For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord,.... As oxen, sheep, rams, goats; meaning not only the fat of those that are offered, but the fat of all those of the like kind:even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people;See Gill on "Le 7:20" Maimonides observes, that the punishment of cutting off is enjoined for the eating of fat, because men used to count it delicious, for which reason also God would honour his sacrifices with it: and he further observes , that the fat of the intestines too much saturates, hinders concoction, generates gross and frigid blood, hence it is much better it should be burnt than eaten; and that blood and what dies of itself are of difficult digestion, and of bad nourishment, wherefore the latter is forbidden in the Le 7:24, and the former in Le 7:26: of the punishment for eating fat, the same writer observes, he that eats fat the quantity of an olive, presumptuously, is guilty of cutting off; if ignorantly, he must bring the fixed sin offering: and elsewhere he says, he that eats fat is beaten for it; and he eats it a second time, and is beaten for it; but if he eats it a third time they do not beat him, but put him into a prison, which is a strait place according to his height, where he cannot stand upright, nor can he lie down in it; and they give him bread and water of affliction till his bowels are distressed, and he become sick, and then they feed him with barley till his belly bursts.
Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 41. Ibid. c. 48. Hilchot Maacolot Asurot, c. 7. sect. 1. Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 18. sect.