Commentary - Leviticus 7:22-27

Bird's-eye view

In this short, emphatic section, Yahweh gives Moses a direct command for the people of Israel concerning two specific elements of the sacrificial animals: the fat and the blood. These prohibitions are not new, having been stated earlier in principle (e.g., Lev 3:17), but they are repeated here with stark clarity and a severe penalty. The central point is that certain things belong exclusively to God. The fat represents the best, the richest portion, the very essence of the life and health of the animal. The blood, as the text will later make explicit, is the life itself. By forbidding the consumption of these, God was teaching Israel a fundamental lesson about worship and atonement. The best belongs to God, and life belongs to God. To eat either was to profane what was holy and to usurp God's prerogative. This passage, therefore, is a powerful object lesson in the fear of the Lord, demonstrating that true fellowship with God requires a clear understanding of what is His and what is ours, a distinction that finds its ultimate fulfillment and meaning in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The penalty for violating these commands is to be "cut off from his people," a phrase indicating a severe form of excommunication from the covenant community. This underscores the gravity of the offense. This was not a mere dietary suggestion; it was a boundary marker for the people of God. To cross it was to declare oneself outside the fellowship of Israel and, consequently, outside the realm of God's saving promises. The entire structure of the sacrificial system was designed to point to a greater reality, and these prohibitions were critical guardrails to ensure the symbolism remained pure and potent.

Outline

Context In Leviticus

This passage is situated within a larger block of instructions regarding the various offerings, specifically the peace offering. Chapter 7 begins by detailing the priests' share of the guilt offering and the peace offering. After describing how the priests and the worshippers are to handle the holy portions, the text pivots here in verse 22 to address the congregation of Israel directly. This is not just for the priests at the Tabernacle; it is a law for "any of your places of habitation" (v. 26). The placement is strategic. Having just detailed the joyous communion of the peace offering, where the worshipper and the priest share a meal in God's presence, the Lord inserts this stern warning. It serves as a reminder that fellowship with a holy God is a privilege that comes with strict conditions. You cannot have communion with God on your own terms. The very meal that celebrates peace is governed by laws that distinguish between the holy and the common, teaching Israel that God is the one who sets the terms of fellowship.

Key Issues

God's Exclusive Rights

At the heart of any covenant is a clear delineation of rights and responsibilities. Who owns what? Who gets to decide? In these verses, God lays an absolute claim to two things: the fat and the blood. In our modern, low-fat, health-conscious culture, we might miss the significance of the fat. But in the ancient world, fat was not a liability; it was the symbol of the very best. It represented wealth, health, abundance, and energy. When God claimed the fat, He was claiming the richest, most desirable portion for Himself. It was to be turned into smoke on the altar, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. This was a tangible way of saying that the very best of our lives, the cream of our efforts and possessions, belongs to Him.

Even more foundational was the claim on the blood. The Bible is explicit elsewhere that "the life of the flesh is in the blood" (Lev 17:11). Life is God's sole prerogative. He gives it, and He has the sole right to take it. By forbidding the consumption of blood, God was building a theological wall around the sanctity of life. To consume blood was to treat life as a common thing, something to be ingested for one's own sustenance. But life, and particularly the life laid down in sacrifice, was holy. It was the very currency of atonement. These prohibitions were not arbitrary; they were pictorial catechism lessons, teaching Israel week in and week out that the best of all we have and the very life that we live belong entirely to God.

Verse by Verse Commentary

22 Then Yahweh 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.

The instruction begins with the standard, authoritative formula: "Yahweh spoke to Moses." This is not a suggestion from a legislator; it is a direct command from the covenant Lord. The command is for all the "sons of Israel," not just the priesthood. The prohibition is specific: no fat from the three primary domestic animals used in sacrifice, the ox, sheep, or goat. This refers to the suet, the hard fat surrounding the kidneys and intestines, which was designated as the Lord's portion in the peace offering (Lev 3:3-5). By forbidding them to eat this fat, God was reserving the richest part for His altar. It was a constant, enacted parable teaching them to give God their best, not their leftovers.

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.

