But Abel offers the firstlings not only from the first-born, but from the fat, showing that the gladness and richness of the soul, all that protects and gives joy, should be set apart for God. I note that also in the ordering of the sacrifices the worshipper is bidden to bring from the victims these three first, the fat, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver (Lev. 3:3 ff.). Of these I will speak separately. But nowhere is there a word of the brain or the heart, which we should have supposed would be offered before all, seeing that also in the Lawgiver’s words it is acknowledged that the ruling principle resides in one or other of these. Yet perhaps it was in true piety and after careful thought that he excluded them from the altar of God, because this ruling principle from moment to moment is subject to many changes either way, to good and bad. And thus it is ever assuming different impressions: sometimes that of a coin pure and approved by the test, sometimes of one that is base and adulterated. This region then which admits both contending elements, the noble and the shameful, which is familiar with both, and honours both alike, seemed no less unholy than holy to the lawgiver, and therefore he dismissed it from the altar of God. For the shameful is profane, and the profane is surely unholy. It is this profaneness which has excluded the ruling principle. But if that should undergo purgation, then, when all the parts have been cleansed, there shall be given to the sacrificial fire a whole offering free from stain and pollution. For this is the law of burnt-offerings, that nothing save the excrement and hide which are the tokens of bodily weakness, not of wickedness, should be left to created being, but the rest, which show a soul wholly complete in all its parts, should be given in their entirety as a burnt-offering to God.
On the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain 40
Tap any verse to see what it echoes — and start a chain or echo from it.