Bible Dictionary · F
Fat
(Heb. heleb) denotes the richest part of the animal, or the fattest of the flock, in the account of Abel’s sacrifice (Gen 4:4). It sometimes denotes the best of any production (Gen 45:18; Num 18:12; Ps 81:16; 147:47). The fat of sacrifices was to be burned (Lev 3:9–11; Lev 4:8; Lev 7:3; Lev 8:25; Num 18:17. Comp. Ex 29:13–22; Lev 3:3–5).
It is used figuratively for a dull, stupid state of mind (Ps 17:10).
In Joel 2:24 the word is equivalent to “vat,” a vessel. The hebrew word here thus rendered is elsewhere rendered “wine-fat” and “press-fat” (Hag 2:16; Isa 63:2).
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
