After reading chapter 17:
*In this chapter, the Israelites are told they must never make a sacrifice of any kind anywhere but in front of the tabernacle. If they do, they will be considered guilty of bloodshed and will be excommunicated. According to verse 5, they were doing this in the open fields and must stop. So...the Israelites weren't all in favor of this Yahweh worship and tabernacle stuff after all, were they? In spite of what previous chapters have said, according to this, some of them had been doing their own thing all along, even worshipping some kind of goat idol. (Verse 7) I knew over a million people were too many for Moses and the priests to control, assuming it all happened, which is unlikely. If this was written around the 6th century as some scholars believe, then some unauthorized, independent sacrificing may have been going on then. Either that or insulting language was used to try to prevent The Israelites of the time from even considering it. This could be a way for the priests to say, "See, Yahweh, through Moses, forbade it a long time ago." It would strengthen the priest's position of authority and give them control over the meat that was sacrificed.
*I wonder if non-religious killing of animals, just to cook and eat them, was allowed. Was it also considered bloodshed? Or was all animal slaughter always supposed to be done in the context of a sacrifice?
*Another emphasis of this chapter is the ban on eating blood. It is expressly forbidden for any Israelite or foreigner living among them to eat the blood of any animal. It must be drained from the animal's body, or they will be evicted from the community. The stated reason is that blood is the life force of the animal and Yahweh gave it to them to use at the altar, to make atonement for their lives, bringing us back to the sacrifice. Wasn't Yahweh thoughtful?
*The chapter ends with the admonition that found meat is unclean. Anyone who eats it must wash. They will be unclean til evening.
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