Fat

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The fat portions of animals offered in sacrifice were always to be consumed, as being the choice part and especially sacred to the Lord. The blood was also sacred, as containing the life of the animal. The Jews were forbidden to eat either, Leviticus 3:16,17; 7:23-27 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Genesis 4:4Genesis 45:18Numbers 18:12Psalm 81:16147:47Leviticus 3:9-114:87:38:25Numbers 18:17Exodus 29:13-22Leviticus 3:3-5

It is used figuratively for a dull, stupid state of mind (Psalm 17:10 ).

In Joel 2:24 the word is equivalent to "vat," a vessel. The hebrew word here thus rendered is elsewhere rendered "wine-fat" and "press-fat" ( Haggai 2:16; Isaiah 63:2 ).

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Closely associated with the blood in sacrifices, and as being the richest part, appropriated peculiarly to God (Leviticus 3:16-17); i.e. the internal fat, the "sweet fat" or suet , chelev; the fat of the kidneys, the sign of the animal's excellence and vigor. As of all produce the first-fruits were offered to Jehovah, so of sacrifices the blood and the fat. Hence the choicest are expressed by "the fat of the earth," "the fat of the wheat," etc., "the fat of the mighty" (Genesis 45:18; Deuteronomy 32:14; Numbers 18:12 margin; 2 Samuel 1:22). The fat mixed with lean, mishman or shameen (Numbers 13:20; Psalms 78:31; Isaiah 10:16), was lawful to eat; so also the peder or fat of the burnt offering, burned along with the flesh. The proper development of fat in the animal marked its perfection, it being the source of nutriment of which the animal economy avails itself in emergency; hence, its appropriateness as the offering to Jehovah.

"The whole fat tail was taken off hard by the backbone" where the pad of fat begins (Leviticus 3:9), for an offering by fire to Jehovah. The broad-tailed sheep of the East has an apron of marrowy fat as wide as the hind quarters, and trailing on the ground unless when artificially supported by a small truck (Herod., 3:113). The choicest of all that we have and are is to be presented to God (Romans 12:1; Philippians 4:18). Fat, i.e. vat. Hebrew gath is the upper receptacle or "press" in which the grapes were trod. The yeqeb or "vat" was on a lower level, into it the juice flowed from above. The root means to hollow; for the winepress and vat were dug out of the rocks of the hills whereon were the vineyards. Compare Mark 12:1; Isaiah 5:2, margin.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

In Scripture language there is something of great importance in this word. It is used upon many occasions to signify the best of the thing to whatsoever it is applied. Thus the fat of the earth is made use of to denote the whole of temporal blessings. Thus Isaac's prophetical blessings to Jacob. (Genesis 27:28) "God give thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine." And as these temporal blessings were the consequence of spiritual mercies, and these all founded in Christ, nothing can be plainer than that the fatness had an eye to Him, in whom all nations of the earth were to be blessed. Hence, with reference to the same, the Psalmist saith, "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness." (Psalms 63:5)

The soul cannot be satisfied with earthly things; but these are figurative expressions, to intimate the soul-enriching blessings in Jesus. Now from these explanations, we may discover what was all along alluded to in the fat of the Jewish offerings. If the reader will consult the Old Testament on the subject, he will find that in all the offerings made by fire, the fat was wholly the Lord's. (Leviticus 2:9-16) And as it was uniformly connected with the blood of the altar, it should seem to have been intended all along to mean Christ. And hence it should seem also to have been meant in allusion to the wicked who despise Christ, that they setup their own righteousness in opposition to the righteousness of Jesus. Thus Jeshurun "waxed fat and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick; thou art covered with fatness. Then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock (the Christ) of his salvation." (Deuteronomy 32:15) Hence also, such characters are said to be "enclosed in their own fat." (Psalms 17:10) If these views be well founded, it may serve also by way of additional testimony to the truth of Scripture, that the law in all points was but a shadow, the body is Christ. And JEHOVAH so strikingly saying, "all the fat is the Lord's," (Leviticus 3:16) sets forth that Christ is the Christ of God. (1 Corinthians 3:23)

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

FAT . See Food, § 10, Sacrifice and Offering.

FAT . The same word as vat, a large vessel for holding liquids, but in OT and NT only in connexion with the making of wine. See Wine and Strong Drink, § 2 .

