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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Leviticus 3:6 - 3:6
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The same rules apply to the peace-offerings of sheep and goats, except that, in addition to the fat portions, which were to be burned upon the altar in the case of the oxen (Lev 3:3, Lev 3:4) and goats (Lev 3:14, Lev 3:15), the fat tail of the sheep was to be consumed as well. תְמִימָה הָאַלְיָה: “the fat tail whole” (Lev 3:9), cauda ovilla vel arietina eaque crassa et adiposa; the same in Arabic (Ges. thes. p. 102). The fat tails which the sheep have in Northern Africa and Egypt, also in Arabia, especially Southern Arabia, and Syria, often weigh 15 lbs. or more, and small carriages on wheels are sometimes placed under them to bear their weight (Sonnini, R. ii. p. 358; Bochart, Hieroz. i. pp. 556ff.). It consists of something between marrow and fat. Ordinary sheep are also found in Arabia and Syria; but in modern Palestine all the sheep are “of the broad-tailed species.” The broad part of the tail is an excresence of fat, from which the true tail hangs down (Robinson, Pal. ii. 166). “Near the rump-bone shall he (the offerer) take it (the fat tail) away,” i.e., separate it from the body. עֶצֶם, ἁπ. λεγ., is, according to Saad., os caudae s. coccygis, i.e., the rump or tail-bone, which passes over into the vertebrae of the tail (cf. Bochart, i. pp. 560-1). In Lev 3:11 and Lev 3:16 the fat portions which were burned are called “food of the firing for Jehovah,” or “food of the firing for a sweet savour,” i.e., food which served as a firing for Jehovah, or reached Jehovah by being burned; cf. Num 28:24, “food of the firing of a sweet savour for Jehovah.” Hence not only are the daily burnt-offerings and the burnt and sin-offerings of the different feasts called “food of Jehovah” (“My bread,” Num 28:2); but the sacrifices generally are described as “the food of God” (“the bread of their God,” Lev 21:6, Lev 21:8, Lev 21:17, Lev 21:21-22, and Lev 22:25), as food, that is, which Israel produced and caused to ascend to its God in fire as a sweet smelling savour. - Nothing is determined here with regard to the appropriation of the flesh of the peace-offerings, as their destination for a sacrificial meal was already known from traditional custom. The more minute directions for the meal itself are given in Lev 7:11-36, where the meaning of these sacrifices is more fully explained. - In Lev 3:17 (Lev 3:16) the general rule is added, “all fat belongs to Jehovah,” and the law, “eat neither fat nor blood,” is enforced as “an eternal statute” for the generations of Israel (see at Exo 12:14, Exo 12:24) in all their dwelling-places (see Exo 10:23 and Exo 12:20).