God gives an important restriction. Blood represents life (it stands for life), so it had to be drained from an animal before its meat could be eaten (see Leviticus 3:17; 7:26–27; 17:10–14; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23).
The Law of Moses also forbade eating animals that died naturally, because their blood had not been drained (Deuteronomy 14:21). God provided animal blood to atone for human sin (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22).