Exodus 29:17 - Exposition

Thou shalt cut the ram in pieces. Literally, "into its pieces," which Kalisch supposes to mean "into its natural limbs." Egyptian sculptures show us animals thus cut up, and offered at sacrificial feasts to ancestors. Wash its inwards — i.e; its "intestines"—probably the stomach and bowels only. Its legs . The lower joints of the leg, with the foot, to which it was likely that dust might attach. Put them unto his pieces — i.e; "replace them after washing with the other pieces," or joints, into which the animal had been cut.