Here we find a practical clarification that highlights the main point. What if an animal dies of natural causes or is killed by a predator? It is rendered unfit for sacrifice, and the person who touches it is unclean for a time. But what about its fat? God says it can be used for other purposes, perhaps for making tallow for lamps or for waterproofing. The key is that it is common, not holy. It can be used, but it cannot be eaten. The prohibition on eating it remains absolute. This rule reinforces the central idea: the fat is forbidden not because it is inherently unhealthy or unclean, but because it represents a theological principle. Even when not offered on the altar, the fat that symbolized "the best" was not to be consumed by the people. It was a matter of consecration, not sanitation.

25 For whoever eats the fat of the animal from which an offering by fire is brought near to Yahweh, even the person who eats shall be cut off from his people.

Now the penalty is attached, and it is severe. This verse specifies the fat from an animal that could be offered to God. To eat this fat was to commit a high-handed sin, a direct act of sacrilege. It was like robbing God's plate. The consequence was to be "cut off from his people." This was not simply being shunned at the next potluck. This was formal excommunication from the covenant community. It meant being put outside the camp, outside the sphere of God's blessings, protection, and promises. It was a form of social and spiritual death, a declaration that the offender had, by his actions, broken covenant with Yahweh and His people. The severity of the punishment matched the severity of the crime: usurping what belongs to God alone.

26 And you shall not eat any blood, either of bird or animal, in any of your places of habitation.

The prohibition is now extended to blood, and it is made even more comprehensive. It includes not just the main sacrificial animals, but any bird or animal. And it applies not just at the central sanctuary, but "in any of your places of habitation." This was a law for the dinner table in the farthest corner of the promised land, not just for the barbecue next to the Tabernacle. Blood represents life, and God was teaching His people that all life is sacred because it comes from Him. To treat blood as common food was to cheapen the value of life, and by extension, to cheapen the significance of the atoning blood that would one day be shed for sin.

27 Any person who eats any blood, even that person shall be cut off from his people.’ ”

The section concludes by attaching the very same penalty to the eating of blood. The repetition is for emphasis. Whether you steal God's portion of fat or profane His gift of life by consuming blood, the result is the same: excommunication. You have declared yourself an outsider to the covenant. This is not arbitrary. The entire sacrificial system, the entire hope of Israel, was based on the principle of substitutionary atonement through the shedding of blood. As Leviticus 17:11 says, "it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." To eat blood was to trample on the very mechanism of salvation that God had provided. It was to treat the means of atonement as nothing more than a beverage.

Application

So what does a New Covenant believer, who has been told by Jesus that all foods are clean (Mark 7:19), do with a passage like this? First, we recognize the abiding principle. The fat and blood belonged to God because the best of life and life itself belong to Him. This is a timeless truth. We are called to offer our best to God, not our scraps. We are to offer our "bodies as a living sacrifice" (Rom 12:1), which means giving Him the fat, the best of our energy, our time, our resources, and our affections. We are not to treat life as a common thing, but as a sacred trust from our Creator.

Second, we see the glorious fulfillment in Christ. Jesus is the perfect peace offering. On the cross, all the "fat", the very best of a perfect, sinless life, was offered up to God as a pleasing aroma. And His blood, the very lifeblood of the Son of God, was not consumed but was poured out on the altar of the cross to make atonement for our souls. He is the fulfillment of this entire picture. The reason we are no longer bound by the prohibition against eating blood, as the Jerusalem Council made clear was a temporary concession for the sake of fellowship (Acts 15:20), is because the reality has come. The shadow is no longer necessary.

The penalty of being "cut off" also finds its fulfillment in Christ. For our sin, for our constant tendency to keep the best for ourselves and profane what is holy, we deserved to be cut off from God's people forever. But on the cross, Jesus was "cut off from the land of the living" (Isa 53:8) in our place. He endured the ultimate excommunication from the Father so that we, through faith in Him, might be brought near and welcomed into the household of God. This passage, therefore, should drive us to gratitude. It shows us the holiness of God and the gravity of our sin, and in so doing, it magnifies the glorious sufficiency of the fat and the blood of the Lamb of God, offered once for all.