And the priests' custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Nor the office. The Vulgate repeats the negation from the preceding sentence. Others translate, "The priests' custom with the people was", or, "the pretended right of the priests "They neither performed their duty towards God, (Calmet) nor were they content with what the law authorized them to receive from the people. (Haydock)
Servant, or son; perhaps Ophni or Phinees.
Boiling. In the heroic times, the meat was never boiled, but roasted. (Athen. i. 10.; and Servius; though Hesiod asserts the contrary, ver. 748. (Calmet)
Abulensis (q. 8.) observes that the person who offered the victim, boiled the parts which belonged to himself, as well as the priest's share. But, whereas in the peace-offerings, only the breast and the right shoulder fell to the priest, these rapacious men took whatever they pleased. (Menochius)
