Blood

(1.) As food, prohibited in Gen. 9:4, where the use of animal food is first allowed. Comp. Deut. 12:23; Lev. 3:17; 7:26; 17:10-14. The injunction to abstain from blood is renewed in the decree of the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:29). It has been held by some, and we think correctly, that this law of prohibition was only ceremonial and temporary; while others regard it as still binding on all. Blood was eaten by the Israelites after the battle of Gilboa (1 Sam. 14:32-34). (2.) The blood of sacrifices was caught by the priest in a basin, and then sprinkled seven times on the altar; that of the passover on the doorposts and lintels of the houses (Ex. 12; Lev. 4:5-7; 16:14-19). At the giving of the law (Ex. 24:8) the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled on the people as well as on the altar, and thus the people were consecrated to God, or entered into covenant with him, hence the blood of the covenant (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:19, 20; 10:29; 13:20). (3.) Human blood. The murderer was to be punished (Gen. 9:5). The blood of the murdered “crieth for vengeance” (Gen. 4:10). The “avenger of blood” was the nearest relative of the murdered, and he was required to avenge his death (Num. 35:24, 27). No satisfaction could be made for the guilt of murder (Num. 35:31). (4.) Blood used metaphorically to denote race (Acts 17:26), and as a symbol of slaughter (Isa. 34:3). To “wash the feet in blood” means to gain a great victory (Ps. 58:10). Wine, from its red colour, is called “the blood of the grape” (Gen. 49:11). Blood and water issued from our Saviour’s side when it was pierced by the Roman soldier (John 19:34). This has led pathologists to the conclusion that the proper cause of Christ’s death was rupture of the heart. (Comp. Ps. 69:20.)

To blood is ascribed in Scripture the mysterious sacredness which belongs to life, and God reserved it to himself when allowing man the dominion over and the use of the lower animals for food. Thus reserved, it acquires a double power: (1) that of sacrificial atonement; and (2) that of becoming a curse when wantonly shed, unless duly expiated. (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 7:26; 17:11-13)

BLOOD is the fluid of life in the animal body. Ex 29:12. Its use was expressly prohibited to Noah when everything else was freely given him. Gen 9:4. By the Jewish law also it was expressly and solemnly forbidden. Lev 17:10, etc. The reason of this interdiction is probably because blood was sacredly appropriated. Lev 17:11. The Jewish ritual abounds with the use of blood, Heb 9:22; and the manner of employing it is stated with minuteness in Heb 9:1-10:39, where also its use and effects are shown in striking contrast with the blood shed upon the cross. See also Acts 20:28; Rom 5:9; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; Heb 7:27; 1 John 1:7. The prohibition of eating blood or animals that are strangled has been always rigidly observed by the Jews. In the Christian Church the custom of refraining from things strangled and from blood continued for a long time. In the council of the apostles held at Jerusalem, Acts 15, 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 precept was observed for many ages by the Church. Acts 15:20-29. The notion that the blood of the victims was peculiarly sacred to the gods is impressed on all ancient pagan mythology. See Christ. Blood, Avenger of. See Avenge, Cities of Refuge.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The fluid which circulates in the principal vascular system of animals, carrying nourishment to all parts of the body, and bringing away waste products to be excreted. See under Arterial.

2. Relationship by descent from a common ancestor; consanguinity; kinship. To share the blood of Saxon royalty. Sir W. Scott. A friend of our own blood. Waller. Half blood (Law), relationship through only one parent. -- Whole blood, relationship through both father and mother. In American Law, blood includes both half blood, and whole blood. Bouvier. Peters.

3. Descent; lineage; especially, honorable birth; the highest royal lineage. Give us a prince of blood, a son of Priam. Shak. I am a gentleman of blood and breeding. Shak.

4. Descent from parents of recognized breed; excellence or purity of breed.

5. The fleshy nature of man. Nor gives it satisfaction to our blood. Shak.

6. The shedding of blood; the taking of life, murder; manslaughter; destruction. So wills the fierce, avenging sprite, Till blood for blood atones. Hood.

7. A bloodthirsty or murderous disposition. [R.] He was a thing of blood, whose every motion Was timed with dying cries. Shak.

8. Temper of mind; disposition; state of the passions; -- as if the blood were the seat of emotions. When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth. Shak.

9. A man of fire or spirit; a fiery spark; a gay, showy man; a rake. Seest thou not . . . how giddily 'a turns about all the hot bloods between fourteen and five and thirty Shak. It was the morning costume of a dandy or blood. Thackeray.

10. The juice of anything, especially if red. He washed . . . his clothes in the blood of grapes. Gen. xiix. 11.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

1. To bleed. [Obs.] Cowper.

2. To stain, smear or wet, with blood. [Archaic] Reach out their spears afar, And blood their points. Dryden.

3. To give (hounds or soldiers) a first taste or sight of blood, as in hunting or war. It was most important too that his troops should be blooded. Macaulay.

4. To heat the blood of; to exasperate. [Obs.] The auxiliary forces of the French and English were much blooded one against another. Bacon.