And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. The two kidneys ... of the flock ... the whole rump, ['alyaah] - the tail of the Syrian sheep, ovis laticaudia (Linnoeus) (Leviticus 7:3; Leviticus 8:25; Leviticus 9:19; Exodus 29:22). There is in Eastern countries a species of sheep the tails of which are not less than four feet and a half in length. These tails are of a substance between fat and marrow. A sheep of this kind weighs 60 or 70 English pounds weight, of which the tail usually weighs 15 pounds or more. This species is by far the most numerous in Arabia, Syria, and Palestine, and, forming probably a large portion in the flocks of the Israelites, seems to have been the kind that usually bled on the Jewish altars. The extraordinary size and deliciousness of their tails gave additional importance to this law. To command, by an express law, the tail of a British sheep to be offered in sacrifice to God might well surprise us; but the wonder ceases when we are told of those broad-tailed Eastern sheep, and of the extreme delicacy of that part which was so particularly specified in the statute (cf. Rawlinson's Herodotus, b. 3:, ch. 110:, note 3; also 'Fellowes' 'Asia Minor,' p. 10).
Leviticus 3:4-11
4 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caulb above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.
5 And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
6 And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering unto the LORD be of the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish.
7 If he offer a lamb for his offering, then shall he offer it before the LORD.
8 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about upon the altar.
9 And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat thereof, and the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,
10 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.
11 And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the LORD.