Leviticus 17:21 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it [is] the blood [that] makes atonement for the soul. I’ll bet that if you read that without the address you’d think it was something Jesus said or that Paul quoted while making an argument for salvation. And maybe they did, but that’s not where the verse originated. Anyway, it’s here that the significance of blood is explained. Only blood can atone for a soul. Well, technically it says that blood atones for the whole self. The word used for soul is “nephesh” and it doesn’t mean just the soul. It is the living self (with life in the blood) and includes the body, the mind, the will, the character, the appetites and the emotions. It’s pretty all-inclusive of what makes a human a human. The Hebrews didn’t split a person into parts like we do (based on the Greek model). There wasn’t a body that was separate from the mind which was also separate from the soul. Nephesh was holistic. So this atonement was also holistic. It covers and atones (to make amends for, to compensate) for our sins. And it’s all about the blood. Nephesh is a being with life in the blood. Without blood we die. Maybe that’s why we call it the “life blood” of a thing. That life is the oxygen, the breath, it carries to our body. That breath originally came from YHWH himself! How precious is that! Symbolically, the blood circulates the breath of God through our veins to bring life to our body. No wonder God didn’t want people drinking the blood of animals. Eventually, Jesus would shed His blood as the final and perfect sacrifice, putting an end to animal sacrifices. But even here, long before Jesus, blood is important enough to be reserved only for sacrifices, only for atonement. To break this law meant that you were cast out of Israel… a pretty steep punishment. And, it comes after the sacrifices which means it’s pretty darn important. The sacrifices were of primary importance because they restored the relationship between men and God by removing the guilt of sin. And the prohibitions on blood come closely on their heels. So, this would pretty much rule out vampirism as a Christian fetish or practice. Does it rule out steak cooked medium rare?