Kidneys
Kidneys
KIDNEYS
1. Literal.(1) The choice portions of animals sacrificed to J [Note: Jahweh.] included the kidneys (Exo 29:13; Exo 29:22, Lev 3:4; Lev 3:10; Lev 3:15; Lev 4:9; Lev 7:4; Lev 8:16; Lev 8:25; Lev 9:10; Lev 9:19; cf. Isa 34:6). The term is even transferred (if the text is correct) to choice wheat (Deu 32:14). (2) Limited to poetry is the use of this term in regard to human beings, and the rendering is always reins (see below). They are possessed (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] formed) by J [Note: Jahweh.] (Psa 139:13), and are, metaphorically, wounded by J [Note: Jahweh.] s arrows (Job 16:13; cf. Job 19:27, Lam 3:13). (3) AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] of Lev 15:2; Lev 22:4 is incorrect; there is no mention of reins; and in Isa 11:5 the word so rendered means loins.
2. Figurative.Here the EV [Note: English Version.] rendering is always reins (Lat. renes, pl.; the Gr. equivalent being nephroi, whence nephritis, etc.). The avoidance of the word kidneys is desirable, because we do not regard them as the seat of emotion. But the Biblical writers did so regard them. It was as natural for them to say This gladdens my reins as it is naturaland incorrectfor us to say This gladdens my heart. And, in fact, in the passages now cited the terms reins and heart are often parallel: Psa 7:9; Psa 16:7; Psa 26:2; Psa 73:21, Pro 23:16, Jer 11:20; Jer 12:2; Jer 17:10; Jer 20:12, Wis 1:6, 1Ma 2:24, Rev 2:23.
H. F. B. Compston.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Kidneys
kidniz (always in the plural: , kelayoth; , nephro; Latin renes, whence the English reins): Reins and kidneys are synonyms, but the King James Version undertook a distinction by using the former word in the figurative, the latter in the literal passages. the English Revised Version has followed the King James Version exactly, but the American Standard Revised Version has retained reins only in Job 16:13; Lam 3:13; Rev 2:23, elsewhere substituting heart, except in Psa 139:13, where inward parts is used. the King James Version and the English Revised Version also have reins for , halacayim, in Isa 11:5 (the American Standard Revised Version loins). The physiological function of the kidneys is not referred to in the Bible, but has been introduced (quite wrongly) by the King James Version margin to Lev 15:2; Lev 22:4.
(1) The kidneys owe their importance in the Bible partly to the fact that they are imbedded in fat, and fat of such purity that fat of the kidneys was a proverbial term for surpassing excellence (Deu 32:14 margin). For the visceral fat was the part of the animal best adapted for sacrificial burning, and hence, came to be deemed peculiarly sacred (Lev 7:22-25; 1Sa 2:16). Accordingly, the kidneys with the fat surrounding them were burned in every sacrifice in which the entire animal was not consumed, whether in peace (Lev 3:4, Lev 3:10, Lev 3:15; Lev 9:19), sin (Exo 29:13; Lev 4:9; Lev 8:16; Lev 9:10), or trespass, (Lev 7:4) offerings; compare the ram of consecration (Exo 29:22; Lev 8:25). So in Isa 34:6, fat of the kidneys of rams is chosen as a typical sacrificial term to parallel blood of lambs and goats. (2) The position of the kidneys in the body makes them particularly inaccessible, and in cutting up an animal they are the last organs to be reached. Consequently, they were a natural symbol for the most hidden part of a man (Psa 139:13), and in Job 16:13 to cleave the reins asunder is to effect the total destruction of the individual (compare Job 19:27; Lam 3:13). This hidden location, coupled with the sacred sacrificial use, caused the kidneys to be thought of as the seat of the innermost moral (and emotional) impulses. So the reins instruct (Psa 16:7) or are pricked (Psa 73:21), and God can be said to be far from the reins of sinners (Jer 12:2). In all of these passages conscience gives the exact meaning. So the reins rejoice (Pro 23:16), cause torment (2 Esdras 5:34), or tremble in wrath (1 Macc 2:24). And to know or try the reins (usually joined with the heart) is an essential power of God’s, denoting His complete knowledge of the nature of every human being (Psa 7:9; Psa 26:2; Jer 11:20; Jer 17:10; Jer 20:12; The Wisdom of Solomon 1:6; Rev 2:23). See FAT; PSYCHOLOGY; SACRIFICE. Compare RS2, 379-80, and for Greek sacrificial parallels Journal of Philology, XIX (1890), 46. The anatomical relations are well exhibited in the plate in Sacred Books of the Old Testament, Leviticus.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Kidneys
These, ‘with the fat thereof,’ were often burned on the altar in the sacrifices. Lev 3:4-15; Lev 4:9; Lev 7:4, etc. The same word, Kelayoth is translated ‘reins,’ (which signifies ‘kidneys’) when used symbolically of the inward feelings and affections.