Deuteronomy 18:3

3 hoc erit iudicium sacerdotum a populo et ab his qui offerunt victimas sive bovem sive ovem immolaverint dabunt sacerdoti armum ac ventriculum

Deuteronomy 18:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 18:3

And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them
that offer sacrifice
Not from the priests, as Jarchi observes, but from those that bring the sacrifices to the priests, particularly the peace offerings:

whether it be ox or sheep;
the one of the herd, the other of the flock, creatures used in sacrifice, and takes in goats and the kids of them, rams and lambs:

and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks,
and the maw;
the first of these designs the upper part of the arm that joins to the neck and back, and the next the two cheeks with the tongue, as both Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe, and indeed the whole head is meant; the maw, which the Septuagint interpreters call (enustron) , and other writers (hnustron) , is, according to the philosopher ^F16, the fourth and last ventricle or stomach, and which he thus describes;

``after the echinus or rough tripe is that which is called (hnustron) , the maw, which is in size larger than the echinus, and in form longer, and has many large and smooth folds;''

and (hnustron boov) , the maw of an ox, and the belly of a swine, are reckoned by the poet ^F17 as delicious food.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 2. c. 17.
F17 Aristophan. Equites, Act. 1. Sc. 3. p. 307. & Act. 4. Sc. 1. p. 355.

Deuteronomy 18:3 In-Context

1 non habebunt sacerdotes et Levitae et omnes qui de eadem tribu sunt partem et hereditatem cum reliquo Israhel quia sacrificia Domini et oblationes eius comedent

2 et nihil aliud accipient de possessione fratrum suorum Dominus enim ipse est hereditas eorum sicut locutus est illis

3 hoc erit iudicium sacerdotum a populo et ab his qui offerunt victimas sive bovem sive ovem immolaverint dabunt sacerdoti armum ac ventriculum

4 primitias frumenti vini et olei et lanarum partem ex ovium tonsione

5 ipsum enim elegit Dominus Deus tuus de cunctis tribubus tuis ut stet et ministret nomini Domini ipse et filii eius in sempiternum