Liver

The liver enters Scripture in two opposing settings — burned on the altar of Yahweh in the peace-offerings of Israel, and inspected by the king of Babylon as a tool of pagan divination. The same organ stands on both sides of a sharp line.

On the Altar of Peace-Offerings

The peace-offering regulations name the liver among the inner parts that are removed and burned. The portion is the membrane attached to the organ — what older translations called the "caul" — taken with the kidneys and the surrounding fat: "And he will offer of the sacrifice of peace-offerings an offering made by fire to Yahweh; the fat that covers the insides, and all the fat that is on the insides, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the caul on the liver, with the kidneys, he will take away" (Lev 3:3-4). These pieces go up in flame: "And Aaron's sons will burn it on the altar on the burnt-offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh" (Lev 3:5). The liver's covering, with the kidneys and the fat, is Yahweh's portion.

In Babylonian Divination

Ezekiel's vision of the king of Babylon at the crossroads names hepatoscopy — the inspection of an animal's liver for omens — as one of the king's three methods for choosing his line of march: "For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to tell his fortune: he shook the arrows to and fro, he consulted the talismans, he looked in the liver" (Eze 21:21). Belomancy, idol-consultation, and liver-divination together define the Babylonian decision-making the prophet describes — practices Israel's worship system rules out at every turn.