Smith's Bible Dictionary

Fat i.e. VAT, the word employed in the Authorized Version to translate the Hebrew term yekeb, in (Joel 2:24; Joel 3:13) The word commonly used for yekeb is "winepress" or "winefat," and once "pressfat." (Haggai 2:16) The "vats" appear to have been excavated out of the native rock of the hills on which the vineyards lay.

• (1): The Hebrews distinguished between the suet or pure fat of an animal and the fat which was intermixed with the lean. (Nehemiah 8:10) Certain restrictions were imposed upon them in reference to the former; some parts of the suet, viz., about the stomach, the entrails, the kidneys, and the tail of a sheep, which grows to an excessive size in many eastern countries, and produces a large quantity of rich fat, were forbidden to be eaten in the case of animals offered to Jehovah in sacrifice. (Leviticus 3:3; Leviticus 3:9; Leviticus 3:17; Leviticus 7:3; Leviticus 7:23) The ground of the prohibition was that the fat was the richest part of the animal, and therefore belonged to him. (Leviticus 3:16) The burning of the fat of sacrifices was particularly specified in each kind of offering.