Leviticus 17: 1-9, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, saying, What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD. And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD. And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations. And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice, And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even that man shall be cut off from among his people.”
When the Lord gave Israel the Ten Commandments, He told them, first, that they were to have no other gods before Him. There is only one True God and if anyone wants to have any kind of relationship with this God that person must acknowledge that. However, before the Law was given and the Tabernacle built, people who wanted to worship the Lord would make an altar and then offer their sacrifice to the Lord. For example, when Noah came out of the ark, he built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings. (Gen 8: 20, 21, “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.”). Abraham built an altar as well (Gen 22: 9, 10, “And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” This was a very special case and Abraham didn’t offer his son as a sacrifice because the Lord provided a ram as a substitute.) However, now that the Tabernacle was built it was important that every offering be offered according to the Lord’s ways so that no one would be tempted to sneak away and offer a sacrifice to another god.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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