Intertextuality Pair

1 Samuel 2:15 → Leviticus 3:16

Allusion

Later text

1 Samuel 2:15BSB

Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw."

Earlier text

Leviticus 3:16BSB

Then the priest is to burn the food on the altar as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the LORD's.

Significance

Leviticus 3:16 establishes the absolute principle: "All the fat is the LORD's" (כָּל־חֵלֶב לַיהוָה, kol-chelev laYHWH). The fat (חֵלֶב, chelev) was YHWH's portion, to be burned on the altar before anything else. In 1 Samuel 2:15, Eli's sons demand raw meat "before the fat was burned" (בְּטֶרֶם יַקְטִרוּן אֶת־הַחֵלֶב), seizing what belongs to God before His portion is rendered. This violation is not merely procedural but sacrilegious: by taking the fat before burning, the priests treat God's holy portion as their own, directly contravening the Levitical command and demonstrating contempt for YHWH's sacrificial order. The narrative counts this contempt for the LORD's offering among the sins named against Eli's house (2:17, 29), alongside Eli's failure to restrain his blaspheming sons (3:13), showing that this Levitical violation carried lethal covenantal consequence, not mere impropriety.

Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Contrast

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