…The Fire on the Altar and
Our Daily Sacrifice…
Leviticus 6:8-13 (NASB95)
9[2] “Command Aaron and his sons,
saying, ‘This is athe law for the burnt offering: the burnt offering
itself shall remain on the hearth on the altar all night until the
morning, and bthe fire on the altar is to be kept burning on it.
10[3] ‘The priest is to put on ahis
linen robe, and he shall put on undergarments next to his flesh; and he shall
take up the 1ashes to which the fire 2reduces the burnt
offering on the altar and place them beside the altar.
11[4] ‘Then he shall take off his
garments and put on other garments, and carry the 1ashes outside the
camp to a clean place.
12[5] ‘The fire on the altar
shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out, but the priest shall burn
wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it, and
offer up in smoke the fat portions of the peace offerings aon it.
13[6] ‘Fire shall be kept
burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out. [1]
Let
us pray:
Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheynu Melech
Haolam,
Asher Kideshanu Bemitzvotav, Vetzivanu
Laahsok Bedivrey Torah…
(Blessed are you,
HaShem, our God, King of the universe,
Who sanctified us with
His commandments, and commanded us to be occupied with issues of Torah…)
The verses cited here at the beginning of
today’s epistle come from Vayikra (Leviticus) 6:10-13 in our English bibles,
chapter 6, verses 3 through 6 in our Hebrew Scriptures (Tanach or Chumash).
These verses deal with the olah offering,
or the burnt offering. It might be
good to briefly review the sacrifices mentioned in Vayikra, because of their
importance to us, especially in light of Messiah…
English
|
Hebrew English
|
Scripture (Format English Bibles)
|
Burnt Offering
|
Olah
|
Lev 1:1-17; 6:8-13
|
Grain Offering
|
Minchah
|
Lev 2:1-16; 6:14-23
|
Peace Offering
|
Shelamim
|
Lev 3:1-17; 7:11-36
|
Sin Offering
|
Chatat
|
Lev 4:1-5:13; 6:24-7:7
|
Guilt Offering
|
Asham
|
Lev 5:14-6:7; 7:1-7
|
“…The
Burnt Offering: is the only offering completely dedicated to God; it symbolizes
a complete and total surrender to God. The word Olah means to rise. No one was allowed to eat from it.
The
Grain offering: points toward the
concept of the altar as God’s table (i.e., a shared meal with God). A small
“memorial” portion was placed on the altar for the Lord and the rest was given
to the priest for food. It was considered “the bread of life”.
The
Peace (Shalem) Offering:
Like the burnt and grain offerings they were voluntary. The burnt offering is
completely consumed; the grain offering is shared between the priest and God
but the peace offering is the only one shared by all three: the one offering
it, the priests and God. It is meant to celebrate the covenant.
The
Sin (Chatah) Offering/ Purification: This one is mandatory. Not meant to celebrate the covenant but to
repair the covenant or restore fellowship. This offering was not for
intentional sins!!!
Leviticus 4:2 Speak to the sons of Israel,
saying: If a soul shall sin
(Chatah) through ignorance against any of the
commandments of
The LORD concerning things which ought not to be
done, and shall
do any one of them,…
Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins.
The
Guilt (Asham) Offering:
Restitution of damages done to someone else that required a monetary payment to
them had to be accomplished first; then the Asham offering can be made to God. Though we make it right with our
fellow we can never repay God…”[2]
While
much can be said about the sacrifices and how they relate to Machiach, it is
not the sacrifices that we want to focus on here today, but on the Altar, and
the fire kindled upon it. I will take up the issue of the sacrifices in a later
epistle, but for now, let us take a look at the Scriptures and see what we can
see…
Look
at verse 9 [verse 2 in the Hebrew Scriptures]:
“…
the burnt offering itself shall remain on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and bthe fire on the altar is to be
kept burning on it…”
The
first underlined phrase on the hearth is translated in the
Tanach and Chumash as “on the pyre”; the second phrase the fire on
the altar is translated in the Hebrew as “the
fire of the Altar”. In verse 12[5], there is another phrase The fire on
the altar. This
is hard to see in the English translation, but clear in the Hebrew, that there
were three fires which burned upon the Altar mount.