King James Dictionary

FAT, a.

1. Fleshy plump corpulent abounding with an oily concrete substance, as an animal body the contrary to lean as a fat man a fat ox. 2. Coarse gross.

Nay, added fat pollutions of our own.

3. Dull heavy stupid unteachable.

Make the heart of this people fat. Isaiah 6 .

4. Rich wealthy affluent.

These are terrible alarms to persons grown fat and wealthy.

5. Rich producing a large income as a fat benefice. 6. Rich fertile as a fat soil or rich nourishing as fat pasture. 7. Abounding in spiritual grace and comfort.

They the righteous shall be fat and flourishing. Psalms 42 .

FAT, n.

1. An oily concrete substance, deposited in the cells of the adipose or cellular membrane of animal bodies. In most parts of the body, the fat lies immediately under the skin. Fat is of various degrees of consistence, as in tallow, lard and oil. It has been recently ascertained to consist of two substances, stearine and elaine, the former of which is solid, the latter liquid, at common temperatures, and on the different proportions of which its degree of consistence depends. 2. The best or richest part of a thing.

Abel brought of the fat of his flock. Genesis 4 .

FAT, To make fat to fatten to make plump and fleshy with abundant food as, to fat fowls or sheep.

FAT, To grow fat, plump and fleshy.

An old ox fats as well, and is as good, as a young one.

FAT,

Morrish Bible Dictionary

This portion of the sacrifices was to be burned on the altar. "All the fat is the Lord's. It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood." Leviticus 3:16,17 . Apparently, as to the fat, this refers to that "of ox, or of sheep, or of goat," the animals of sacrifice, and to the fat of any animal that died of itself, or was torn of beasts. Leviticus 7:23,24 . In Nehemiah 8:10 it was proclaimed, "eat the fat," without any restriction; but here the Hebrew word is different, and refers more to 'dainties.' In Isaiah 25:6 is another Hebrew word, and is 'fat or rich things.' The 'fat' signifies the best part, the inward energy and will: cf. Numbers 18:29 margin  ; Psalm 73:4 margin . It is typical of the inward energy of the Lord Jesus in the offering of Himself to God.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Fat.

1. The Hebrews distinguished between the suet or pure fat of an animal and the fat which was intermixed with the lean. Nehemiah 8:10. Certain restrictions were imposed upon them in reference to the former; some parts of the suet, namely, about the stomach, the entrails, the kidneys, and the tail of a sheep, which grows to an excessive size in many eastern countries, and produces a large quantity of rich fat, were forbidden to be eaten in the case of animals, but were to be offered to Jehovah in sacrifice. Leviticus 3:3; Leviticus 3:9; Leviticus 3:17; Leviticus 7:3; Leviticus 7:23. The ground of the prohibition was that the fat was the richest part of the animal, and, therefore, belonged to him (that is, Jehovah). Leviticus 3:16. The burning of the fat of sacrifices was particularly specified in each kind of offering.

2. that is, vat, the word employed in the Authorized Version to translate the Hebrew term yekeb, in Joel 2:24; Joel 3:13. The word commonly used for yekeb is "winepress" or "winefat," and once "pressfat." Haggai 2:16. The "vats" appear to have been excavated out of the native rock of the hills on which the vineyards lay.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

God forbade the Hebrews to eat the fat of beasts: "All the fat is the Lord's. It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations, throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood," Leviticus 3:17 . Some interpreters understand these words literally, and suppose fat as well as blood to be forbidden. Josephus says, Moses forbids only the fat of oxen, goats, sheep, and their species. This agrees with Leviticus 7:23 : "Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat." This is observed by the modern Jews, who think that the fat of other sorts of clean creatures is allowed them, even that of beasts which have died of themselves, conformably to

Leviticus 7:24 : "And the fat of the beast that dieth of itself, and the fat of that which is torn with beasts, may be used in any other use; but ye shall in nowise eat of it." Others maintain that the law which forbids the use of fat, should be restrained to fat separated from the flesh, such as that which covers the kidneys and the intestines: and this only in the case of its being offered in sacrifice. This is confirmed by Leviticus 7:25 : "Whosoever eateth of the fat of the beast of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people." In the Hebrew style, fat signifies not only that of beasts, but also the richer or prime part of other things: "He should have fed them with the finest" (in Hebrew the fat) "of the wheat." Fat denotes abundance of good things: "I will satiate the souls of the priests with fatness," Jeremiah 31:14 . "My soul shall be satisfied with marrow and fatness," Psalms 63:5 . The fat of the earth implies its fruitfulness: "God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine," Genesis 27:28 .

