Vars. 20-28.-The sanctity of blood. The central a.lta.r was for the reception of the blood. And while the Jews remained in pilgrimage, every time they killed an animal out of their flocks or herds for family use they carried the blood to the tabernacle, that it might be duly disposed of by the priest. In case of the roebucks and harts, their blood was not sacrificial; it was therefore ordained that it should be poured out on the earth, and carefully and solemnly covered up. When they were settled in the land of Canaan, they were too far from the central altar to carry the blood of every animal out of the herd or flock which was slain to the appointed place. Hence they were a.llowccl to deal with the domestic animals as with the products of the chase (ver. 22). It is to this fact of the sanctity of blood that we would now direct attention. I. THE HEATHEN NATIONS WERE ACCUSTOMED TO MAKE DRINK OFFERINGS OF BLOOD. David refers to the fact when he says, "Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips" (Ps. xvi. 4). These drink offerings of blood a.rose, doubtless, out of the bloodthirstiness of the heathen themselves. Men of blood thought their god delighted in bloodsbedding as they did. It was human passion projected into the religious domain. II. GOD SO DIDECTED HIS WORSHIPPERS ABOUT THE DISPOSAL OF THE BLOOD TH.\T THEY COULD NOT REGARD IT IN ANY OTHER LIGHT THAN AS A MOST SACRED THING. It was to be carefully carried to bis altar and disposed of by the officiating priests, or, if this was not possible, it was solemnly poured into the earth, and covered carefully from all profane uses. On no account was it to be eateu: this would have profaned it. III. THE REASON ASSIGNED WAS THAT TH.E LIFE WAS IN THE BLOOD. "Life" is the gift of God, the mysterious something which escapes our observation in analysis, which bafiles our productive powers, aud which works such wonders in the world of nature. As God's gift, it is to be holy in our eyes, and disposed of as he sees best. IV. THE VIOARIOUSNESS OF SUFFERING GAVE IT ADDITIONAL SANCTITY. For sbe,1 blood meant life sacrificed to sustain other life. Our bodies depend upon vicarious suffering for their sustenance. Sacrifice underlies the constitution of the world. It was meet, then, that this principle should be recognized and sanctified in the sight of men. V. BLOOD HAD ITS RELIGIOUS FUNCTION, NOT A PHYSIOAL FUNCTION, TO DISCHARGE DI' TDE MoSAIO ECONOMY. 'l'he God of Israel did not delight in blood, as the gods of the heathen were supposed to do. He singled it out for a religious use. It was to be the material of a holy act, wherever shed. This was undoubtedly to keep it so out of the sphere of physical elements that it could symbolize fully "the blood of Jesus Christ," by which the world is to be saved.-R. M. E.
Vers. 1-4.-The doom of idolatry. The reverse side of blessing is a cur~e. The abuse of the best things is the worst. In the ratio in which any institution bas capacity DEUTERONOMY. Q 226 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [OH, XII, 1-82,
lo l){'ncfit, !ms it cnpacity to injur<>. The sun can quicken life or kill. Tho templo le n ~te11pi11g-stone to heaYcn or a snnre of hell. T. BoTII :KAT0nE AND ART RAVE DEEN PROSTITUT!m TO DABEBT USES, If men cannot find G,,d in tlwrnselves, they cannot find him in material nature. Somo "look through nR( ur~ up to nature's God." Some look through nature to darkness, sensuality, and despair. II. 'l'rrE DEA U'l'Il'UL MUST DE SACnIFIOED TO MORAL NECERSITIES. lEsthotics must yield to ethics. Our moral exigencies are J)<'l.ramount. The voice of taste is the voice of a charmer. The voice of conscience is the voice of a king. If the creations of art nre inimical t.o the interests of righteousness, they must be destroyed, Eternal life is beyond nil pricc. Whatever keeps man from the living God is doomed. III. TnuE J.IFE HAS A DESTRUCTIVE SIDE. The growth of a plant involves tho death of the seed. The life of the body is sustaine<l. by manifold death. Eternal life comes hy tbe death of the Son of Goel. The inner life of piety is quickened by the death of self. True love to God is the hatred of his foes. ,Jesus Christ "came to destroy the works of the devil."-D.