Page:Keil and Delitzsch,Biblical commentary the old testament the pentateuch, trad James Martin, volume 1, 1885.djvu/805

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and to lay “wood in order upon the fire” (ערך to lay in regular order), and then to “lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon the wood on the fire,” and thus to cause the whole to ascend in smoke. פּדר, which is only used in connection with the burnt-offering (Lev 1:8, Lev 1:12, and Lev 8:20), signifies, according to the ancient versions (lxx στέαρ) and the rabbinical writers, the fat, probably those portions of fat which were separated from the entrails and taken out to wash. Bochart's explanation is adeps a carne sejunctus. The head and fat are specially mentioned along with the pieces of flesh, partly because they are both separated from the flesh when animals are slaughtered, and partly also to point out distinctly that the whole of the animal (“all,” Lev 1:9) was to be burned upon the altar, with the exception of the skin, which was given to the officiating priest (Lev 7:8), and the contents of the intestines. הקטיר, to cause to ascend in smoke and steam (Exo 30:7), which is frequently construed with המּזבּחה towards the altar (ה local, so used as to include position in a place; vid., Lev 1:13, Lev 1:15, Lev 1:17; Lev 2:2, Lev 2:9, etc.), or with המּזבּח (Lev 6:8), or על־המּזבּח (Lev 9:13, Lev 9:17), was the technical expression for burning the sacrifice upon the altar, and showed that the intention was not simply to burn those portions of the sacrifice which were placed in the fire, i.e., to destroy, or turn them into ashes, but by this process of burning to cause the odour which was eliminated to ascend to heaven as the ethereal essence of the sacrifice, for a “firing of a sweet savour unto Jehovah.” אשּׁה, firing (“an offering made by fire,” Eng. Ver.), is the general expression used to denote the sacrifices, which ascended in fire upon the altar, whether animal or vegetable (Lev 2:2, Lev 2:11, Lev 2:16), and is also applied to the incense laid upon the shew-bread (Lev 24:7); and hence the shew-bread itself (Lev 24:7), and even those portions of the sacrifices which Jehovah assigned to the priests for them to eat (Deu 18:1 cf. Jos 13:14), came also to be included in the firings for Jehovah. The word does not occur out of the Pentateuch, except in Jos 13:14 and 1Sa 2:28. In the laws of sacrifice it is generally associated with the expression, “a sweet savour unto Jehovah” (ὀσμὴ εὐωδίας: lxx): an anthropomorphic description of the divine satisfaction with the sacrifices offered, or the gracious acceptance of them on the part of God (see Gen 8:21), which is used in connection with all the