Bible Dictionary
STRANGLED
An animal described as strangled had died by choking rather than by the shedding of blood. Because its blood remained in it, the Mosaic law forbade eating it, and the Jerusalem council instructed Gentile Christians to abstain from such meat.
Definition
An animal described as strangled had been killed by choking or smothering rather than by shedding its blood. Its flesh therefore retained blood.
Biblical Usage
The Mosaic law forbade Hebrews to eat such flesh because it contained blood. The Jerusalem council likewise instructed Gentile converts to abstain from things strangled, both to avoid offense to Jewish Christians and to prevent association with heathen sacrificial feasts.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>stran'-g'-ld (chanaq; pniktos, from verb pnigo, "to choke," "to smother," "to strangle" (compare choking of swine in the lake, Mr 5:13; the seed are choked by the thorns, Mt 13:7; the servant takes his fellow-servant by the throat, the King James Version Mt 18:28)): As adjective "strangled," used of animals deprived of life by choking, and so without the shedding of the blood. Flesh thus killed was forbidden as food among the Hebrews, because it contained the blood (Le 17:12). Even Jewish Christians in the Jerusalem council thought it best to forbid things strangled to be eaten by Gentile converts, so as not to give offense to Jewish sentiment, and doubtless also to prevent participation in heathen sacrificial feasts (Ac 15:20; 21:25).</p><p>Edward Bagby Pollard</p>