Leviticus 17:1-19:37

God commands his people to respect the blood of the animals they kill. “The life of every creature is in the blood.”  The people are not sacrifice an animal except at the temple and they are not to drink the blood of an animal as this is reserved for God.  The people are then instructed as to what sexual relationships are inappropriate for God’s people.  Finally, God says to the people, “You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”  God then enumerates specifics ways in which the people can be holy.

The rules about blood seem to have been put in place so that they people do not offer sacrifices to other gods, or consider themselves to be gods.  One of the most ancient ways of praying to the gods was to splatter yourself with the fresh blood of an offering.  Through these rules God is clearly saying that this is not about you, it is about me.  You are to worship me and if you worship me I promise I will bless you is what God says.

For the first time, God is specifically calling his people to imitate himself.  The Jews were to become more God-like; not with the goal of becoming God, but with the goal of becoming more holy.  As Christians we are called to become more and more like Christ; not with the goal of becoming Christ, but with the goal of becoming a witness to our community.

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