A CLOSER LOOK AT LEVITICUS 17:11 – Atonement from Sin – Written by Rabbi Michael Skobac and Narrated by Daniel Ventresca
You might remember that in junior high school, we were sometimes assigned to read a passage and identify its central theme. Let’s look at Leviticus 17:11 in context and think about what its theme is:
And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among you, who consumes any blood, I will set My face against that person who consumes blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Therefore, I say to the children of Israel, “No one among you shall consume blood, nor shall any stranger who sojourns among you consume blood.” Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who reside among them who hunts down an animal or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For the life of every creature — its blood is its life; therefore I have said to the people of Israel, “You shall not consume the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood; whoever consumes it will be cut off.” (Leviticus 17:10–14)
What should immediately be obvious is that the topic of this passage is not how to atone for our sins; rather it discusses the prohibition against consuming blood! This prohibition is directly stated in verse 10 and the next verse goes on to explain the reason for the prohibition. Blood contains the vital life force of the animal — “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” Consequently, when we bring an animal sacrifice, its blood serves as the atoning agent and not some other part of its body – “it’s the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”
Because blood was designated only for the holy purpose of being this atoning agent when applied to the altar, it could not be used in any other way. It could never be consumed and we had to cover it with earth (Leviticus 17:13 and Deuteronomy 12:16, 23-24). Since Leviticus 17 isn’t coming to inform us about the principles of atonement, we will have to look elsewhere for the Bible’s essential teaching on how to repair our relationship with God if we transgress His laws.
Before proceeding, let’s consider another point about what is, and what is not being said in Leviticus 17:11. The verse does say that since blood symbolizes life and contains the life force of the animal, God has given it to us as a means of atoning for our sins. But does the verse clearly teach that it is the only means God has provided to make atonement? As with any other Biblical study, we will have to examine this question in light of the Bible as a whole. But for now, we should note that our verse merely says that blood can serve as a way to atone; by no means are we told it is the only method of obtaining atonement.
In the Torah, there are multiple paths to atonement. For example, incense served to atone for the people in Numbers 17:12–13 (16:46–47 in a Christian version), and giving money is described in Exodus 30:15–16 and Numbers 31:50 as “making atonement for your souls” — the same expression found in Leviticus 17:11. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezar was told that he could atone for his sins by showing mercy to the poor in Daniel 4:24 (4:27 in a Christian Bible), and we see similar ideas in Proverbs 10:2 and 21:3.
We should also point out that many Christians erroneously assume that the entire sacrificial system of the Torah was ordained as a vehicle to atone for sin. In point of fact, there were many different kinds of sacrifices and not all were for atonement. For example, the Peace offering found in Leviticus, chapter 3 was a voluntary sacrifice brought to express one’s love and closeness to the Almighty. The Thanksgiving offering was a special kind of Peace offering brought to express gratitude to God (Leviticus 7:11–15). In addition, there were numerous sacrifices for special occasions, such as giving birth, purification from ritual impurity, and national holidays.
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