Figure 1. All illustrations (except as
noted) from the Temple Institutes website, http://www.templeinstitute.org/
“…There were three fires, or piles of wood for fire
continually; the first was a large one, on which the daily sacrifice was burnt;
the second less, and called the pile of the incense, because they took from it
fire in a censer to burn the morning and evening incense; and the third was
only for preserving the fire that it might not go out: and of this it is
written, Leviticus 6:12
(x); and Maimonides (y) observes, that some say, the first of these is meant by
the burning all night, Leviticus
6:9 and the second by the fire of the altar burning in it, Leviticus 6:12 but his own
sense is, the third is meant by it; and in the sense of R. Joses, these three
fires were all burning upon the altar; the first was towards the east side of
the altar, the second towards the southwest, as being nearer to the rise of the
altar, where the priests were, and the third was made in any part of the altar
as was thought fit (z); and this is the fire not to be put out, and he that
quenched it, though but one coal, was to be beaten, yea, though it be brought
down from the altar (a)...” [3]
Where did the fire originally come from? In Leviticus 9 we
find the answer:
23 Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting.
When they came out and blessed the people, athe glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.
24 aThen fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and
the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their
faces. [4]
The fires on the altar represent our walk with Elyon; In our
picture, the large fire in the center is the fire of the burnt offering, the
place of sacrifice. In our walk with God, this is where all earthly things end.
It is here that Rabbi Sha’ul (Paul) speaks of what is acceptable to the Father:
Romans 12:1-3:
“…1 Therefore aI
urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to bpresent your bodies a
living and holy sacrifice, 1acceptable to God, which is your
2spiritual
service of worship.
2 And do not abe conformed to bthis
1world,
but be transformed by the crenewing of your mind, so that you
may 2dprove
what the will of God is, that which is good and 3acceptable and
perfect.
3 For through athe
grace given to me I say to everyone among you bnot to think more
highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound
judgment, as God has allotted to ceach a measure of faith…” [5]
Think about this for a moment:
Here, on this altar, all things that we love, hate, are bound to or controlled
by, all that we see, want, touch, desire, all we know or don’t know are to be
put to the fire on this altar. Here is the burnt offering, not a thing to be
left, but all is to be consumed by the fire of God, for the burnt offering is
for Him and Him alone. Yeshua (Jesus) was our burnt offering, for He offered up
Himself completely, holding nothing back from God the Father. If we are not
willing to do so, if we are not willing to give all to God, to allow Him to
burn up everything in our lives that keeps stopping us from coming to Him
completely on our own, are we then that “living sacrifice, holy and acceptable”
to God? In the Hebrew language, the word for “altar” is the word מזבּ×— mizbêach miz-bay'-akh, which means
“place of sacrifice” or better, “the place of slaughter”. What keeps you my brethren from the “place of
slaughter”, this “place of sacrifice? What do you hold back from God? Do we
love this life more than we love Him? Can any of us really say that we are
today a “living sacrifice”? We need to think about it…
One thing
often overlooked when we study about the altar is the commandment of Lev 6:11:
Lev 6:11 And he shall put off his garments, and put on other
garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. [6]
This often overlooked verse is
also a clue for our walk with God; here the priest is instructed to do what
seems like an ordinary task – take out the garbage, remove the ashes. What an
appropriate task. Every morning, the priests were to remove the ashes, to
cleanse the altar. Shouldn’t this be a part of our daily walk also? Shouldn’t
we strive every morning to cleanse the altar of our heart, to dump the
“garbage”, to remove the ashes of fires we have kindled against one another,
either by word or deed? When we dump this garbage, it isn’t just to be thrown
out any where – no it is to be taken to a “clean place”, a place “set-apart”
from where we always dump our trash, a place where God chooses. Otherwise, we
are likely to just trample over the garbage, staining ourselves again and again
with its uncleanness, till we drag it back into our homes, our lives and our
hearts.
