To understand this word as the Hebrews would have understood it, we need to adopt a whole new mindset from our Western way of thinking. As Way explains it, “Words of the br' group appear to refer to the realization of full physical, or sometimes moral, potential.” Below is a brief survey of how related words in that group function in the few places where they appear in the OT.
Genesis 41:1-5
We will start out with the very well-known narrative involving the Egyptian pharaoh's nightmare in which he sees seven fat, i.e. well-fed, cows being eaten up by seven lean ones. As Hamilton says, “The seven years represented by the healthy ['fat'] cows and ears [of corn] forecast seven years of fertility and abundance for Egypt. The seven years represented by the emaciated cows and ears forecast seven years of famine for Egypt.” Wenham describes the healthy cows as being “shapely and well fattened.”
Judges 3:12-30
In this interesting story, “The Israelites are oppressed by the Moabites, whose king Eglon ('young calf') is fat, foreshadowing his sacrificial end.” (Younger) Glenn even points to the “pregnant combination” (no pun intended) of Eglon ('egel, 'calf') and the rare word bari (v. 17) meaning “fat.”
Webb: “His [Eglon's] obesity is presented in the most grotesque terms (his belly fat swallows up Ehud's dagger, handle and all, v. 22). By fattening himself on the tribute (minha) he has extorted from Israel (it was probably agricultural produce), Eglon has turned himself into a large, slow-moving target and a helpless sacrificial animal. His obesity symbolizes his greed and his vulnerability to Ehud's sharp blade.”
Cundall feels that “Such incidental details as the length of the murder weapon and the fact of Eglon's corpulence (mentioned only because the dagger was completely buried in his body) attest to the historicity of the story.” But others feel that these details are actually quite necessary to convey the bitter sarcasm of the story.
For example, Gros Louis asks, “What dies it matter that Ehud is left-handed or that the king is very fat or that his belly can swallow up a sword?...Eglon, we are told, is a very fat man, a detail which characterizes the plight of the Israelites, who presumably have been forced back into the wilderness...The one small detail opens up for us the vast differences between the lives of the Moabites and the conquered Israelites.”
Way points to this story along with that in Ezekiel 34:20 as examples of cases in which “The attainment of potential is not always something that is praised.”
I Kings 4:23
This verse comes in the middle of a passage in which the extreme wealth of Solomon's kingdom is described. Here we are told of the daily provision for the palace, which includes “ten fat oxen and twenty pasture-fed cattle.” Way prefers this translation over 'stall-fed' for a description of the oxen, feeling that description to be “too closely defined.”
G.H. Jones: “Although the translation distinguishes between fat oxen and pasture-fed cattle, it cannot be established that an intentional distinction was made between stall-fed oxen reserved for palace personnel and those straight from the pasture for the use of feudal retainers.”
“It has always been a challenge to try to crack the numbers given in this verse and to come up with a calculation of just how many enjoyed the king's largess. Abarbanel figured that 60,000 persons received their support from the royal coffers, not all of them necessarily residents of the capital.” It has even been suggested that this included soldiers garrisoned around the palace. (Cogan) And contra Jones above, Cogan does feel that a difference in the two groups of cattle was intended by the author.
Psalm 73:4
Tanner titles this psalm “Why Do the Wicked Prosper?” and notes that it opens the third major part of the Psalter “on a note of confusion and doubt.” The Psalmist's quandary is how to reconcile the fact that while his own feet slip, the wicked have “no struggles in death and their bodies are fat.” Tanner concludes: “This perspective is alive and well in many Christian communities despite prayers such as this one that demonstrate the growth and change that can happen in times of doubt and questioning. We, like our ancient sisters and brothers, see a world that does not seem to reflect God's values and God's kingdom, and this leads us to wonder about God and about God's ways in the world.”
In clarification, Anderson states, “In the OT 'being fat' is usually associated with prosperity, which often tends to lead the person concerned to disobedience to God.”
Ezekiel 34
God, through the prophet, lambasts the political leaders over Israel, whom he characterizes as shepherds who, instead of caring for their sheep, slaughtered and ate the fat of them. Greenberg notes that the fat was considered a delicacy and thus reserved for God alone (Leviticus 3:17; 7:23).
“In Ezek 34:20 birya, fat (connected with bari'), sums up the two words sleek (semena) and strong in 34:16.” (Way)
Block: “Shepherds do not raise sheep for their mutton, but in this metaphorical context, such slaughter represents the most blatant violation of the shepherd's role, presumably judicial murder (cf. 7:23; 9:9; etc.).”
Daniel 1:15
As a test as to whether a kosher diet will be superior to eating the rich foods the Babylonian rulers and their retinue were used to, the four Hebrew captives are allowed to follow it for ten days. The result was that “they looked healthier and better fed [“fatter”] than any of the young men who partook of the king's menu.” (AB)
Hartman and DiLella attribute this result to God's miraculous power, adding “Since Daniel and his companions believed that with good conscience they could eat only vegetables (literally, 'seed-bearing plants'), it seems that they feared that any meat or fish they received as royal rations might include forbidden species or might have been prepared in an 'unclean' way.”
Goldingay finds a parallel between this story and that of Ezekiel 4:9-17 where the prophet refuses to eat food in a ritually unclean manner. In both cases, God “provides a way of maintaining purity for those who seek one rather than giving in to the pressures that come.” He interprets v. 15 as saying that the bodies of the four youth “look better-built” and points out, “The language itself corresponds closely and uniquely to that used to describe the cattle in Gen 41:2,18!” He concludes: “Perhaps vegetarian food is better for you, perhaps God intervenes to prove that people flourish at his word and not merely because of what they eat; the story does not tell us why or how this remarkable event takes place. It only declares that it does.”
Habakkuk 1:16
The prophet says of the Babylonian enemy that they are like fisherman catching people in their nets and who actually worship the instruments of torture they use to subjugate others.
Robertson outlines the last half of this verse as follows:
“He has made fat
his portion;
and his food
is luscious.”
He goes on to say, “Certainly God's wrath must be upon them [the prophet asks]. He had carefully taught his people to count the Lord himself as their portion above all other material possessions (cf. Num. 18:20; Deut. 10:9; Ps. 16:5; 73:26). But these barbarians make a god of sensual pleasure.”
R.L. Smith translates Hab. 1:16 as “Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his fish net, because by these his portion is luxurious and his food plentiful.” Smith notes that the Hebrew words for 'luxurious' and 'plentiful' both have the same basic meaning of “fat.” As he says, “he worships those things that make him rich and successful. How prone are people today to worship whatever makes them rich and successful!”
Zechariah 11:16
This verse has clear parallels with Ezekiel 34, as seen in the following words: “To eat the flesh of 'the fatted,' in view of the similar language in Ezekiel, indicates that the reprehensible prophet or leader is like the shepherds who prey on the fat sheep of the flock, leaving nothing for the poor, having no time to heal the sick, etc. (Ezek 34:3-6). As a result the flocks were scattered over the face of the earth (Ezek (34:6), only to be replaced by God the true shepherd (Ezek 34:11). In the context of Second Zechariah's condemnation of false prophecy here and in chapter 13, this metaphor may attack a continuing problem of prophecy – the fact that false prophets took advantage of their flock, i.e., the people, taking fees and getting rich for speaking what pleased their clients rather than what was God's word...” (Meyers and Meyers) I see clear parallels here with those preachers in megachurches who espouse the prosperity gospel
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