This prohibition would not find support from OT text, long before transfusion existed; the word for "eat" ('akal) is used exclusively of consumption through the mouth.

The question will inevitably revolve around the reason for the prohibition, which is alluded to briefly in Lev. 17:11. The pagan nations surrounding the Israelites ate blood as part of the worship of false gods, or to obtain supernatural power. Consumption of blood was associated among the pagans with magical rites; in this light the prohibition on eating blood was of the same nature as the prohibition on trimming beards. To eat blood was to strive to be like what you ate, and to eat it as the seat of life was to strive to be like God, the giver of life.

Confirmation of this point is found in the instructions given for disposal of the blood of sacrificial animals: It was to be poured out on the ground. This symbolically returned the blood to the earth from which the creature was created, by God. The disposal of the blood was associated directly with the ending of the creature's life. Transfusion is not performed in this context, and is therefore hardly to be taken into consideration.

The acceptance of blood in the Bible is forbidden on the grounds that it involves participation in elements of pagan worship and practice. Applying this to medical transfusion of blood, where no religious element is involved, is an illicit hermeneutical step.