Leviticus 17:5
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For this reason the Israelites will bring to the LORD the sacrifices they have been offering in the open fields. They are to bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and offer them as sacrifices of peace to the LORD.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
II. Laws for the Sanctification of Israel in the Covenant - Fellowship of Its God - Leviticus 17-25 Holiness of Conduct on the Part of the Israelites - Leviticus 17-20 The contents of these four chapters have been very fittingly summed up by Baumgarten in the following heading: "Israel is not to walk in the way of the heathen and of the Canaanites, but in the ordinances of Jehovah," as all the commandments contained in them relate to holiness of life. Holiness of Food. - The Israelites were not to slaughter domestic animals as food either within or outside the camp, but before the door of the tabernacle, and as slain-offerings, that the blood and fat might be offered to Jehovah. They were not to sacrifice any more to field-devils (Lev 17:3-7), and were to offer all their burnt-offerings or slain-offerings before the door of the tabernacle (Lev 17:8,_ 9); and they were not to eat either blood or carrion (Lev 17:10-16). These laws are not intended simply as supplements to the food laws in ch. 11; but they place the eating of food on the part of the Israelites in the closest relation with their calling as the holy nation of Jehovah, on the one hand to oppose an effectual barrier to the inclination of the people to idolatrous sacrificial meals, on the other hand to give a consecrated character to the food of the people in harmony with their calling, that it might be received with thanksgiving and sanctified with prayer (Ti1 4:4-5).
Open source ↗After the law concerning the atonement to be made for all Israel by the high priest, at the tabernacle, with the blood of bulls and goats, in this chapter we have two prohibitions necessary for the preservation of the honour of that atonement. I. That no sacrifice should be offered by any other than the priests, nor any where but at the door of the tabernacle, and this upon pain of death (Lev 17:1-9). II. That no blood should be eaten, and this under the same penalty (Lev 17:10, etc.).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.
Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.
When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, presented offerings that provoked Me, sent up their fragrant incense, and poured out their drink offerings.
“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency.
And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.