Leviticus 3:4

And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-5 The peace-offerings had regard to God as the giver of all good things. These were divided between the altar, the priest, and the owner. They were called peace-offering, because in them God and his people did, as it were, feast together, in token of friendship. The peace-offerings were offered by way of supplication. If a man were in pursuit of any mercy, he would add a peace-offering to his prayer for it. Christ is our Peace, our Peace-offering; for through him alone it is that we can obtain an answer of peace to our prayers. Or, the peace-offering was offered by way of thanksgiving for some mercy received. We must offer to God the sacrifice of praise continually, by Christ our Peace; and then this shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The caul above the liver - Probably the membrane covering the upper part of the liver.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4-11. the two kidneys … of the flock … the whole rump—There is, in Eastern countries, a species of sheep the tails of which are not less than four feet and a half in length. These tails are of a substance between fat and marrow. A sheep of this kind weighs sixty or seventy English pounds weight, of which the tail usually weighs fifteen pounds and upwards. This species is by far the most numerous in Arabia, Syria, and Palestine, and, forming probably a large portion in the flocks of the Israelites, it seems to have been the kind that usually bled on the Jewish altars. The extraordinary size and deliciousness of their tails give additional importance to this law. To command by an express law the tail of a certain sheep to be offered in sacrifice to God, might well surprise us; but the wonder ceases, when we are told of those broad-tailed Eastern sheep, and of the extreme delicacy of that part which was so particularly specified in the statute [Paxton].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks,.... Meaning either the two kidneys which were next the flanks, or the fat upon them, which was next to them; these, and the burning of them, may signify the burning zeal and flaming love and affections of Christ for his people, which instructed him, and put him upon offering himself a sacrifice of peace offering for them, see Psalm 16:7.

and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away; or the caul, which is a thin membrane or skin, in which the liver is enclosed, with the liver, together with the kidneys, he separated from the rest in order to burn, at least with a part of the liver; so Jarchi and Gersom interpret it, that he should take a little of the liver with the caul; and indeed some think the word rendered "caul" signifies a part of the liver, that which the Greeks call the "table", the broader part of it, like a table; and which word the Talmudists (g) retain, who speak of , "the table of the liver"; and by which Jarchi on Exodus 29:13 interprets the caul above the liver, the same as here.

(g) T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 46. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. the two kidneys, and the fat … by the loins] Between the kidneys and the backbone are thick layers of fat. These may be seen in the carcases of sheep and lambs in butchers’ shops; the omentum and the liver are generally removed before they are exposed for sale.

the caul upon the liver] Here and in Leviticus 3:10; Leviticus 3:15, Leviticus 4:9, Leviticus 7:4; Exodus 29:13; the caul of the liver Exodus 29:22; Leviticus 8:16; Leviticus 8:25; Leviticus 9:19; the caul from the liver Leviticus 9:10. The Heb. word translated ‘caul’ occurs only in these passages, and A.V. has the preposition ‘above’ in all of them. By ‘caul’ is here meant the membrane known as the small omentum, which covers the liver, the reticulum jecoris of Vulg. Jerome probably obtained the meaning from his Hebrew teachers. Mediaeval Jewish commentators interpret in the same way, or, as A.V. mg. renders, ‘midriff.’

But Moore in Enc. Bib. iv. p. 420 b had expressed his opinion that the lobus caudatus of the liver is the part indicated by the Heb. text. In an Article contributed to Orient. Studien Th. Nöldeke gewidmet (1906) ii. 761 ff. he examined fully the renderings of the LXX. and other versions, quotations from the Mishna and other Jewish authorities, and shewed that the oldest tradition supported this interpretation. The Heb. literally translated is the redundance upon the liver which he shall take away along with the kidneys. Something connected with the liver, but in the nature of an appendage, which can be removed when the kidneys with the fat enclosing them are taken away, is indicated. From the right lobe of the liver of a sheep projects upwards an excrescence like a finger lying close to the right kidney fat, reaching about halfway up the kidney, which can easily be separated from the liver when the kidney with its surrounding fat is removed according to the directions in Leviticus 3:3-4. It is called (Tal. Bab. Tamid 31 a) ‘the finger of the liver,’ a more descriptive title than ‘the nut,’ given to it by the modern butcher. Anatomists call it lobus caudatus, and it appears to be clearly indicated by the Heb. yôthéreth, redundance, and the directions which imply its proximity to the kidney.

