Hey John,
I have a question about Acts 15:20-21. In the letter that the elders from Jerusalem sent to the Gentiles, they listed some things for the Gentiles to abstain from for the sake of the Jews. One of them was abstaining from “what is strangled”. Was there a law in the Old Testament about not eating something that had been strangled? I was just wondering where this came from. It stood out to me because it doesn’t seem like something that would be in the top 3 or 4 things that the elders would have named in that letter, but since they did, it must have been important. I searched for the word “strangled” in the Old Testament and didn’t find anything.
Thanks,
Lyn
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Hi, Lyn.
If an animal is killed by strangling, the blood remains in the meat, and you know what God said about eating meat with the blood:
“You shall not eat anything with the blood” (Lev. 19:26a).
And this:
“If any man of the house of Israel or of any stranger who dwells among them consumes any kind of blood, I will set my face against that soul who consumes the blood, and I will cut him off from among his people” (Lev. 17:10).
These are the commandments to which the elders in Jerusalem were referring.
Good question.
Pastor John