And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood.
The people rushed greedily at the captured animals and took sheep, cattle, and calves. They killed them right there on the ground and ate the meat without properly draining the blood.
The people were so hungry and desperate that they broke God's law by eating meat that still had blood in it.
📚 Historical Context
This happened after a battle where King Saul had foolishly made his army fast all day, forbidding them to eat anything until evening. The soldiers had been fighting while extremely hungry and weak. When they finally won the battle and captured livestock, they were so famished that they violated the Old Testament law that required draining all blood from meat before eating it (since blood represented life and belonged to God).
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