Winstein--33
Maimonides, mentioned near the bottom of the previous page, a rabbi whose in-
fluence extended beyond Judaism,
in his 1190 AD "Guide for the Perplexed,"
III.46, also writes that idolaters believe that blood is the food of the spir-
its--by
eating it, they share something in common with the spirits. God's
blood eating ban in the Torah--the first five books
of the Bible--is a concern
to keep followers from idolatry. That's why God uses the identical language,
"set my
face against," in only two places in the Torah: in a ban of eating
blood, Lev.17:10, and idolatry, Lev.20:5.
Nahmanides, a rabbi and contemporary of Maimonides, on the other hand, be-
lieved that if people eat animal
blood, it becomes attached to their human
blood and united in their hearts, and people's souls become coarse like animal
souls.
He believed the ban on eating blood was to keep people from becoming
animal-like.
Ramban "Commentary" on the
Torah for Lev.17:13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahmanides
Among the Jews of the time of Acts 15, about 49 AD, in contrast with the Gen-
tiles, idolatry (Lev,17:1-9;
Ex.20:3), eating meat from an animal that hadn't
had the blood removed (Lev.17:10-15) (which called for slaughtering and
kosher-
ing according to their oral law), which included eating an animal that was
found dead and unbled (Lev.10:15),
and fornication (Lev.18) were forbidden.
These rules were given as among the rules resident aliens who wished to live
among the Israelites had to be
responsible about.
Likewise, eating meat from an animal slaughtered by a Gentile (such as meat
from an animal sacrificed to an
idol) made a Jewish law follower unclean.
Hullin 1.1: what a Gentile slaughters is deemed carrion (a beast which died
of natural causes) and conveys
uncleanness to the one who carries it (or eats
it). The Hullin is the 3rd tractate of the order Kodashim in the Mishnah.
See
"A Book of Jewish Concepts," 1964, rev. ed. 1975, by Philip Birnhaum, pp.398,
541, and 629.
Since "things"--animals--"strangled" isn't referred to in those words by
scripture earlier than at Acts 15
and seems an unnecessarily specific way to
refer to how an animal could be found dead and unbled, as at Lev.17:15 and
Deut.14:21,
it's usually guessed that strangling animals before eating them was
a custom among some of the Gentiles near Israel at
the time, probably as part
of an idol ceremony (certainly not a Jewish custom).
Acts 13:38,39; 14:14,26-28; 15:1-31
It was arranged for Paul and Barnabas to meet with the apostles and elders in
Jerusalem regarding the matter.
(Jerusalem, center of Jewish worship and reli-