There are two other fires we
see on the altar: one for the incense, and one for the perpetual flame. The smallest of the fires, the “fire on the
altar” or the “pile of the incense” is again directly related to our walk.
What does the “pile of incense”
represent? It is from this fire that the
coals were taken into the Holy place and put on the altar of incense, or the
“golden altar”. Here the priest would add the special mix of spices and oils
upon the coals and a sweet smell would go before God. This is our prayers. Are
not our petitions and prayers to God to be as a sweet odor to Him? Do not our
tears and fears combine like the sweet oil and spices to go up before God? What
do you offer in the Holy place? The right mixture of incense, or do we break
the commandment of
Exo 30:9 “…Ye shall offer no strange incense
thereon…”
How often do we come into God’s holy presence bringing him
strange incense and strange fire, fire and incense from a source apart from
God’s altar…?
Leviticus
10:1-3 (NASB)
1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.
2 And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.
3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. [7]
1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.
2 And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.
3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. [7]
Do our prayers please God, or
do we offer Him strange incense, asking for things we shouldn’t have or asking
for them with an ungrateful and unforgiving heart? Is our fire lit from the
coals burning on His altar or do we bring a strange fire, one that was set ablaze
somewhere else?
The question we must ask, is
our fire pure before God?
How our fire is made pure? The
answer is in Luke 9:23-25 and confirmed again in Luke 14:26-33:
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to
come with c Me, he must deny himself, d take up his
cross daily, e and follow Me. f
24 For whoever wants to save his •life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it. g
25 What is a man benefited if he gains the whole world, yet
loses or forfeits himself?...”
[8]
Luke 14:26 “If anyone
comes to Me a and does not hate b his own father and
mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he
cannot be My disciple.
27 Whoever does not bear his
own cross c and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
28 “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down
and calculate the cost d to see if he has enough to complete
it? 29 Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot
finish it, all the onlookers will begin to make fun of him, 30 saying,
‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31 “Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit
down and decide if he is able with 10,000 to oppose the one who comes against
him with 20,000? 32 If not, while the other is still far off,
he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 In the
same way, therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to e
all his possessions f cannot be My disciple. [9]
It is in the fire of affliction
we are made pure. It is the fire of the trials of everyday life we are turned
to gold. In the fire of God’s altar we are consumed, burnt up, given completely
to Him. But it has to be the right fire.
That brings us to the third
fire on the altar: the fire on the altar. This fire was given by God Himself…
Lev. 9:24: “…aThen fire came
out from before the Lord and
consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all
the people saw it, they shouted and
fell on their faces. [10]
Here
was the fire on the altar, the fire of God Himself. Here is where most of us go wrong. We have
let our fire go out; we have let the altar go cold. We keep the fire burning
with a zeal, with the continuous energy and love we have for the Father and His
Son, with our efforts to serve one another, and with keeping shalom bayit
(peace of the house) in our homes and families. Yet more often than not, we
dampen the fire, smothering it with the cares and snares of this world. We
throw water on the fire every time we gossip, every time we speak in anger
toward another, to our children and our spouses. Instead of a continuous fire
on the altar, we walk away and let the flames die down and allow the fire to go
out. The altar becomes cold. Then we have no place to offer ourselves as a
living sacrifice and our prayers have no fire to burn the incense of desire and
no sweet smell goes up before God. The waters of this world rain upon our
altar, and because we do not act with the diligence needed to protect the fire,
we grow cold. We get comfortable where we are at and the fire goes out. We get
lazy, and bring no wood for the fire and soon, all is gone, all that is left is
the ashes we won’t even take out.
