"And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them." - Genesis 3:21.
Yahweh himself made the first sacrifice by providing Adam and Eve with animal skins; this must have involved the shedding of blood. Perhaps his covering them with animal skins demonstrated that their existence was considered temporary like that of animals. Although Adam and Eve are not redeemable, the sacrifice could also have shown that their unborn could be covered temporarily by the blood of beasts until their resurrection based on the blood of Christ. Thus, Yahweh made the first sacrifice, and animal blood could only provide temporary atonement. It is also noted that the animal creation will, in a sense, be compensated at Armageddon when they eat the flesh of humans.
"And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;" - Genesis 4:10, 11.
The was the first sacrifice of human blood and Yahweh refused to accept it. In fact it had defiled the ground itself and brought a curse upon Cain. It is noted that Yahweh did not put Cain to death; rather he put a mark on him and let him die a natural death. At the flood Yahweh removed the curse from the ground, which resulted from the sin of Adam, by means of the first great sacrifice. This was the implementation of capital punishment on a massive scale. It set a precedent that when the error of man comes to completion Yahweh will act to satisfy his standard of justice.
"Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; As the green herb have I given you all. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood, the blood of your lives, will I require; At the hand of every beast will I require it. And at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: For in the image of God made he man." - Genesis 9:3-6.
Universal law, also incorporated into the law covenant, requires life for life. The prohibition against eating blood is clearly stated here long before the implementation of the law covenant. This is a very serious matter in the eyes of God.
"And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore also, behold, his blood is required." - Genesis 42:22.
The principle of life for life, with the required payment of blood in the case of murder, was well understood by the patriarchs.
"For as to the life of all flesh, the blood thereof is all one with the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh; for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off." - Leviticus 7:14.
The law covenant incorporated the earlier prohibition.
"Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against Jehovah, in that they eat with the blood. And he said, ye have dealt treacherously: roll a great stone unto me this day." - 1 Samuel 14:33.
Eating blood continued to be recognized as a serious sin under the law.
"And he said, Be it far from me, O Jehovah, that I should do this: shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men." - 2 Samuel 23:17.
This point is most striking: David equated the product of those who had risked their lives as the equivalent of blood and refused to accept it.
"For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, it shall be well with you. Fare ye well." - Acts 15:28, 29.
The issue raised after the introduction of the new covenant concerned what singular laws remained in effect from the body of the obsolete law covenant. It is noted that Holy Spirit, and not the Apostles themselves, revealed what necessary things remained as binding. Those who violate the prohibitions set forth by the Apostles, sin not against the Apostles, nor against the consciences of the Apostles, but rather against God. All of the things deemed necessary were items prohibited before the introduction of the law covenant and, therefore, fall under the category of universal law, which is binding forever.
In consideration of these things, a view has been presented that a blood transfusion is the equivalent of eating blood. Another point has also been presented, "that if the Scriptures do not specifically condemn an action than one ought not to readily conclude that it sanctions it either." In such a case as this individual conscience must operate, and only those precedents and principles, which are set forth in scripture, can provide an individual with what is needed so as to decide what do about this issue. Nevertheless, several other major problems come into consideration when minor children and the consciences of others are involved.