Levitucus 3:14 Ok to eat fat?

[mystic]

14And from it, he shall bring his offering a fire offering to the Lord [comprised of] the fat covering the innards, and all the fat which is on the innards, 
15and the two kidneys with the fat that is upon them, which is over the flanks. And he shall remove the diaphragm with the liver; along with the kidneys he shall remove it. 
16And the kohen shall cause it to [go up in] smoke on the altar, consumed as a fire offering, [with] a pleasing fragrance. All [sacrificial] fat belongs to the Lord. 
17[This is] an eternal statute for all your generations, in all your dwelling places: You shall not eat any fat or any blood.

What is this referring to exactly please, it not to eat ANY fat at all like what's under the chicken skin or is that referring only to the insides of an animal?

[alon]

Nov 19, 2020 3:52:17 GMT -8 mystic said:

14And from it, he shall bring his offering a fire offering to the Lord [comprised of] the fat covering the innards, and all the fat which is on the innards, 
15and the two kidneys with the fat that is upon them, which is over the flanks. And he shall remove the diaphragm with the liver; along with the kidneys he shall remove it. 
16And the kohen shall cause it to [go up in] smoke on the altar, consumed as a fire offering, [with] a pleasing fragrance. All [sacrificial] fat belongs to the Lord. 
17[This is] an eternal statute for all your generations, in all your dwelling places: You shall not eat any fat or any blood.

What is this referring to exactly please, it not to eat ANY fat at all like what's under the chicken skin or is that referring only to the insides of an animal?

From our "Actual Commandments" project:

Leviticus 7:23b-25 (NASB) … ‘You shall not eat any fat from an ox, a sheep or a goat. Also the fat of an animal which dies and the fat of an animal torn by beasts may be put to any other use, but you must certainly not eat it. For whoever eats the fat of the animal from which an offering by fire is offered to the Lord, even the person who eats shall be cut off from his people.’ Fat may be put to other uses, but we may not eat it.

Leviticus 3:17 (NASB) “It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall not eat any fat or any blood.” We are to drain the blood and trim the fat off our meat. Contextually however this does not apply to residual fat or blood. Previous verses talk of fat trimmed from the outside of the meat and organs. The blood was taken there at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting where it was killed. No mention of kashering.

It looks like that term "sacrificial" was added as a "clarification" in your source. However it is only the interpreters opinion that is what is meant, and he is wrong. That may be what is confusing you. But read vs. 17 just a few short verses after and we see “It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings." Sacrifices were no longer to be made in homes, and besides, this is a "perpetual" command "throughout your generations." So this cannot only mean the fat of animals sacrificed to the Lord. It has to mean all animals and all fat! "For whoever eats the fat of the animal from which an offering by fire is offered to the Lord, even the person who eats shall be cut off from his people." That's pretty serious, and shows just how much God meant what He said.

Christianity teaches this was only meant of actual sacrificial animals because otherwise they's have to be obedient and trim the fat. I was never fond of fat, but a whole lot of people love it, so they take what belongs to God. It doesn't say anything about disposal of the fat, but I would assume it would have been done so in a manner that would keep animals from taking it. Today we just take it out with the garbage (and make sure the lid is closed).

Now does this mean ALL fat? Since it is impossible to remove the marbling and/or trim the fat so close you get it all, I'd say no. However even after it is cooked, I scrape the remainder of the fat from the outside of the cut of meat, making sure I get rid of as much as possible.

Remember, all these commands were meant for our benefit in one way or another. We are not always told why, and the ancient Israelites wouldn't have understood the why, just the command not to eat fat. Today science has provided us with at least part of the answer. There are a lot of harmful substances stored in fat, and eating it we'd be ingesting them.

So that is my opinion: we are to get rid of as much fat as possible from our meat.

Dan C 

[mystic]

According to what I had read on fat and health issues, the human body needs some fat in order to be healthy, which is why I am looking into this.

[alon]

Nov 20, 2020 4:18:07 GMT -8 mystic said:

According to what I had read on fat and health issues, the human body needs some fat in order to be healthy, which is why I am looking into this.

The body needs "fats," plural; several kinds of them. Dairy, nuts, some seeds ... we get those fats from a lot of sources, including the marbling in the meat we cannot cut out and the meat itself. But we don't need all the fat on every cut of meat. Dietary fats and the excess fat around our middles are two different things (the proscription on cannibalism notwithstanding).

Dan C