Kidney
Holman Bible Dictionary [1]
Jeremiah 12:2 Revelation 2:23 Revelation 2:23 Job 19:27 Psalm 7:9 Psalm 16:7 Psalm 73:21 Jeremiah 12:2 Lamentations 3:13 Proverbs 23:16 Psalm 139:13 Job 16:13
The kidneys are often associated with the heart as constituting the center of human personality ( Psalm 7:9; Psalm 26:2; Jeremiah 11:20; Jeremiah 17:10; Jeremiah 20:12; Revelation 2:23 ). Because the areas around the kidneys are sensitive, the Hebrews believed the kidneys were the seat of the emotions (see Job 19:27; Psalm 73:21; Proverbs 23:16 ). The kidneys were also used figuratively as the source of the knowledge and understanding of the moral life ( Psalm 16:7; Jeremiah 12:2 ).
When used literally of animals (except Isaiah 34:6 ) the kidneys are mentioned in relation to sacrifice. The kidney, along with the fat surrounding it, were reserved for God as among the choicest parts of the animal ( Exodus 29:13 ,Exodus 29:13, 29:22 ). Deuteronomy 32:14 (KJV) speaks of the best wheat as the “fat of kidneys” (see NRSV).
Webster's Dictionary [2]
(1): ( n.) A glandular organ which excretes urea and other waste products from the animal body; a urinary gland.
(2): ( n.) Habit; disposition; sort; kind.
(3): ( n.) A waiter.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types [3]
Exodus 29:13 (c) This figure probably indicates those secret activities of the life which are occupied with unpleasant things which should not be made known, and yet are necessary and must be given into.
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology [4]
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [5]
(only in plur. כְּלָיוֹת , Kelayoth', prob. from the idea of its being the seat of Longing), the leaf-fat around which was specially to be a burnt-offering, significant of its being the richest and most central part of the victim ( Exodus 29:13; Exodus 29:22; Leviticus 3:4; Leviticus 3:10; Leviticus 3:15; Leviticus 4:9; Leviticus 7:4; Leviticus 8:16; Leviticus 8:25; Leviticus 9:10; Leviticus 9:19; Isaiah 34:3). Spoken also of the " Reins" of a human being, i.e. the inmost soul, which the ancients supposed to be seated in the viscera (compare the Homeric Φρήν , midriff, hence mind), both in a physical sense ( Job 16:13; Job 19:27; Psalms 139:13; Lamentations 3:13), and figuratively ( Psalms 7:9; Psalms 16:7; Psalms 26:2; Psalms 73:21; Proverbs 23:16; Jeremiah 11:20; Jeremiah 12:2; Jeremiah 17:10; Jeremiah 20:12). Sometimes applied to Kernels of grain, from their kidney-like shape and richness ( Deuteronomy 32:14).
