice in the field, and this not to God, but to demons, as is said in verse 7; or which they would otherwise kill and sacrifice in the field, unless this law forbade it. This is clear from what follows: "That they may be sanctified (offered and consecrated) to the Lord before the door of the tabernacle of testimony, and sacrifice (therefore these victims were not already killed or sacrificed, but were accustomed to being sacrificed in the field) them as peace offerings to the Lord." Under peace offerings, understand also holocausts and sin offerings. Yet he names only peace offerings here, because such were generally sacrificed to demons, since peace offerings were easier and more frequent to offer, because a large part of them was given to the offerers as a feast. Hence God, in order to invite the Jews to Himself and His own sacrifices, proposes and names to them here only peace offerings.
Verse 6: He Shall Pour the Blood upon the Altar
6. He shall pour the blood upon the altar — around the circuit of the altar, as is clear from chapter III, 2.
Verse 7: They Shall No More Sacrifice to Demons
7. And they shall no more sacrifice their victims to demons, with whom they have fornicated. — "To demons," that is, to Satyrs, says Vatablus. For the Hebrew word שעירם seirim corresponds to this, which is derived from שער sear, meaning "hair." Hence it properly signifies those who are hairy and shaggy, like he-goats; for demons formerly appeared in such form and shape in forests, fields, and mountains: and these are the Fauns and Satyrs to whom the Gentiles sacrificed in those places, which God here forbids the Jews from doing. With whom they have fornicated — that is, to whom they adhered and sacrificed. Note: Idolatry is called fornication in Scripture, and idolaters are said to fornicate with idols, because the Jews, having abandoned God their true spouse, give themselves to the love and worship of another, namely, a demon. Hence it is clear that the Jews before this time, while they were still in Egypt, worshipped idols and sacrificed to demons; the same is clear from Ezekiel chapter XVI, verse 22 and following.
Verses 8 and 10: The Prohibition of Eating Blood
8 and 10. Any man of the house of Israel (a Jewish man) and of the strangers (Gentiles converted to Judaism, that is, proselytes; for these are commonly called strangers throughout the Pentateuch) who sojourn (in Hebrew יגור tagur, that is, who dwell) among them (as strangers and foreigners), if he eats blood, I will set My face against his soul, and will destroy him from among his people — namely, I will kill him and punish him with swift death in this life, and I will reject him in the next, so that he may not be reckoned, nor be numbered among the people of his father Abraham, nor in the assembly of the saints; but I will place him among those who are uncircumcised and among foreigners, says Hesychius, and consequently among the reprobate and the damned. For thus, conversely, Abraham is said to have been gathered to his people, Genesis XXV, 8; and Isaac, Genesis XXXV, 29; and Jacob, Genesis XLVI, last verse. The eating of blood is here forbidden to the Jews under penalty of death and damnation (as is clear from verse 4) for the reason which God states, saying:
Verse 11: The Life of the Flesh Is in the Blood
11. Because the life of the flesh is in the blood. — Not as though the blood itself is animated or informed by a soul, and thus is alive and lives in itself — for the Philosophers refute this — but the meaning is: Because the soul, and consequently the life of the flesh, that is, of the animal, chiefly consists in and is preserved by the blood, as in a disposition and vehicle, because the blood, more than other humors, supplies and fosters the natural heat and the radical moisture, and forms and supplies the vital spirits. For just as oil feeds the fire in a lamp, so blood feeds life, says St. Augustine, Question LVII.
Again, because visible blood signifies the invisible soul: so says the same St. Augustine, to be cited presently. The meaning therefore is: I forbid you the eating of blood, because the life of the animal is in the blood; and I will that you not eat life, lest you learn to take away anyone's life, and so that I may keep you far from cruelty.
