carnivorously inclined. No longer Adam, the ideal, but Noah, the real, he insists on bringing death to living things to gratify his appetite and need. This concession is granted him, reluctantly, but not without reservation: he is to refrain from ingesting the blood. The import of this prohibition is projected in even clearer relief against the backdrop of the ancient Near East. First, it must be noted that blood plays no significant role whatever in the cults of Israel’s neighbors, with the sole