What Old Testament laws relate to "strangled animals" mentioned in Acts 15:20? What Acts 15:20 Says “but should write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols, from sexual immorality, from strangled animals, and from blood.” (Acts 15:20) Key Old Testament Passages Addressing Blood Retained in Meat • Genesis 9:4 – “But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.” • Leviticus 17:10-14 – Repeatedly forbids eating blood; verse 13 commands hunters to “pour out its blood and cover it with dust.” • Deuteronomy 12:16 – “Only you must not eat the blood; you must pour it on the ground like water.” • Deuteronomy 12:23-25 – “Be sure not to eat the blood… pour it on the ground like water. Do not eat it…” • 1 Samuel 14:32-34 – Saul stops the people from sinning by eating meat “with the blood.” Passages Linking Improper Deaths with Dietary Defilement • Exodus 22:31 – “You are to be holy to Me. Therefore you must not eat the meat of any animal torn by beasts in the field.” • Leviticus 22:8 – A priest “must not defile himself by eating an animal found dead or torn by wild beasts.” • Deuteronomy 14:21 – Israelites must not eat animals that “die naturally.” Why “Strangled Animals” Are Implicitly Forbidden • An animal that dies by strangulation (suffocation, throttling, snares) keeps its blood inside the flesh. • The Mosaic commands above insist that the blood be drained and discarded; any method that leaves it inside violates the blood ban. • Eating an animal that died of itself or was killed by other animals already fell under “unclean” food laws, making strangled carcasses doubly prohibited. Practical Mosaic Slaughter Requirements • The animal’s throat was cut swiftly (shechita), ensuring rapid exsanguination in obedience to Leviticus 17:13. • Hunters were to bleed out game even in the field (Leviticus 17:13). • Failure to drain blood incurred guilt and potential “cutting off” (Leviticus 17:10). Bringing It Together Acts 15:20 asks Gentile believers to avoid “strangled animals” because: 1. Consuming retained blood directly violates explicit divine commands (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17). 2. The Law already grouped such meat with carcasses that defile (Leviticus 22:8; Deuteronomy 14:21). 3. Respecting this prohibition maintained fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers by honoring God’s unchanging principle that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). In short, while no single verse says, “Do not eat strangled animals,” the entire set of blood-related statutes in Genesis, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy makes the ban clear. Acts 15 simply reaffirms those foundational Old Testament truths for the New Testament church. |
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