The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD, saying, "Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this! Is this not the blood of the men who risked their lives?" So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three mighty men.
Earlier text
Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. You must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
Deuteronomy 12:23-25 repeatedly commands that blood must not be eaten because "the blood is the life" (הַדָּם הוּא הַנָּפֶשׁ, haddam hu hannefesh) and must be poured on the ground like water. David applies this principle when his three mighty men break through the Philistine garrison at Bethlehem to bring him water: he pours it out before the LORD, equating it with the blood (lives) of the men who risked death to obtain it. The Deuteronomic regulation envisions animal slaughter, but David extends the logic to human life-risk, showing that the Torah's theology of blood-as-life generates ethical reflection beyond the law's original scope. David's libation-pouring (וַיַּסֵּךְ, vayyassekh) before the LORD transforms a dietary law into an act of worship and self-denial.