Source of Law in the Biblical 337 ation for successful surgery was different for healing an awilu (ten shekels), a commoner (five shekels) and a slave (two shekels) (LH 215-217). Restoring the divine order thus has priority in biblical law over the financial interest of the human party. A crime against God cannot be forgiven by humans, nor can it be “atoned for by a pecuniary or property settlement” (58). Spilling the blood of a person is a blatant affront against God, whose breath gave life to man, as a hyj çpn “a living soul”. The soul is intrinsically connected with blood, as we read in Lev 17,11: “For the life of a creature is in the blood”; consequently, the blood is only temporarily given to the living and must be returned to the divine realm. The strict prohibition against ingesting animal blood and the requirement to dispose of it in a dignified manner by covering it are also consequences of this doctrine. Sprinkling the animals’ blood on the altar symbolizes the return of the blood to the divine, as stated subsequently in the above verse: “…it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (59). Similarly, only the death of the murderer constitutes atonement for his spilling of blood; this is the theological foundation of the decree “you shall give life for life” (cfr. 2 Sam 21,1-3.6, regarding Saul’s murder of the Gibeonites) (60). b) Sexual Misconduct The biblical sexual prohibitions are of utmost gravity, and transgressions of them have, like the spilling of blood and idolatry, far-reaching consequences. The rules against sinful sexual acts in Leviticus are in fact the only ones introduced by the pronouncement “Speak to the Israelites and say to them. I am the Lord your God” (Lev 18,2). This not only demonstrates their significance, but also suggests that their transgression affects the Deity. Both sexual misbehaviour and the spilling of blood are said to defile the land, God’s dwelling, and cause the people to be vomited out of it, while idolatry defiles the (58) PAUL, Studies in the Book of the Covenant, 61. (59) Cf. T. ABUSCH, “Blood in Israel and Mesopotamia”, Emanuel. Studies in Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honor of Emanuel Tov (ed. S. PAUL ET AL.) (VTS 94; Leiden 2003) 675-684, who argues that this Israelite “blood-consciousness” derived from a semi-nomadic element that organized itself in tribes along common blood lines (684). This may be correct; nonetheless, it is clear that this idea, like many other scriptural elements of nomadic origin, was adapted to an entirely new theology. (60) The Gibeonites demanded no monetary compensation, but rather the death of seven of Saul’s descendants.