Third, because, as follows, the expiation for your souls is made by the blood of victims: since therefore blood is as it were sacred to Me, I will that out of reverence for Me you abstain from all blood whatsoever, even that which has not been sacrificed. See what was said at chapter III, verse 17. For this same reason also, says Theodoret, Question XXIII, God forbade the Jews from eating animals that died of themselves, because the blood had not been separated from them; which should be understood of those that died naturally: for otherwise other carcasses too, indeed all dead bodies, were forbidden to the Jews, for example, those that had been slaughtered and killed and thrown down in the fields, in which this reason of Theodoret does not apply, since through slaughter their blood had been shed.
Tropologically, blood is hidden desire, flesh is vice, because from desire every vice is born and lives; a carcass is the external work proceeding therefrom. "Blood," says Radulphus, "signifies carnal appetite: but God discerns not only what I do, but also what I desire; therefore before we do anything evil outwardly, if we have swallowed blood, if we have conceived iniquity in the heart, being alienated in mind from God we incur His enmity, which is to eat blood."
Therefore that Abbot wisely says in the Lives of the Fathers, chapter On Fornication: "The thought of fornication," he says, "is fragile, like papyrus. If therefore it is cast into us, and we do not consent but cast it away from us, it is easily broken; therefore to those who consent to them, there is no hope of salvation: but for those who do not consent, a crown is laid up." The best remedy for concupiscence, therefore, is to cast it off bravely as soon as you perceive it, and to turn your mind and eyes elsewhere. Hence Abbot Hyperichius truly said: "As the lion is terrible to wild asses, so is a proven monk to the thoughts of concupiscence."
In the sacrifices of other nations also, blood and soul are confused, as in those lines of Virgil, Aeneid II, 116 ff.: "With blood you appeased the winds, and a virgin slain, when first you Danaans came to the Trojan altars; with blood must you seek your return, and an Argive life must be sacrificed." On this passage Servius says: "He seems indeed to have made mention of an animal victim with priestly skill; for he said both 'soul' and used the pontifical verb 'litare,' meaning: to appease the gods with sacrifices."
Verse 13: Hunting and Fowling
13. If by hunting or fowling he takes a wild beast or a bird. — The Jews do not seem, says Abulensis, to have hunted with dogs, because if dogs in hunting had killed or torn a wild beast, that animal could not have been eaten, according to the law of Exodus XXII, last verse: therefore they hunted with nets, pits, spears, and arrows. But this point about dogs does not seem correct; for that law of Exodus XXII does not speak of dogs, but of beasts of the field (that is, wild animals), as the Chaldean, the Septuagint, and our Translator have it. Therefore what was caught and torn by a wild beast the Jews could not eat; but they could eat what was caught by a dog.
Verse 14: The Life of All Flesh Is Its Blood
14. For the life of all flesh is in the blood. — In Hebrew, the life of all flesh is its blood — not that the soul is properly the blood itself, as some Philosophers held, as Aristotle attests, book I On the Soul; but this should be understood causally and concomitantly, that is: The life of all flesh is caused, sustained, and manifested through the blood. Whence it follows in the Hebrew, the blood is (reckoned as) the soul, so that if you take it away, you take away both the soul and the life. Hear St. Augustine, book II Against the Adversaries of the Law and Prophets, chapter VI: "Thus, he says, it was said: 'The life of all flesh is the blood,' in the same way as it was said: 'The rock was Christ' — not because He was this, but because this was signified: and it was not without reason that the law wished to signify the soul by blood, that is, an invisible thing by a visible thing, because blood, diffused through all the veins from the heart itself, predominates in our body more than the other humors: so that wherever a wound is inflicted, not another humor but blood itself flows forth. So also the soul, because it invisibly prevails over all the parts of which we are composed, is better signified by that which visibly prevails over all the parts of which we are composed." Add that from blood the vital and animal spirits are produced, as physicians teach. Blood therefore serves the spirit, the spirit serves the senses, the senses serve reason.