Webster's Dictionary

(1):

(v. i.) To grow fat, plump, and fleshy.

(2):

(a.) To make fat; to fatten; to make plump and fleshy with abundant food; as, to fat fowls or sheep.

(3):

(n.) Work. containing much blank, or its equivalent, and, therefore, profitable to the compositor.

(4):

(superl.) Abounding in riches; affluent; fortunate.

(5):

(superl.) Oily; greasy; unctuous; rich; - said of food.

(6):

(superl.) Fertile; productive; as, a fat soil; a fat pasture.

(7):

(superl.) Fleshy; characterized by fatness; plump; corpulent; not lean; as, a fat man; a fat ox.

(8):

(superl.) Abounding with fat

(9):

(n.) A measure of quantity, differing for different commodities.

(10):

(n.) A large tub, cistern, or vessel; a vat.

(11):

(n.) The best or richest productions; the best part; as, to live on the fat of the land.

(12):

(superl.) Exhibiting the qualities of a fat animal; coarse; heavy; gross; dull; stupid.

(13):

(superl.) Rich; producing a large income; desirable; as, a fat benefice; a fat office; a fat job.

(14):

(n.) An oily liquid or greasy substance making up the main bulk of the adipose tissue of animals, and widely distributed in the seeds of plants. See Adipose tissue, under Adipose.

(15):

(superl.) Of a character which enables the compositor to make large wages; - said of matter containing blank, cuts, or many leads, etc.; as, a fat take; a fat page.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

Genesis 41:20 (a) This is a type of the seven prosperous and fruitful years which were to precede the seven years of drought and dearth.

Genesis 49:20 (a) What Asher appropriated, received and enjoyed was for his blessing and profit. Because of this that which he gave out to others was profitable and helpful to them. The lesson for us is that if we would give out that which brings joy, gladness and help to others, we must ourselves feed on the Living Bread, and drink the Living Water.

Leviticus 3:16 (c) This may be taken as a type of the rich blessings of life, health, money, gifts and talents which may be the portion of a Christian. All these should be recognized as gifts belonging to the Lord and Saviour, and not used or appropriated for ourselves.

Deuteronomy 32:15 (b) This word is used to express the fact that when Israel (Jeshurun) became powerful with a great army, then they rebelled against GOD, kicked over the traces, and began living a life of rebellion. (See Deuteronomy 31:20; Proverbs 13:4; Proverbs 15:30; Proverbs 28:25).

1 Samuel 2:29 (a) These wicked sons were making themselves rich and wealthy by taking that which belonged to the Lord because it had been dedicated to the Lord. They were stealing from GOD. (See Psalm 22:29).

2 Samuel 1:22 (b) Jonathan conquered the power of the enemy though they were great, strong, mighty and wealthy. (See also Isaiah 5:17).

Isaiah 6:10 (a) This is a type or a picture of a good thing in a wrong place. Fat in or on or around the heart hinders its beating, and its proper operation. So when one's riches, power and position control the heart and life, that person is hindered in his service for and devotion to the Lord.

Isaiah 34:6 (a) Here we find a type of the success of GOD's avenging hand in destroying the land and the people who rebelled against Him.

Isaiah 58:11 (a) This is a beautiful type of the goodness of the great GOD of Heaven in enriching the lives of those who walk with Him, and obey His Word. (See also Genesis 45:18).

Ezekiel 34:14 (a) This is a figure of the blessing of GOD upon the fields, the homes, the business and the lives of those who love Him, walk with Him, and obey Him. (See also Numbers 13:20; Nehemiah 8:10; Nehemiah 9:25; Isaiah 25:6; Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 30:23).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(חלב , ḥēlebh , חלב , ḥelebh ): The layer of subcutaneous fat and the compact suet surrounding the viscera and imbedded in the entrails, which, like the blood, was forbidden as food in the Mosaic code (Leviticus 3:17 ). It was to be sacrificed to God by being burnt upon the altar (Leviticus 3:16; 30). This had to be done on the very day on which a beast had been slaughtered, to remove temptation from the Israelite to use it otherwise (Exodus 23:18 ). The law was probably a sanitary restriction, for, at an early date, leprosy, scrofula and disfiguring cutaneous diseases were thought to be caused by the use of fat as food. It was, moreover, an important pedagogical provision teaching the idea of self-denial, and the maxim that the richest and best meat of the edible animal belonged to Yahweh. See also Fatling; Fowl , Fatted .

