Exodus 29:22

22 Then take the fat of the sheep, the fat tail, the fat covering the insides, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and the right leg; for by the offering of this sheep they are to be marked out as priests:

Exodus 29:22 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 29:22

Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump
The fat which was upon it: the sheep in Arabia and about Judea were remarkable for their large tails; according to Rauwolff ^F26, they were half a span thick, and one and a half broad, and very fat; and so in Africa and Egypt were rams of large tails often and twenty pounds weight ^F1; and Aristotle ^F2 speaks of sheep in Syria that had tails a cubit broad; and Herodotus ^F3 makes mention of two sorts in Arabia, one sort have tails three cubits long, which if drawn upon the ground would ulcerate, wherefore the shepherds make little carts to bear them upon ^F4, and the other sort have tails a cubit broad; and Vartomanus

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 relates, how in Arabia are fat sheep whose tails weigh eleven, twelve, seventeen, nay, forty four pounds, and of a cubit long:

and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and
the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them:
(See Gill on Exodus 29:13)

and the right shoulder;
what was to be done with it is afterwards observed as well as with the rest:

for it is a ram of consecration;
or "of fillings" ^F6; Jarchi says, the Scripture declares these fillings to be peace offerings, for they minister peace to the altar, and to him that does the service, and to the owners; wherefore the breast was necessarily his that did the service for his portion, and this was Moses, for he ministered in the fillings, and the rest Aaron and his sons ate, for they were the owners.

F26 Travels, p. 221.
F1 Leo. African. Descript. Africae, l. 9. p. 753.
F2 Hist. Animal. l. 8, c. 28.
F3 Thalia sive, l. 3. c. 113.
F4 The same is observed in T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 54. 2. & Gloss. in. ib.
F5 Navigat. l. 2. c. 5, 9, 15.
F6 (Myalm) "impletionum", Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator.

Exodus 29:22 In-Context

20 You are to put the sheep to death, and take some of its blood and put it on the point of Aaron's right ear, and of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and the great toes of their right feet, dropping the rest of the blood on the sides of the altar.

21 Then take some of the blood on the altar, and the oil, and put it on Aaron and his robes and on his sons and on their robes, so that he and his robes and his sons and their robes may be made holy.

22 Then take the fat of the sheep, the fat tail, the fat covering the insides, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and the right leg; for by the offering of this sheep they are to be marked out as priests:

23 And take one bit of bread and one cake of oiled bread and one thin cake out of the basket of unleavened bread which is before the Lord:

24 And put them all on the hands of Aaron and of his sons, to be waved for a wave offering before the Lord.