Fat
“Fat or suet, the richest part”
Summary
The suet or internal fat of sacrificial animals, forbidden as food by the Mosaic law because it belonged to the Lord as the richest portion of the sacrifice.
☩Distinction in Types of Fat
The Hebrews distinguished between suet (cheleb), the pure fat of an animal, and fat intermixed with lean (mishman). The prohibition applied specifically to the internal fat—around the stomach, entrails, kidneys, and the fat tail of certain sheep—in animals offered to God in sacrifice. The fat mixed with lean was lawful to eat, as was fat from animals not used in sacrifice.
☩Sacrificial Regulations
The burning of fat was particularly specified for each kind of offering: peace offering, consecration offering, sin offering, and trespass offering. 'All the fat is the Lord's' was a perpetual statute because the fat was the richest part and therefore belonged to Him. This had to be done on the very day the beast was slaughtered to remove temptation for other uses. The offering of the fat as the richest part was agreeable to natural feeling and analogous to dedicating firstborn and firstfruits to God.
☩Figurative Uses
The term 'fat' metaphorically describes the best of any production: 'the fat of the land,' 'the fat of the wheat.' It represented prosperity, abundance, and excellence. A dull and torpid state of mind was described as having a heart covered with thick fat, therefore insensible. Spiritually, the fat signified the inward energy and will—the best part, typical of the inward energy of the Lord Jesus in offering Himself to God.
Related Verses107 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Fat," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Fat," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.George Morrish, "Fat," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).