The LXX. translate, ὁ λοβός, and as there are several lobes in the liver, this was by some interpreted to mean the great upper lobe. But Greek writers who refer to divination by means of the liver (Eurip. Electra, 827 f., Aesch. Eumen. 155 f., Prom. Vinc. 509 f., and other references in Moore’s Article) employ λοβός to denote lobus caudatus, which was observed with special care by the haruspex. Latin writers employ the phrase caput jecoris, and Cicero, de Divin. ii. 13 says that it is regarded as a most unfavourable omen if this part of the liver is not found. When Agesilaus (Xen. Hellenica, iii. 4. 15) desired to know whether the omens were favourable to an advance with his army, the animal’s liver was found defective in this respect; whereupon he retreated to the coast. The renderings of Targ. and Peshitto (for which see Moore) confirm the conclusions already drawn.

For the significance of the parts reserved for sacrifice, as the seat of life and passions, see Rel. Sem.2 pp. 379 f. The agreement between Semite, Greek, and the aboriginal Australian as there shewn should be particularly noted.

The description given above applies to the carcase of a sheep as exposed in the shops with the head downwards. The liver with the lobus caudatus has been removed, but the place where it rested against the right kidney can be seen. The ‘right’ is that opposite to the right hand of the person looking at it, and is the right side of the sheep when alive and on its legs; ‘upwards’ would then be ‘horizontally.’

It is interesting to note that earlier English versions observe the distinction of prepositions as in R.V. and though in Exodus 29 they render ‘the kal of the lyver,’ they have the word ‘ab(o)unda(u)nce,’ with variation of spelling, instead of ‘kal’ in Lev. The Bishops’ Bible (1568) has ‘kall’ throughout.

Leviticus 3:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The person presenting the sacrifice was to offer as a firing for Jehovah, first, "the fat which covered the entrails" (Leviticus 1:9), i.e., the large net which stretches from the stomach over the bowels and completely envelopes the latter, and which is only met with in the case of men and the mammalia generally, and in the ruminant animals abounds with fat; secondly, "all the fat on the entrails," i.e., the fat attached to the intestines, which could easily be peeled off; thirdly, "the two kidneys, and the fat upon them (and) that upon the loins (הכּסלים), i.e., upon the inner muscles of the loins, or in the region of the kidneys; and fourthly, "the net upon the liver." The net (היּתרת) upon (על Leviticus 3:4, Leviticus 3:10, Leviticus 3:15; Leviticus 4:9; Leviticus 7:4; Exodus 29:13), or from (מן Leviticus 9:10), or of the liver (Leviticus 8:16, Leviticus 8:25; Leviticus 9:19; Exodus 29:22), cannot be the large lobe of the liver, ὁ λοβὸς τοῦ ἥπατος (lxx), because this is part of the liver itself, and does not lie על־כּבד over (upon) the liver; nor is it simply a portion of fat, but the small net (omentum minus), the liver-net, or stomach-net (recticulum jecoris; Vulg., Luth., De Wette, and Knobel), which commences at the division between the right and left lobes of the liver, and stretches on the one side across the stomach, and on the other to the region of the kidneys. Hence the clause, "on the kidneys (i.e., by them, as far as it reaches) shall he take it away." This smaller net is delicate, but not so fat as the larger net; though it still forms part of the fat portions. The word יתרת, which only occurs in the passages quoted, is to be explained from the Arabic and Ethiopic (to stretch over, to stretch out), whence also the words יתר a cord (Judges 16:7; Psalm 11:2), and מיתר the bow-string (Psalm 21:13) or extended tent-ropes (Exodus 35:18), are derived. The four portions mentioned comprehended all the separable fat in the inside of the sacrificial animal. Hence they were also designated "all the fat" of the sacrifice (Leviticus 3:16; Leviticus 4:8, Leviticus 4:19, Leviticus 4:26, Leviticus 4:31, Leviticus 4:35; Leviticus 7:3), or briefly "the fat" (החלב Leviticus 3:9; Leviticus 7:33; Leviticus 16:25; Leviticus 17:6; Numbers 18:17), "the fat portions" (החלבים Leviticus 6:5; Leviticus 8:26; Leviticus 9:19-20, Leviticus 9:24; Leviticus 10:15).