In Jeremiah 6, hear the Lord:
Thus says the Lord,
“Stand by the ways and see and ask for the aancient
paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
And byou will find rest for
your souls.
But
they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 “And
I set awatchmen
over you, saying,
‘Listen
to the sound of the trumpet!’
But
they said, ‘We will not listen.’ [11]
“…But they said, “We will not walk in it”…
“…But they said, “We will not listen…”
Sad words from those who have let their altar go cold. Are our words any better? When God tells us
what to do how do we answer? With a “Yes and Amen” or do we say “We will not
listen”?
Jesus told us in Matthew 11:
25 aAt
that 1time
Jesus said, “I
praise You, bFather, Lord of heaven and earth, that cYou
have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed
them to infants.
26 “Yes, aFather, for
this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
27 “aAll things have
been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the
Father; nor does anyone know the Father bexcept the Son, and
anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
29 “Take My yoke upon you and alearn
from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and byou will find
rest for your souls.
He was quoting directing from Jeremiah 6.
Do we think we are wise, with things hidden from us, or are
we as children, full of belief and trust that He will give us rest? Are we so
wise that we forget how to take out the ashes or forget how to pile the wood on
the fire? Or do we do as children, gladly doing what the Father asks, taking
out the garbage and keeping the fire going?
It takes work. The priests had to labor all night, every night
to keep the fire burning. In the morning they would clean out the ashes, pile
on more wood and prepare themselves for another day in the service of God.
I think it merits
this thought:
“…Jesus gave us the example that we always should pray. He Himself spent much time on the mountain, and elsewhere, to pray to His heavenly Father. We read also of Him that:
"He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint",
Luke 18:1.
He wished to teach us, by this parable, that we should pray always. Then God will hear. Let the fire of prayer burn always. Also Paul the apostle, repeatedly says that he prayed always and ever.
"We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you", Col 1:3.
"We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers", 1 Thess 1:2.
"Wherefore also we pray always for you," 2 Thess 1:11.
"But we are bound to give thanks always ," 2 Thess 2:13.
"I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers," Philemon 1:4.
Paul, the faithful apostle and preacher of the gospel, kept his fire always burning. Through God's grace he always found wood enough to keep up his fire of prayer.
The apostle admonishes us to praise God continually. He compares this with the offerings.
“Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name", Heb 13:16.
Another apostle, namely Peter, kept up always the fire of his work in the service of God. It was his task to teach the people, according to the command given him by Christ Himself. Go to all nations, and teach them to keep the things I have commanded you, said Jesus. Peter, being a faithful apostle, obeyed this command. He was always toiling in the fire of his calling, to keep that burning. He always taught the people, and took care that they would be taught, even after his death.
"Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance", 2 Pet 1:12-15…”[13]
We’ve now seen the fires on the altar. We know the large
blaze is our place of sacrifice. The small blaze sends up our prayers to the
throne of God. The third fire should never go out. Do you have the wood for your fire ready? Is
your altar hot, or cold? This is our question for today. May our answer be “Yes
and Amen”.
May the Lord richly
bless you today my beloved… Amen
1
Ch 6:1 in Heb
a
Ex 29:38–42; Num 28:3–10
b
Lev 6:12, 13
a
Ex 28:39, 42; 39:27, 28
1
Or fat ashes
2
Lit consumes
1
Or fat ashes
a
Lev 3:5
[1] New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update.
LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2] Adapted from Sabbath notes, El
Shaddai Ministries; http://www.elshaddaiministries.us/torah5773/2013-3-16notes.txt. All rights reserved, by Pastor
Mark Biltz with edits by David Robinson.
b Lev 6:12, 13
[3]From
John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible: (x) Maimon.
