liver Summary and Overview
Bible Dictionaries at a Glance
liver in Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Heb. kabhed, "heavy;" hence the liver, as being the heaviest of the viscera, Ex. 29:13, 22; Lev. 3:4, 1, 10, 15) was burnt upon the altar, and not used as sacrificial food. In Ezek. 21:21 there is allusion, in the statement that the king of Babylon "looked upon the liver," to one of the most ancient of all modes of divination. The first recorded instance of divination (q.v.) is that of the teraphim of Laban. By the teraphim the LXX. and Josephus understood "the liver of goats." By the "caul above the liver," in Lev. 4:9; 7:4, etc., some understand the great lobe of the liver itself.
liver in Schaff's Bible Dictionary
LIVER . The expression "the caul above the liver," so frequently occurring in the Pentateuch, Ex 29:13, Josh 11:22; Lev 3:4, 1 Kgs 16:10, 2 Sam 20:15; Ruth 4:9; Acts 7:4; Lev 8:16; Lev 9:10, etc., means one of the lobes of the liver, which was to be burned on the altar, and not eaten as sacrificial food.