The expression "fat" is often used in figurative senses, e.g. abundant, exuberant, lusty, fertile, robust, outwardly successful ( Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalm 92:14 the King James Version; Psalm 119:70; Proverbs 11:25; Proverbs 13:4 , etc.).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

In Leviticus 3 there are minute details of the parts of victims which were to be specially appropriated to the altar. Among these all the internal fat is minutely specified, particularly the fat of the kidneys; and of external parts the tail of the sheep, which, in the common species of Western Asia, is a mass of fat (;; ): and the whole concludes with 'All the fat is the Lord's; ye shall eat neither fat nor blood' . The reason assigned, namely, that the fat was consecrated to the altar, could only apply with respect to that of animals used in sacrifice, which were also usually employed for food. One point seems to have been very generally overlooked, which is, that not fat absolutely, but particular fat parts only are interdicted. They might eat the fat involved in the muscular tissue—in short, fat meat; and we know that animals were actually fattened for food (;; ). This was, however, not a usual practice; and even at this day in the East, domestic cattle seldom undergo any preparatory feeding or fattening before being killed. Hence there is little fat in the carcass, except that belonging to the parts specified in the prohibition, which is all more or less of the nature of suet.

Various reasons have been assigned for this somewhat remarkable restriction. The secondary cause, that the fat was consecrated to the altar, and therefore was to be abstained from, is not all; for it is usually considered that it was thus consecrated to give a religious sanction to a prohibition expedient on other grounds. The true reason probably is, that this suet or suet-like fat is not particularly wholesome or digestible in warm climates, if anywhere, and is particularly unsuitable for persons subject to cutaneous diseases, as the Israelites appear to have been at the time of their leaving Egypt.

'Fatness,' in Scripture, expresses plumpness or exuberance, whether in men, animals, or vegetables; and is hence often applied metaphorically to any kind of abundance, as to large possessions, or to excessive fertility in the earth.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

for receiving wine; an old orthography for VAT (See Vat) (q.v.).

(prop. חֵלֶב , che'leb). [For the use of the word as a verb, (See Fatted Fowl). ] The Hebrews distinguished between the suet, or pure fat of an animal (חֵלֶב ), and the fat which was intermixed with the lean (מִשְׁמִנֵּים, oily pieces, Nehemiah 8:10). Certain restrictions were imposed upon them in' reference to the former: some parts of the suet, viz. about the stomach, the entrails, the kidneys, and the tail of a sheep, which grows to an excessive size in many Eastern countries, and is a special delicacy, were forbidden to be eaten in the case of animals offered to Jehovah in sacrifice (Leviticus 3:3; Leviticus 3:9; Leviticus 3:17; Leviticus 7:3; Leviticus 7:23). The ground of the prohibition was that the fat was the richest part of the animal, and therefore belonged to him (Leviticus 3:16). It has been supposed that other reasons were superadded, as that the use of fat was unwholesome in the hot climate of Palestine (Maimonides, More Nebochimn, part 3, chapter 48). There appears, however, to be no ground for such an' assumption (Bahr, Symbol. 2:382). The presentation of thefat as the richest part of the animal was agreeable to the dictates of natural feeling, and to the analogy in dedicating the first-born and first-fruits to God. This was also the ordinary practice even of heathen nations, as instanced in the Homeric descriptions'of sacrifices (II. 1:460; 2:423; Od. 3:457), and in the customs of the Egyptians (Herod. 2:47), and Persians (Strabo, 15:732); Accordingly, Abel, who brought the first anfimal sacrifice, not only presented to the Lord "the firstlings of his flock," but "the fat thereof," which, by virtue of its being the best part, was as much the firstling of the animal itself as the animal was the firstling of the flock (Genesis 4:4); or if the word here means the fattest of his flock, the same idea is essentially implied. Indeed, the term cheleb is itself significant of the feeling on which the regulation was based, for it sometimes describes the best of any production (Genesis 45:18; Numbers 18:12; Psalms 81:16; Psalms 147:14; compare 2 Samuel 1:22; Judges 3:29; Isaiah 10:16). With regard to the other parts of the fat of sacrifices or the fat of other animals, it might be consumed, with the exception of those dying either by a violent or a natural death (Leviticus 7:24), which might still be used in any other way. The burning of the fat of sacrifices was particularly specified in each kind of offering, whether a peace offering (Leviticus 3:9), consecration offering (Leviticus 8:25), sin offering (Leviticus 4:8), trespass offering (Leviticus 7:3), or redemption offering (Numbers 18:17). The Hebrews fully appreciated the luxury of well-fatted meat, and had their stall-fed oxen and calves (1 Kings 4:23; Jeremiah 46:21; Luke 15:23). This was, however, not a usual practice; and even at this day in the East, domestic cattle seldom undergo any preparatory feeding or fattening before being killed. Hence there is little fat in the carcase except that belonging to the parts specified in the prohibition, which is all more or less of the nature of suet. (See Food).

