The prohibition of eating blood, or animals that are strangled, has been always rigidly observed by the Jews. In the council of the apostles held at Jerusalem, it was declared that converts from paganism should not be subject to the legal ceremonies, but that they should refrain from idolatry, from fornication, from eating blood, and from such animals as were strangled, and their blood thereby retained in their bodies ; which de- cree was observed for many ages by the Church (Acts XV, 20-29).
In reference to " meats offered to idols," it may be ob- served that at the first settling of the Church there were many disputes concerning the use of meats offer- ed X£> idols (1 Cor. viii, 7, 10). Some newly-converted Christians, convinced that an idol was nothing, and that the distinction of clean and unclean creatures was abol- ished by our Saviour, ate indifferently of whatever was served up to them, even among pagans, without in- quiring whether the meats had been offered to idols. They took the same liberty in buying meat sold in the market, not regarding whether it were pure or impure, according to the Jews; or whether it had been offered to idols or not. But other Christians, weaker or less instructed, were offended at this liberty, and thought that eating of meat which had been offered to idols was a kind of partaking in that wicked and sacrilegious of- fering. This diversity of opinion produced some scan-
MEAT-OFFERING
dal, for which Paul thought that it behoved him to pro- vide a remedy (Rom. xiv, 20, 21 ; Tit. i, 15). He deter- mined, therefore, that all things were clean to such as were clean, and that an idol was nothing at all; that a man might safely eat of whatever was sold in the sham- bles, and need not scrupulously inquire whence it came; and that if an unbeliever should invite a believer to eat with him, the believer might eat of whatever was set before him (1 Cor. x, 25, etc.). But at the same time he enjoins that the laws of charity and prudence should be observed ; that believers should be cautious of scan- dalizing or offending weak minds ; for though all things might be lawful, yet all things were not always expe- dient. See Sacrifice.
Meat-offering (pX^':'q,minchah' ; sometiiiies more fully M'^?■2 "(S^i^, to mark its sacrificial character; Sept. fuUy Swpov Bvala, but generally simply dwpov or ^vffia, sometimes rrpoafopa ; Vulg. ablatio sacrificii, or simply sacrijiciuni). The word minckah (from the obsolete root Hj^a, "to distribute" or " to give") signifies originally a gi/t of any kind, and appears to be used generally of a gift from an inferior to a superior, wheth- er God or man (Lat.fei'tum). Thus in Gen. xxxil, 13 it is used of the present from Jacob to Esau, in Gen. xliii, 11 of the present sent to Joseph in Egypt, in 2 Sam. viii, 2, 6 of the tribute from Jloab and Sj'ria to David, etc. ; and in Gen. iv, 3, 4, 5 it is applied to the sacrifices to God offered by Cain and Abel, although Abel's was a whole burnt-offering. Afterwards this general sense be- came attached to the word corban ("|2'1|^), and the word minchah restricted to an " unbloody offering," as opposed to nnt, a " bloody" sacrifice. It is constantly spoken of in connection with the drink-offering (TjS?.?, Sept. <jirovSi],\n\g. libamen), which generally accom- panied it, and which had the same meaning. See Drink-offering. The law or ceremonial of the meat- offering is described in Lev. ii and vi, 14-23. It was to be composed of fine flour, seasoned with salt, and mixed with oil and frankincense, but without leaven ; and it was generally accompanied by a'drink-offering of wine. A portion of it, including all the frankincense, was to be burnt on the altar as "a memorial;" the rest belonged to the priest; but the meat-offerings offered by the priests themselves were to be wholly burnt.
Its meaning (which is analogous to that of the offer- ing of the tithes, the first-fruits, and the showbread) appears to be exactly expressed in the words of David (1 Chron. xxix, 10-14), "All that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine ... All things come of thee, and of thine oivn have we given tfiee." It recognised the sov- ereignty of the Lord, and his bounty in giving us all earthly blessings, by dedicating to him the best of his gifts: the flour, as the main support of life; oil, as the symbol of richness; and wine, as the symbol of vigor and refreshment (see Psa. civ, 15). All these were un- leavened and seasoned with salt, in order to show their purity, and hallowed by the frankincense for God's spe- cial service. This recognition, implied in all cases, is expressed clearly in the form of offering the first-fruits prescribed in Deut. xxvi, 5-11.
It will be seen that this meaning mvolves neither of the main ideas of sacrifice — the atonement for sin and the self-dedication to God. It takes them for granted, and is based on them. Accordingly, the meat-offering, properly so called, seems always to have been a subsidi- ary offering, needing to be introduced by the sin-offer- ing, which represented the one idea, and forming an ap- pendage to the burnt-offering which represented the other. Thus, in the case of pubhc sacrifices, a " meat- offering" was enjoined as a part of (1) t/ie daih/ morning and evening sacrifice (Exod. xxix, 40, 41) ; (2) the Sab- bath-offering (Niimb. xxviii, 9, 10) ; (3) the offering at the new moon (Numb, xxviii, 11-14) : (4) the offerings at the great festivals (Numb, xxviii, 20, 28 ; xxix, 3, 4, 14, 15, etc.) ; (5) the offerings on the great day of atonement