Covenant, Circumcision, Levitical Sacrifices, Israel, & Heathen Blood-Swillers

Some wonderful statements from Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) Kurtz. A few finds: (1) his 3-volume set on the History of the Covenant, (2) some "Reformed" statements about the "signs" and "seals" of the covenant, (3) the priesthood of all believers, with vocational differentiation, under the Old Covenant, and (4) the prohibition of the "blood-drinkers" and "blood-swillers." It's quite the volume.

Kurtz, J.H. Offerings, Sacrifices, and Worship in the Old Testament (trans. James Martin). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/Offerings-Sacrifices-Worship-Old-Testament/dp/1565633954/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376532149&sr=1-1&keywords=J.+H.+Kurtz+Offerings%2C+Sacrifices%2C+and+Worship+in+the+Old+Testament

Book One: The General Basis of Sacrificial Worship in the Old Testament, 18-65

1. Persons sacrificing: people and priests
2. Place of sacrifice
3. Various kinds of sacrifice

Mr. Kurtz will deal with the issue of Old Testament worship. By whom? To Whom? Where? Means?

As for the people, some notable things:

• The “chosen people,” the “first-born” (Ex. 4.22)
• Jehovah’s “possession before all nations”
• A “kingdom of priests and kings.” Also, the rank-and-file are priests with priestly duties, that is, bringing sacrifices. A differentiation exists between the entire nation of priests and those specifically, vocationally, by lineage, overseeing the priesthood of all believers. How very Lutheran of him…and Reformed too. Although, Mr. Kurtz sounds rather Reformed.
• A “holy nation”
• A nation “selected and separated:” negatively, unlike the nations and, positively, belonging only to God
• A “Mediator” is required in Moses. “Speak thou for us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Ex.20.19). We would add that the attributes of divine majesty, omnipotence, and utter holiness inform worship. We would add the fear of the Lord, profound humility, and gratitude, the basics.
• The people possess “divine revelation, divine institutions, the means of salvation, and a mission before and to the nations.” That is, to those who surrender unconditionally to God alone.

Mr. Kurtz does a wonderful job on CIRCUMCISION. He capitalizes it in his text.

בְּרִית מִילָה or the “covenant of circumcision.”

• A “special act of initation”
• “…every stranger in Israel’s midst who desired to forsake heathenism must be circumcised”
• “Sign” and “Seal” of the covenant, Gen. 17.10-14. This is the language of Reformed Churchmen. It's the language of the Westminster standards.
• The “Sinaitic covenant” was “not entirely new” nor “essentially different” from the Abrahamic covenant. We would add, this is a vital observation. Sinai was a “renewal of that covenant on the basis of their national existence.”
• “Same covenant initiation and covenant seal retained for every individual”
• Mr. Kurtz refers more fully to his 3-Volume set. Also, Kurtz, J.H. History of the Old Covenant. (Three volumes). No location: Hardpress, 2013. http://www.amazon.com/History-Old-Covenant-Volume-1/dp/1313659991/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1379196324&sr=8-7&keywords=kurtz+history+of+the+covenant We really must get this.
• Circumcision was the sine qua non for “participation in the sacrifices”
• Foreigners must be circumcised, renounce idolatry and polytheism, refuse--like all Israelites--to drink blood, fast on Kippur, and keep the Sabbath.
(Ex. 12.19; 20.10; Lev. 16.29; 17.28; 18.26; 20.2; 24.16ff; Num. 15.13ff; Dt. 5.14).
• The foreigner could be involved in the annual festivals and offer, amongst his fellow priests, the usual offerings: burnt, peace, and thanksgiving offerings.

Mr. Kurtz also is at some peculiar pains to address the prohibition of “drinking blood.” Lev. 17.10 is the locus classicus.  That same prohibition will also extend into the New Covenant era. The Jerusalem Council of Acts 15.20 outlines the abiding prohibition: “But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.” This undoes and explodes the notion of cannibalism that we are “blood-drinkers” at the Lord’s Table.

Some unfortunate chap recently posted an unfortunate quote by Mr. Jeremiah Taylor, an Anglican divine. Whala! Proof-positive! Mr. Taylor said it so we must embrace it! We drink blood and eat flesh “corporally.” NOT! Both the poster and Mr. Taylor need guidance. There is not the faintest possibility--we'll say it again, "not that faintest possibility"-- that Jesus or the apostles taught saints to "drink blood and eat flesh." Such a notion would be utterly and disastrously abhorrent to the Jewish mind with centuries of canonical guidance. More to follow.

“Just as Jehovah separated Israel from the nations…so was Israel to separate the clean from the unclean.” 

They were to be holy, separate and dedicated to God alone.