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Did you ever wonder where the expression "fat of the land" came from? It actually
originates in the Bible (Genesis 45:18) where Pharaoh tells Joseph to bring back his
relatives to Egypt, to get the best of the land of Egypt and live off "the fat of the land."
It is an expressive term.
Until very recently in human history, being fat was not considered undesirable. If you'll
look at the paintings from the Renaissance onward you'll see that artists tended to paint
women who were much chubbier than we find "good looking" today. The reason is very
simple: until recently, being overweight was not a problem - it was a privilege. Most of
our ancestors knew quite well what it was to be hungry, and that a little fat was best
viewed as insurance against the oncoming winter. The changes in agriculture in our
century have converted fat from asset to liability.
So well regarded was fat in the ancient world that the ancient Israelites were
commanded to offer the fat from their animal sacrifices -- all of it, leaving none to be
eaten. It must have been a well remembered sacrifice; the fat in meat is that which
produces that wonderful aroma in a barbecue. To them, that aroma must indeed have
been "an aroma pleasing to the Lord." It must have produced the same kind of
longing we have standing around a barbecue grill, sniffing, waiting for the hamburgers
to be done.
I wonder: do we have the same sense of sacrifice? When we give to the church, or
perform our various private charities, do we have the sense that we are really giving up
something? Or are we just clearing out our garage of its excess? We need to take a
lesson from King David.
Towards the end of his reign God, to punish him, sent forth an angel with a plague. To
stay the plague, David went to what is now the site of the Temple. It belonged then to
a man named Araunah. David explained his purpose, and Araunah immediately
offered to give the land to David - along with the oxen for the sacrifice; the wooden
sledges to bum them on and the wheat he had been threshing for the grain sacrifice.
Araunah was a Jebusite, not a Jew - but he sought the king's favor with this.
David's reply is characteristic of a man "after God's heart." His words, by the NIV, were
"No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings
that cost me nothing."
How about us? Many of us have so much material wealth that we have trouble storing
all of it. It pains us little - there is no aroma of longing - to part with it. We are so busy
making it, however, that we do not have any time that we are willing to sacrifice. So we
write a check and consider our duty done. Think again. Those who fight the fat say,
"no pain, no gain." There is wisdom in that. If there is no pain in parting with it, it is not
really a sacrifice, is it?
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