What Does Leviticus 3:15 Mean in the King James?
And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The offering reaches into the hidden body, naming its kidneys and rich inner fat as part of what is set apart.
THE MEANING
The verse specifies the kidneys, the fat upon them beside the flanks, and the lobe above the liver as portions to remove. The prescribed offering reaches beneath the visible surface to the animal’s interior. What is hidden remains within the passage’s account of what is given.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A sacred offering concerns only what can be seen from outside.
THE ROOT
חֵלֶב
chelev
GROWS FROM
ח־ל־ב
ḥ-l-b
To be fat or rich; richness and abundance.
The word names the animal’s fat, while the same consonants appear in חָלָב (chalav, milk) and in descriptions of rich abundance. The shared root gathers fat, nourishment, and richness together, giving the portion removed here the sense of the animal’s concentrated abundance.
ALSO GROWS
chalav: Milk; nourishing richness.
חָלָב
Its shared consonants link the sacrificial fat with the animal’s nourishing richness.
chelev ha’aretz: The fat or richness of the land.
חֵלֶב הָאָרֶץ
In Genesis 45:18, the same word describes the land’s abundance, echoing the rich portion named for removal here.
THE PATTERN
The inward portion remains within the scope of what is seen and claimed as God’s.
And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD’s.Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.THE THREAD
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.The word rendered “reins” is כְּלָיוֹת (kilyot, kidneys), the same bodily word named plainly in Leviticus 3:15. Here the kidneys also name the inward self that the LORD searches, joining the physical inner part to what lies within a person.
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