Leviticus 17:1-7 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

All Slaughter must be Sacrificial, i.e. at the sanctuary (cf. Deuteronomy 12:2 ff., 2 Kings 23:8; Jeremiah 7:18). All slaughter had originally this sacrificial character, among the Hebrews, as among other pastoral and some agricultural peoples; animals were practically never killed except for sacrifice. Then, any other kind of slaughter easily came to be regarded as impious. To Hindus, there is no greater crime than slaughtering an ox (cf. Manu, v. 31), and to-day, except among outcastes, sacrifices of animals are a thing of the past. The abolition of sacrifices in the country (the open field, Leviticus 17:5), first definitely proclaimed in Deuteronomy 12:6 f. (cf. 2 Kings 23:8) involves that of sacrifices to he-goats, i.e. field demons (Leviticus 17:7, cf mg. and see Satyr in EBi.); the simple, primitive agricultural rites (for further examples see Frazer, Golden Bough), now become fornication (cf. Ezekiel 6:9, Ezekiel 16). Even field sacrifices to Yahweh are by implication forbidden. For these demons cf. Isaiah 13:21 *, Isaiah 34:14. On the dangers felt in intermitting the old sacrifices, cf. Jeremiah 44:17. For the older practice, cf. 1 Samuel 14:32; 1 Kings 19:21. It was always dangerous to shed blood, unless on an altar; as field altars are now prohibited, all field sacrifices will be dangerous (Leviticus 17:4). In Dt., killing as distinct from sacrifice is allowed (Deuteronomy 12:15); also, by implication, in P (Genesis 9:2); it is unmentioned in Ezek., and not referred to elsewhere in H. Eerdmans suggests that we have here the direction for a local shrine in Jerusalem (cf. on Leviticus 17:12); more probably it is an extension of the principle of Deuteronomy 12, which was later found to be impracticable, or, as centralisation became more deeply rooted, needless.