Verse 15: Eating What Has Died of Itself or Been Caught by a Beast
15. The soul that eats that which has died of itself (died on its own), or has been caught by a beast — torn apart and partially consumed by some wild animal: for so our Translator, the Septuagint, and the Chaldean render it, Exodus XXII, 31. But because ordinarily what wild beasts catch, they tear apart and eat, hence "caught by a beast" is the same as "torn apart and partially consumed by a beast." He shall wash his garments — if he unknowingly ate such a thing (for if he had knowingly eaten it, he would have been more severely punished); moreover, he shall offer the sacrifice prescribed in chapter IV, verse 27.
And in This Order He Shall Be Made Clean
And in this order he shall be made clean. — In Hebrew, and he shall be clean, that is, having performed these ceremonies which I have here prescribed.
Verse 16: He Shall Bear His Iniquity
16. But if he does not wash his garments or his body, he shall bear his iniquity — that is, he shall bear and pay the penalties of his iniquity and disobedience; and if he omitted this expiation of himself through forgetfulness, he shall offer the sacrifice decreed in chapter V, verse 2; and from this it is said that God transfers sin into the victim, when He pardons the penalty of sin to the one offering, and transfers it to the victim. But if he knowingly omitted it, he sinned gravely, and shall not be expiated by sacrifice, but by repentance and satisfaction made to God.
Tropological Sense: Beasts Are Demons
Tropologically, beasts are demons and men of savage morals, estranged from the worship of piety. Those caught by a beast are those who have been deceived and driven to sin by them. Such persons are not to be eaten, that is, imitated, but rebuked; if anyone happens to eat, that is, imitate such a person, let him wash his garments and flesh, that is, through repentance let him purge his conduct from wicked deeds, and his conscience from evil will; and he shall be unclean until evening, because, until the heat of temptation has subsided, he cannot obtain full cleansing of himself. If he does not wash and correct himself, he shall not escape the punishment he has deserved. So says Radulphus.
That Abbot in the Lives of the Fathers wisely said, in the treatise On Sobriety, that there are three precursors of Satan, namely: forgetfulness, negligence, and concupiscence. "For, he says, if forgetfulness comes, it begets negligence; from negligence concupiscence is born; from concupiscence man falls. For if the mind is so sober that it rejects forgetfulness, it does not come to negligence; and if it is not negligent, it does not receive concupiscence; and if it does not receive concupiscence, it will never fall, with the help of the grace of Christ." And Abbot Achilles, when asked: "How do the demons fight against us?" answered: "Through our wills: for logs are the soul's; the axe is the devil; the handle is our will. Through our evil wills, then, we are cut down." And Abbot Poemen said: "The demons do not fight against us, because we do their wills; but our own wills have become demons to us, and they afflict us." Ibid., book VII, chapter XXV.
For most true is that saying of St. Ambrose, On the Happy Life: "There is no reason for us to attribute our misery to anything except the will. Christ chooses for Himself a willing soldier; the devil buys for himself a willing slave at auction. He possesses no one bound by the yoke of servitude unless that person has first sold himself to him for the price of sins."
Note: The devil is aptly called a beast and a wild animal; for first, as St. Peter says: "He goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour;" second, because, as St. Basil says, just as a leopard rages so against a man that if it even sees his painted image, it tears and rends it — so the devil, since he cannot harm God, whom he hates, persecutes His image, namely, man. Third, the author of On the Simplicity of Prelates, in St. Cyprian, says: "The devil is called a serpent, because he creeps up secretly, because deceiving under the appearance of peace, he creeps in by hidden approaches (whence he received the name of serpent), such is his cunning, such is his blind and laborious deceit in circumventing man, that he seems to assert night for day, poison for health, desperation under the pretense of hope, treachery under the pretext of faith, Antichrist under the name of Christ; so that while he tells plausible lies, he may frustrate the truth by his subtlety. For he transforms himself into an angel of light."
Fourth, St. Martin, as Sulpitius attests in his Life, having set out to visit the diocese of Candes with his disciples, saw cormorants fishing in a river, pursuing their prey of fish, and pressing their rapacious gluttony with continual catches. Then he said: This is the manner of demons, who lay ambushes for the unwary, seize the unknowing, devour the captured, and cannot be satisfied by those they have devoured.