eaten (see at Lev 17:10.). The blood was to be poured out upon the earth like water, that it might suck it in, receive it into its bosom.
verses 17-19
Sacrificial meals could only be held at the sanctuary; and the Levite was not to be forgotten or neglected in connection with them (see at Deu 12:6, Deu 12:7, and Deu 12:12). תוּכל לא, “thou must not,” as in Deu 7:22.
verses 20-21
These rules were still to remain in force, even when God should extend the borders of the land in accordance with His promise. This extension relates partly to the gradual but complete extermination of the Canaanites (Deu 7:22, comp. with Exo 23:27-33), and partly to the extension of the territory of the Israelites beyond the limits of Canaan Proper, in accordance with the divine promise in Gen 15:18. The words “as He hath spoken to thee” refer primarily to Exo 23:27-33. (On Deu 12:20, see Deu 12:15). - In Deu 12:21, “if the place...be too far from thee,” supplies the reason for the repeal of the law in Lev 17:3, which restricted all slaughtering to the place of the sanctuary. The words “kill...as I have commanded thee” refer back to Deu 12:15.
Verse 22
Only the flesh that was slaughtered was to be eaten as the hart and the roebuck (cf. Deu 12:15), i.e., was not to be made into a sacrifice. יחדּו, together, i.e., the one just the same as the other, as in Isa 10:8, without the clean necessarily eating along with the unclean.
verses 23-24
The law relating to the blood, as in Deu 12:16. - “Be strong not to eat the blood,” i.e., stedfastly resist the temptation to eat it.
verses 25-27
On the promise for doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord, see Deu 6:18. - In Deu 12:26, Deu 12:27, the command to offer all the holy gifts at the place chosen by the Lord is enforced once more, as in Deu 12:6, Deu 12:11, Deu 12:17, Deu 12:18; also to prepare the sacrifices at His altar. קדשׁים, the holy offerings prescribed in the law, as in Num 18:8; see at Lev 21:22. The “votive offerings” are mentioned in connection with these, because vows proceeded from a spontaneous impulse. לך יהיוּ אשׁר, “which are to thee,” are binding upon thee. In v. 27, “the flesh and the blood” are in opposition to “thy burnt-offerings:” “thy burnt-offerings, namely the flesh and blood of them,” thou shalt prepare at the altar of Jehovah; i.e., the flesh and blood of the burnt-offerings were to be placed upon and against the altar (see at Lev 1:5-9). Of the slain-offerings, i.e., the shelamim, the blood was to be poured out against the altar (Lev 3:2, Lev 3:8, Lev 3:13); “the flesh thou canst eat” (cf. Lev 7:11.). There is no ground for seeking an antithesis in ישּׁפך, as Knobel does, to the זרק in the sacrificial ritual.
