Leviticus 6:8-9

(1) The Burnt-Offering(8 13)

9. the burnt offering shall be on the hearth It is clear that the Burnt-Offering must rest on the wood that is kindled in order to consume it, and that some further support for both is needed. In the description of the altar in Exodus 27:1-8 no provision is made for a top on which the sacrifices can be placed, but an altar hearth (i.e. a place whereon the sacrifices are burnt) is mentioned in the description of Ezekiel 43:13-17. A -hearth" is a -place of burning"; if the Heb. word be so translated, or the rendering of R.V. mg., -on its firewood," be adopted, the passage adds nothing to the incomplete description of the altar in Exodus 27.

and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning thereon i.e. on the hearth; for -thereon" A.V. has -in it," referring to the altar, but the fire burns uponthe altar (Leviticus 6:13); it is perhaps better to render by it, i.e. by that which is burnt. The meaning of the verse is: the Burnt-Offering shall remain in the place where it is burnt all night, and the fire of the altar shall be kept up by the wood and the material of the sacrifice.

The sacrifice is that enjoined in Exodus 29:38-42; Numbers 28:3-8, which consisted of two lambs, the one offered in the morning, the other in the evening. It is here provided that the daily evening burnt sacrifice should be kept burning during the night until the priest kindled from it the wood for the morning burnt sacrifice. Thus by means of the two daily sacrifices (described in the singular as -a continual burnt offering," Numbers 28:6) a perpetual fire was kept burning on the altar. This double daily sacrifice is always described by Jewish tradition as the Tamid, i.e. the continualoffering, and is the subject of a special section of the Mishna. Before the exile, as appears from 2 Kings 16:15, a Burnt-Offering was brought only in the morning, and a minḥahor Meal-Offering in the evening; for the restored temple Ezek. prescribes a lamb with a Meal-Offering each morning but makes no provision for an evening sacrifice; even in Ezra's time the pre-exilic custom of offering a minḥahfor the evening oblation appears to be continued (Ezra 9:4-5). The Tamid, as prescribed Exodus 29 and Numbers 28, with the law for the maintenance of a continuous fire on the altar as here enjoined in Leviticus 6:9; Leviticus 6:12, is part of the Priestly Code, and was observed in the second temple from the time that the law which Ezra -brought before the congregation" (Nehemiah 8:2) was accepted by the people.