Leviticus 7:23

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) Ye shall eat no manner of fat.—That is, the fat of beeves, sheep, or goats. The fat of these three kinds of sacrificial quadrupeds is prohibited, even when they are not killed as sacrifices, but when slaughtered for private consumption; but the fat of other tame or wild clean quadrupeds, as stags, roes, &c. &c, was lawful. According to the practice which obtained during the second Temple, there are three kinds of fat for the eating of which a man incurred the penalty of excision: the fat (1) which is upon the inwards, (2) upon the two kidneys, and (3) upon the flanks (Leviticus 9:10). The rump, the kidney, and the caul above the liver were not called fat, except in sacrifices. The fat which is covered with flesh is lawful, the fat upon the kidneys is forbidden; but that which is within the kidneys, as well as that of the heart, is lawful.

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 7:23-24. The general prohibition of eating fat, (Leviticus 3:17,) is here explained of those kinds of creatures which were sacrificed. The fat of others they might eat. And (Leviticus 7:24) he shows that this prohibition reached not only to the fat of those beasts which were offered to God, but also of those that died, or were killed at home.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:11-27 As to the peace-offerings, in the expression of their sense of mercy, God left them more at liberty, than in the expression of their sense of sin; that their sacrifices, being free-will offerings, might be the more acceptable, while, by obliging them to bring the sacrifices of atonement, God shows the necessity of the great Propitiation. The main reason why blood was forbidden of old, was because the Lord had appointed blood for an atonement. This use, being figurative, had its end in Christ, who by his death and blood-shedding caused the sacrifices to cease. Therefore this law is not now in force on believers.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This is emphatically addressed to the people. They were not to eat in their own meal what belonged to the altar of Yahweh, nor what was the perquisite of the priests. See Leviticus 7:33-36.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22-27. Ye shall eat no manner of fat—(See on [38]Le 3:17).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The general prohibition of eating fat, Leviticus 3:17, is here explained of, and restrained to, those kinds of creatures which were sacrificed to God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,.... Putting them in mind, by repeating to them the laws concerning fat and blood, Leviticus 3:17.

ye shall eat no manner of fat; of any creature fit for food, whose flesh otherwise may be eaten, and particularly

of ox, or of sheep, or of goats: creatures used in sacrifice; though this is not to be restrained to such of them, and the fat of them that were sacrificed, whose fat was claimed by the Lord as his, and was burnt on his altar; but this is to be understood of the fat of these creatures when killed for their common use, for the food of them and their families; the fat even of these was not to be eaten; that which was not separated from the flesh, but mixed with it, might be eaten, but not that which was separated (l).

(l) Bechai in Leviticus 3. 17.

Geneva Study Bible

Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Leviticus 7:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

On the other hand, "the soul which eats flesh of the peace-offering, and his uncleanness is upon him (for "whilst uncleanness is upon him;" the suffix is to be understood as referring to נפשׁ construed as a masculine, see Leviticus 2:1), "shall be cut off" (see Genesis 17:14). This was to be done, whether the uncleanness arose from contact with an unclean object (any unclean thing), or from the uncleanness of man (cf. ch. 12-15), or from an unclean beast (see at Leviticus 11:4-8), or from any other unclean abomination. שׁקץ, abomination, includes the unclean fishes, birds, and smaller animals, to which this expression is applied in Leviticus 11:10-42 (cf. Ezekiel 8:10 and Isaiah 66:17). Moreover contact with animals that were pronounced unclean so far as eating was concerned, did not produce uncleanness so long as they were alive, or if they had been put to death by man; but contact with animals that had died a natural death, whether they belonged to the edible animals or not, that is to say, with carrion (see at Leviticus 11:8).

There is appended to these regulations, as being substantially connected with them, the prohibition of fat and blood as articles of food (Leviticus 7:22-27). By "the fat of ox, or of sheep, or of goat," i.e., the three kinds of animals used in sacrifice, or "the fat of the beast of which men offer a firing to Jehovah" (Leviticus 7:25), we are to understand only those portions of fat which are mentioned in Leviticus 3:3-4, Leviticus 3:9; not fat which grows in with the flesh, nor the fat portions of other animals, which were clean but not allowed as sacrifices, such as the stag, the antelope, and other kinds of game.