BLOOD has great significance in the Bible Part 2

After the flood, God renewed the original command that Noah and his sons be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 9:1). They were not to eat the flesh with its life, which means the blood (Gen. 9:4). Then murder is forbidden (Gen. 9:5, 6). The reason is explained thus: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man." (Gen. 9:6). Since a murderer destroys one made in God's image, murder is an attack upon God.

In Deuteronomy 21:1-9, we read of an elaborate ceremony by elders concerning a person murdered in the fields near their city. They were to pray for the Lord's forgiveness by atonement: "Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them" (Deut. 21:8; see v. 9). The victim is assumed to be innocent, and the community is held responsible. A person who killed another accidentially had six cities to which he could flee and there establish his innocence (Josh. 20:1-9). He had to flee because the avenger of blood (the nearest of kin to the person murdered) was obligated to kill the individual who had murdered his relative (Num. 35).

Jesus condemned the scribes and Pharisees of His day who would kill some of the "prophets, and wise men, and scribes" sent by Jesus (Matt. 23:34). This generation would be held accountable not only for their own sins but for "all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zecharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar" (Matt. 23:35; compare 2 Chron. 24:20-21).

When Pilate saw that justice was being distorted at the trial of Jesus, he washed his hands symbolically and declared his own innocence: "I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it [i.e., that's your affair]" (Matt. 27:24). The people replied naively, "His blood is on us and on our children" (Matt. 27:25).

Blood of sacrifices, blood of the covenant the great historic event of the Old Testament was the Exodus from Egypt. Central to that event was the offering of a lamb from the sheep or from the goats (Ex. 12:5). The blood of that lamb was put on the top and the two sides of the door frame (Ex. 12:7, 22-23). When the angel passed through, destroying the firstborn in Egypt, he would pass by the houses in Israel's part of Egypt that were marked in this fashion. In terms of its redemptive effects, none of the daily sacrifices made throughout the Old Testament (see Leviticus) were as dramatic as the Passover sacrifice.

Almost as dramatic as the Passover was the ceremony at the dedication of the covenant treaty at Sinai between Yahweh and His covenant people, the Israelites (Ex. 24:1-8). Moses took the blood of oxen and placed it in two bowls. Half of it he dashed upon the altar and half he dashed upon the people (Ex. 24:6-8). Moses declared "Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD hath made (literally, cut) with you concerning [or in agreement with] all these words." The people solemnly promised to act in agreement with this covenant (Ex. 24:3, 7).

When Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant after His last Passover with the disciples, He declared: "This is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28). Luke reads: "This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:20). Testament means covenant here. Jesus, the God-man, gave up His life and experienced the reality of death so that those who identify themselves with Jesus might experience His life and never taste death as He did. He died as a sin-bearer that we might live for righteousness and become healed (1 Pet. 2:24).