Leviticus 1:17

Lev 1:17 And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, [but] shall not divide [it] asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that [is] upon the fire: it [is] a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

Ver. 17. And he shall cleave it.] That the inward part might be laid on the fire. See Psa 51:18-19 Mar 12:33.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 1:17. He shall cleave — The bird through the whole length, yet so as not to separate the one side from the other. A sweet savour unto the Lord — Yet, after all, “to love God with all our hearts, and to love our neighbour as ourselves, is better than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:17 tear . . . without tearing it apart: Cutting larger animals into pieces (1:6, 12) probably reflects the ancient rite of covenant-making, in which the participant passed between the two halves of a sacrificed animal (see Gen 15:10). Because of their small size, birds were not cut in half. If it was necessary to pass between them, they were arranged in pairs.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(17) And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof.—Before placing it on the altar fire the priest made an incision in the wings, without, however, separating them wholly from the body, thus corresponding in some degree to the limbing of the quadruped. (See Lev_1:6.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. rend it by the wings thereof] The action corresponds to that of dividing into parts (Lev_1:6 and Lev_1:12), but because of the small size of the bird the division is not completed.

a sweet savour] The offering of fowls is thus described, as well as the offerings of the herd and of the flock, to teach that, whether the offerer bring much or little, it is all one in the sight of God provided only that the heart be directed heavenwards. (Rashi, based on Talm. Menâḥoth.)

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof,.... One wing being on one side, and the other on the other side:

but shall not divide it asunder; the body of the bird, though it was cleaved down in the middle, yet not parted asunder, nor any of its wings separated from it; the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, "but shall not separate its wings from it"; this denoted, that though, by the death of Christ, his soul and body were separated from each other, yet the human nature was not separated from his divine Person, the personal union between the two natures still continuing; nor was he divided from his divine Father, though he was forsaken by him, yet still in union with him as the Son of God; nor from the divine Spirit, by which he offered up himself to God, and by which he was quickened; nor from his church and people, for whom he suffered, they being united to him as members to their head:

and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire; in like manner as the ox, sheep, or goat were burnt: according to the Misnah, the priest went up the ascent (of the altar) and turned round about the circuit; when he came to the southeast horn, he cut its head (or nipped it) with his nail, over against its neck, and divided it, and squeezed out its blood by the wall of the altar, and turned the part nipped to the altar, and struck it at it, and rubbed it with salt, and cast it upon the fires; then he went to the body and removed the crop and its feathers (or dung) and the entrails that came out along with it, and threw them into the place of ashes; he cleaved but did not divide asunder, but if he divided it was right, then he rubbed it with salt, and cast it upon the fires (q):

it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; See Gill on Lev 1:9 so with the Heathens, to the gods of the air they sacrificed fowls for burnt offerings (r).

(q) Misn. Zebachim, c. 6. sect. 5. (r) Porphyr. apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 4. c. 9. p. 146. Vid. Maoreb. Saturnal. l. 3. c. 8.

Next: Leviticus Chapter 2

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Pinions, as if it were to be roasted. Eusebius remarks, that the pagans plunged their birds into the sea, then poured the blood round the altar, and afterwards burnt them. Abram did not divide the birds, Genesis xv. 10. (Calmet) --- Oblation. Hebrew, "made by fire;" or which must be all consumed, except the crop and feathers. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Shall not divide it asunder; shall cleave the bird through the whole length, yet so as not to separate the one side from the other, and so as there may be a wing left on each side. See Gen 15:10.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Cleave it with the wings — The breast bone was to be split and the body laid open, so that there would be a wing on each side; but the halves were not to be completely separated from each other.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ושסע AND HE SHALL CLEAVE [IT] — The term שסע is used only for rending with the hands. Similarly it states in the story of Samson (Judges 14:6) “and he rent him (וישסעהו) as he would have rent a kid” (Zevachim 65b).

בכנפיו means: he shall rend it together with its feathers he need not pluck out the feathers that form its plumage before doing so.

בכנפיו means actually the feathers (not the wings). But surely you will not find even a common sort of man who can smell the odour of burnt feathers without being disgusted with it! Why, then, does Scripture say that it shall be offered with the feathers? In order that the altar should appear full up, as it were, and adorned with the sacrifice of the poor (since the bird with its feathers makes a finer show than without them) (Leviticus Rabbah 3:5).

לא יבדיל BUT HE SHALL NOT SEPARATE IT — he must not break it entirely into two pieces, but only rends it from behind. — It is stated here of a bird-offering “a pleasing odour [to the Lord]” and it is stated (v. 13) of an animal-sacrifice “a pleasing odour [to the Lord]”, to tell you: whether one offers much or little it is equally pleasing to God provided that he directs his heart to Heaven (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 9 7; Menachot 110a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND HE SHALL REND IT ‘BICHNAFAV’ — “together with its feathers. He need not pluck out the feathers of its plumage. Knafav means the actual feathers [not the wings].” This is the language of Rashi. But it is not correct, for if so, then Scripture does not mention from which place he is to rend [the bird], whether from its front or back. Rather, the meaning thereof is as follows: “he shall rend it at the place of its wings,” for the letter beth [in the word bichnafav] serves here as “the beth of apparatus,” [teaching that the rending is to be done from the back of the bird where “the wings” are, for knafav, as will be explained, means “its wings,” and not “its feathers” as Rashi explained]; similar to the expression, ba’aron, (in the ark), ba’bayith, (in the house), or ba’sadeh (in the field). Knafav does not mean “feathers” [as Rashi wrote], but is similar to all expressions of knafayim mentioned in Scripture [which mean wings]: every bird, whatever hath ‘kanaf’ (wings); and he stretcheth ‘knafav’ (his wings) towards the south. Similarly, ‘bichnaf’ (the skirt) of his robe. Notzah is the down [the soft under-plumage] on the body of birds, something like that which is written, a great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of ‘hanotzah’ (down). Similarly we have learned [in the Mishnah]: “Large feathers and down are both capable of contracting uncleanness and conveying uncleanness, and join together [with the flesh to make up the required size that is needed to convey uncleanness].” The Rabbis have also said: 12:2. “excepting the beak and claws, the large feathers and the down.”

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.