The parts of the fat or suet of the victims which belong to God, and are especially to be appropriated to the altar, are given in Exodus 29:13-22, and Leviticus 3:3-5, as follows:

1. The fat which covers the entrails (הִחֵלֶב חִמְכִסֶּה אֶתאּהִקֶּרֶב ) = ἐπίπλους, as Josephus rightly has it (Ant. 3:9, 2); the omentum, which is only to be found in man and mammals, and is very fat in ruminants (comp. Aristot. Hist. Anim. 1:16; Pliny, Hist. Nat. 11:80).

2. The fat which accumulates around entrails (הִחֵלֶב אֲשֶׁר עִלאּהִקֶּרֶב ), and is easily separated therefrom, i.e., the reticular adherings to the colon.

3. The two kidneys, with the fat on them, at the internal muscles of the loins (הִכְּלָיֹת וְאֶת הִחֵלֶב עֲלֵחֶן אֲשֶׁר עִל הִכְּסָלִים שְׁתֵּי ), as the most fat accumulates near the kidneys (Deuteronomy 32:14; Isaiah 34:6), and to such an extent in sheep that they sometimes die of it (οἱ νεφοὶ μάλιστα τῶασπλάγχνων ἔχονσι πιμελήν , Aristot. De Part. Animn 3:9, and Hist. Anim. 3:16; Pliny, Hist. Nat. 11:81),

4. The יֹתֶרֶת, yothereth, which is taken by the Sept and Josephus (Ant. 3:9, 2) to mean ὁ λοβὸς τοῦ ἣπατος, the greater lobe of the liver, similarly the Syriac and Chaldee (חצרא דעל כבדא ); and is explained by the Talmud (Chulin, 49:6), Rashi, Kimchi, Solomon ben-Melech, etc., as טִרְפְּשָּׂא = τρἀπεζα, whereby the Greeks, according to Hippocrates, understood the greater and thickest of the five segments of the liver (Bahr, Symb. 2:354). This meaning of יוֹתֶרֶת is ably defended by Bochart (Hieroz. lib. 2, c. 45), and followed by Le Clerc, J.D. Rosenmuller, Kalisch (on Exodus 29:13), and others. But the Vulgate, Luther, Tyndale, the Bishops' Bible, the Geneva Bible, the A.V., Piscator, De Wette, Knobel, Furst, etc., take it to denote omentum minus, which is preferable, for the lobes have no accumulation of fat.

5. The tail ( אִלְיָה alyah', A.V. "rump") of a sheep (Leviticus 7:3), which, in a certain species (ovis laticaudata), contains a great quantity of fat. It is for this reason that the eating of fat is forbidden (Leviticus 3:17). It affords a delicate marrowy substance much used in pillaus and other messes which require to be lubricated by animal juices. The Rabbinical Jews maintain that the prohibition of it is restricted to the sacrifices, while the Karaite Jews regard the eating of the tail as absolutely forbidden. (See Sheep).

One of the metaphorical senses of "fat" (in the Hebrew) is noticed above. By a natural figure,"fat" is occasionally put in Scripture for a dull and torpid state of mind, as if the heart were covered with thick fat, and therefore insensible (Psalms 17:10). (See Oil).