Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 2 Complete John Calvin (continued)
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 2
24. Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.
24. Non comedes illum, sed in terram effundes illum instar aquae.
25. Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.
25. Non vesceris illo, ut bene sit tibi, et filiis tuis post te, quum feceris quod rectum est in oculis Jehovae.
Leviticus 7
Leviticus 7:26-27
26. Moreover, ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.
26. Nullum sanguinem comedetis in cunctis habitationibus vestris, tam de avibus quam de jumentis.
27. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.
27. Omnis anima quae comederit ullum sanguinem, excidetur anima illa e populis suis.
Leviticus 19
Leviticus 19:26
26. Ye shall not eat anything with the blood.
26. Non comedetis cum sanguine.
Deuteronomy 12:15. Notwithstanding thou mayest kill. What precedes I have introduced in its proper place, viz., that they should not kill the sacrifices anywhere but in the sanctuary, of which there was only one in
JOHN CALVIN
Judea. Here the permission to eat meat is given, provided that they do not offer the animals to God, but eat of them as of wild beasts. By way of example, two kinds are mentioned, the roe-buck and the hart, of which no offering was made. They are, therefore, freely allowed to eat meat wheresoever they pleased, with this exception, that they should not taste the blood; for, although this was observed by their forefathers before the giving of the Law, God ratifies it anew when He would gather a peculiar people to Himself. We know that immediately after the deluge, Noah and his posterity were commanded to abstain from blood; but, inasmuch as the greater part of mankind soon degenerated, it is probable that all nations neglected God's command, and permitted to themselves a universal license on this point; and it is even questionable whether this observance, which was everywhere fallen into desuetude, prevailed among the family of Shem. Certainly it may be conjectured from the renewed promulgation of the law, that it was altogether obsolete; at any rate, God would have His chosen people distinguished by this mark of separation from heathen nations.
The reason of the prohibition which is now mentioned had already been declared, 18 viz., because the blood is the seat of life. But although it, was allowable to kill an animal for food, yet, was it a useful restraint to prevent inhumanity, that they should not touch the blood; for if they abstained from the blood of beasts, much more necessary was it to spare human blood. After God, therefore, has forbidden blood to be eaten, He immediately proceeds to speak of men themselves: "Whose sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." 19 (Genesis 9:4-6.) Hence I have deemed it appropriate to annex all the passages in which God commands the people to abstain from blood, to the Sixth Commandment. In itself, indeed, the eating of blood was a thing of no great importance: since, therefore, God so often inculcates a point of so little weight, it may be inferred that the law has some further object. To this may be added the severity of the punishment, for surely it was not a crime worthy of death to taste the blood of some little bird; and hence, also, it is manifested that the prohibition had another meaning, viz., that cruelty might be abhorred. And the words of Moses show that the eating of blood is not forbidden because it infected man with its uncleanness, but that they might account the life of man to be precious; for it is said, "the blood is the life," which, in the opinion of Augustine, 20 is equivalent to its being "the sign of life;" but See on Leviticus 3:17, vol. 2, p. 335, whence, however, he refers to Genesis 9:4. C. Society's edition, vol. 1, p. 293.
Lat. "Qui effuderit sanguinem hominis in homine;" he who shall have shed the blood of man in man. — Vide C. in loco.