Hilchot Tamidin, c. 2. sect. 4. Bartenora in Misn. Tamid, c. 2. sect. 4. &
in Yoma, c. 4. sect. 6. (y) In ib. sect. 5. & in Yoma, c. 4. sect. 6. (z)
Maimon. Hilchot Tamidin, c. 2. sect. 7, 8, 9. (a) Ibid. sect. 6.
a Lev 9:6; Num 16:19
a 1 Kin 18:38, 39; 2 Chr 7:1
[4] New American
Standard Bible: 1995 update. 1995 (Le 9:23–24). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman
Foundation.
a 1 Cor 1:10; 2 Cor 10:1–4; Eph 4:1; 1 Pet 2:11
b Rom 6:13, 16, 19; 1 Cor 6:20; Heb 13:15; 1 Pet 2:5
1 Or well-pleasing
2 Or rational
a 1 Pet 1:14
b Matt 13:22; Gal 1:4; 1 John 2:15
1 Or age
c Eph 4:23; Titus 3:5
2 Or approve
d Eph 5:10, 17; Col 1:9
3 Or well-pleasing
a Rom 1:5; 15:15; 1 Cor 3:10; 15:10; Gal 2:9; Eph 3:7f
b Rom 11:20; 12:16
c 1 Cor 7:17; 2 Cor 10:13; Eph 4:7; 1 Pet 4:11
[5] New American
Standard Bible: 1995 update. 1995 (Ro 12:1–3). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman
Foundation.
[6] THE HOLY SCRIPTURES ACCORDING TO THE MASORETIC TEXT;
A NEW TRANSLATION WITH THE AID OF PREVIOUS VERSIONS AND WITH CONSTANT
CONSULTATION OF JEWISH AUTHORITIES; PHILADELPHIA THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA 5677-1917
[7] New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update.
LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
c 9:23 Lit come after
d 9:23 2Tm
2:12–13
e 9:23 Other
mss omit daily
f 9:23 Mt
10:38–39; Lk 14:27; 1Co 15:31
• The same Greek word (psyche) can be translated life
or soul.
g 9:24 Lk
17:33; Jn 12:25
[8] The Holy Bible:
Holman Christian standard version. 2009 (Lk 9:23–25). Nashville: Holman
Bible Publishers.
a 14:26 Mt
11:28; Mk 10:14; Lk 6:47; Jn 5:40
b 14:26 Dt
21:15; 22:13; 24:3; Lk 16:13
c 14:27 Jn
19:17
d 14:28 Pr
24:27
e 14:33 Or does not renounce or leave
f 14:33 Mt
19:21; Php 3:7; Heb 11:26
[9] The Holy Bible:
Holman Christian standard version. 2009 (Lk 14:26–33). Nashville: Holman
Bible Publishers.
a 1 Kin 18:38, 39; 2 Chr 7:1
[10] New American
Standard Bible: 1995 update. 1995 (Le 9:24). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman
Foundation.
a Is 8:20; Jer 12:16; 18:15; 31:21; Mal 4:4; Luke 16:29
b Matt 11:29
a Is 21:11; 58:1; Jer 25:4; Ezek 3:17; Hab 2:1
[11] New American
Standard Bible: 1995 update. 1995 (Je 6:16–17). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman
Foundation.
a Matt 11:25–27: Luke
10:21, 22
1 Or occasion
b Luke 22:42; 23:34; John 11:41; 12:27, 28
c Ps 8:2; 1 Cor 1:26ff
a Luke 22:42; 23:34; John 11:41; 12:27, 28
a Matt 28:18; John 3:35; 13:3; 17:2
b John 7:29; 10:15; 17:25
a Jer 31:25; John 7:37
1 Or who work to
exhaustion
a John 13:15; Eph 4:20; Phil 2:5; 1 Pet 2:21; 1 John
2:6
b Jer 6:16
a 1 John 5:3
1 Or comfortable,
or pleasant
[12] New American
Standard Bible: 1995 update. 1995 (Mt 11:25–30). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman
Foundation.
[13] From article by Teus Benschop at http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/ipb-e/so/s-open-076.txt.
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