Leviticus 6:12

And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it, it shall not be put out,.... 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, Lev 6:12 (x); and Maimonides (y) observes, that some say, the first of these is meant by the burning all night, Lev 6:9 and the second by the fire of the altar burning in it, Lev 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):

and the priest shall burn wood in it every morning: until the fourth hour of the day, according to the Targum of Jonathan; that is, unto ten o'clock in the morning:

and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; both morning and evening, and as often as any sacrifices of that kind were offered up:

and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings; that which was upon the inwards and covered them, and upon the kidneys, and flanks, and caul of the liver; see Lev 3:3.

(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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Lev 6:12 And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.

Ver. 12. It shall not be put out.] No more should our faith, love, zeal (that flame of God, as Solomon calls it, Son 8:9), that should never go out; the waters should not quench it, nor the ashes cover it. {Son 8:10 2Ti 1:6}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 6:12-13. It shall not be put out — The fire coming down from heaven, was to be perpetually preserved, and not suffered to go out, partly that there might be no occasion or temptation to offer strange fire, and partly to teach them whence they were to expect the acceptance of all their sacrifices, even from the divine mercy, through the influence of the Holy Spirit, signified by the fire that came down from heaven, which was a usual token of God’s favourable acceptance. Every morning — Though the evening also be doubtless intended, yet the morning is only mentioned, because then the altar was cleansed, and the ashes taken away, and a new fire made. Thereon — Upon the burnt-offering, which thereby would be sooner consumed, that so a way might be made for other sacrifices.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:12-13 This passage cautions that the fire on the bronze altar must be constantly tended and never allowed to go out, perhaps anticipating the tragedy of the “wrong kind of fire” offered by Nadab and Abihu (10:1-2).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(12) And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it.—Better, and the fire upon the altar shall burn by it. This is almost a literal repetition of the last clause in Lev_6:9, and is here introduced to caution the priest whose function it is to remove the ashes. When engaged in this act, he is to take great care that in taking off the ashes from the altar, he does not knock away the fat pieces of the burnt offering, which constitute the fuel, from the fire, and thus cause it to go out, but let it burn by the fat all night.

And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning.—In the morning, however, the priest is to replenish the burning fuel on the altar with the wood provided at the expense of the congregation, and a store of which was kept in the precincts of the sanctuary. (See Lev_1:7.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. Further directions for keeping the fire continually burning. The first clause repeats the last of Lev_6:9 (see note there). The wood for the Burnt-Offering of the morning is kindled from the fire which has been kept in all night. It is clear that this instruction refers to the daily Burnt-Offering, and not to those brought by private persons (cp. ch. 1).

A continuous fire was maintained on certain heathen altars. See Dillm. ad loc. who adduces among others that of Demeter (Ceres) at Mantinea.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fat, along with the whole burnt-offering. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The fire coming down from heaven, Lev 9:24, was to be perpetually preserved, and not suffered to go out, partly that there might be no occasion nor temptation to offer strange fire, nor to mingle their inventions with God’s appointments; and partly to teach them whence they were to expect the acceptance of all their sacrifices, even from the Divine mercy and grace, signified by the fire which came down from heaven, which was a usual token of God’s favourable acceptance. See Poole "Gen 4:4", See Poole Gen 4:5.

Every morning; though the evening also be doubtless intended, as it appears from Lev 6:9, and from the nature of the thing; yet the morning is only mentioned, because then the altar was cleansed, and the ashes taken away, and a new fire made.

He shall burn thereon, i.e. upon the burnt-offering, which thereby would be sooner consumed, that so way might be made for other sacrifices, which were many.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

It shall not be put out - The fire coming down from heaven, was to be perpetually preserved, and not suffered to go out, partly that there might be no occasion or temptation to offer strange fire; and partly to teach them whence they were to expect the acceptance of all their sacrifices, even from the divine mercy, signified by the fire that came down from heaven which was an usual token of God's favourable acceptance. Every morning - Though the evening also be doubtless intended, yet the morning is only mentioned, because then the altar was cleansed, and the ashes taken away, and a new fire made. Thereon - Upon the burnt- offering, which thereby would be sooner consumed, that the way might be made for other sacrifices.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The fire of the altar was also to be kept burning "with it" (בּו, viz., the burnt-offering) the whole day through without going out. For this purpose the priest was to burn wood upon it (the altar-fire), and lay the burnt-offering in order upon it, and cause the fat portions of the peace-offerings to ascend in smoke, - that is to say, whenever peace-offerings were brought, for they were not prescribed for every day.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

The fire on the altar will be kept burning

This can be translated in active form. AT: "The priest will keep the fire on the altar burning" (See: Active or Passive)

as required on it

This can be stated in active form. AT: "on it as Yahweh demands" (See: Active or Passive and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

fire

altar

priest

burnt offering

peace offering

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.