Corpus-Paul

["Hyam Maccoby" <h.z.maccoby AT leeds.ac.uk>]

Peter Eyland wrote:

I thought that "drinking blood" was used in the metaphorical sense of
> obtaining a benefit at the cost or risk of one's life.
>
> 2 Sa 23 15 - 17 reads:
> David said longingly, "O that some one would give me water to drink from
> the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!"
> 16: Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines,
> and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and
> took and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it; he poured it
> out to YHVH, 17: and said, "Far be it from me,  YHVH, that I should do
> this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their
> lives?" Therefore he would not drink it.
>
> It is not a great stretch to assume that NT writers were aware of the
> metaphorical usage of drinking blood in the Samuel passage.
>
> If drinking their water was "drinking the blood" of the 3 men then
> drinking wine at the eucharist would mean appropriating the benefits of
> the new covenant (forgiveness) which were obtained at the cost of Jesus'
> life.

I find this argument rather curious.  Surely the whole point of the David
story is that he refused to drink the water which had been obtained at the
risk of human life, saying, with horror, that this would be like drinking
the men's blood.  David then poured out the water 'unto the Lord', i.e. he
treated it as if it were sacrificial blood being poured on the altar - such
sacrificial blood was especially forbidden for human consumption.  Jesus, on
the other hand, is represented in the Gospels as saying just the opposite:
that the wine should be drunk just BECAUSE it represented his sacrificial
blood (whether literally or metaphorically has been subject of contention
between the churches).  Jesus, then, if he really did say this (which I do
not accept) was going contrary to all Jewish tradition, including especially
the story about David which you have cited.

Hyam Maccoby
----------------------------------------


Dr.Hyam Maccoby
Research Professor
Centre for Jewish Studies
University of Leeds
Leeds.LS2
Direct lines: tel. +44 (0)113 268 1972
                   fax +44 (0)113 225 9927
e-mail: h.z.maccoby AT leeds.ac.uk


----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Eyland" <epe AT iprimus.com.au>
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 3:26 AM
Subject: [corpus-paul] Re: The blood of the covenant


> G'day Everyone,
> > --------
> P.Eyland AT unsw.edu.au
> Director of Physics First Year Teaching Laboratories
>
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