Leviticus 6:9

Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar.—Better, This, the burnt offering, shall he upon the fire on the altar. That is, the continued burnt offering, with which the sacrifices here enumerated begin, is to remain burning upon the altar from the evening until the morning. (Comp. Exodus 29:38-42; Numbers 28:1-8).

Shall be burning in it.—Better, shall burn by it. That is, shall be fed and kept up by it. According to the practice which obtained during the second Temple, the fat pieces of the burnt offering began to be burned at midnight, thus feeding the fire till the break of day.

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 6:9. Command Aaron and his sons — Having instructed the people concerning the sacrifices to be brought by them, Moses now proceeds, at God’s command, to direct the priests respecting several parts of their official services. This is the law of the burnt-offering — Of the daily one, as the following words show, which may be better rendered, This burnt-offering shall be on the burning (the fire) upon the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. The Vulgate, the Chaldaic, the Syriac, and Arabic versions are to this purpose. For, according to Calmet, “the priests watched all night, and put the sacrifice upon the altar piece by piece, consuming it by a slow and gentle fire, so that the sacrifice was burning on the altar from the evening, when the Jewish day began, till the morning. Then succeeded the morning sacrifice, which was in like manner consumed gradually, and kept burning till the time of the evening sacrifice; unless there were other sacrifices to come after, and then it was consumed more quickly, in order to make room for these extraordinary burnt-offerings.” It has already been observed, (Leviticus 3:5,) that when the sin-offerings or peace-offerings were offered, the fat of those parts of them that were appropriated to the altar were laid upon the daily sacrifice and consumed with it. Thus, there was not a moment, night or day, in which the sacrifice was not offered to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people; or rather, to represent the continual and extensively efficacious sacrifice of Jesus Christ the righteous, who abideth a priest continually, (Hebrews 7:3,) at the altar which is before the throne of God, (Revelation 8:3,) being himself the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and having suffered in his own person the penalty due from divine justice to guilty sinners.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:8-13 The daily sacrifice of a lamb is chiefly referred to. The priest must take care of the fire upon the altar. The first fire upon the altar came from heaven, ch. 9:24; by keeping that up continually, all their sacrifices might be said to be consumed with the fire from heaven, in token of God's acceptance. Thus should the fire of our holy affections, the exercise of our faith and love, of prayer and praise, be without ceasing.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Rather, "This, the burnt-offering, shall be upon the fire on the altar all night unto the morning." See Exodus 29:38-46, with the notes.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This … law of the burnt offering—In this passage Moses received instructions to be delivered to the priests respecting their official duties, and first the burnt offering—Hebrew, "a sacrifice, which went up in smoke." The daily service consisted of two lambs, one offered in the morning at sunrise, the other in the evening, when the day began to decline. Both of them were consumed on the altar by means of a slow fire, before which the pieces of the sacrifice were so placed that they fed it all night. At all events, the observance of this daily sacrifice on the altar of burnt offering was a daily expression of national repentance and faith. The fire that consumed these sacrifices had been kindled from heaven at the consecration of the tabernacle [Le 9:24], and to keep it from being extinguished and the sacrifices from being burned with common fire, strict injunctions are here given respecting not only the removal of the ashes [Le 6:10, 11], but the approaching near to the fireplace in garments that were not officially "holy."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Hitherto he hath prescribed the sacrifices themselves, now he comes to the manner of them. The law of the burnt-offering, to wit, of the daily one, of which Exodus 29:38 Numbers 28:3, as the following words show.

Because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning: the meaning is, the evening burnt-offering was to be so managed and laid on piece after piece, that the fire might be constantly maintained by it. It is to be understood, that the morning burnt-offerings were to be kept burning all the day from morning to night also; but he mentions not that because there was so great a number and such a constant succession of sacrifices in the day-time, that there needed no law for feeding and keeping in the fire then; the only danger was for the night, when other sacrifices were not offered, but only the evening burnt-offering, which if it had been consumed quickly, as the morning burnt-offering was, there had been danger of the going out of that fire, which they were commanded diligently and constantly to keep in and maintain here below, Leviticus 6:13.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Command Aaron and his sons,.... Who were nominated, selected, and appointed to the office, though not yet consecrated to it and invested with it, see Leviticus 8:1.

saying, this is the law of the burnt offering; of the daily sacrifice, morning and evening:

it is the burnt offering, because of, or for the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning; as there was nothing offered on the altar of burnt offering after the evening daily sacrifice, nor anything before the morning daily sacrifice, it was the more difficult to keep the fire of the altar burning in the night; wherefore a slow fire was used in the evening sacrifice, and several things remained to be burnt in the night: so Maimonides (p) says, the remainder of the fat of the members were burnt all night until the pillar of the morning (first rays of the rising sun, Editor.):

and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it; not without it, as Aben Ezra observes, but on it; that is, should be ever burning on it, night and day, as it is after declared.

(p) In Misn. Beracot, c. 1. sect. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the {d} law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.

(d) That is, the ceremony which ought to be observed in it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. The instructions under eight heads are given through Moses to Aaron and his sons, here and in Leviticus 6:25. The commands in Leviticus 7:23; Leviticus 7:29 are addressed to the children of Israel.

This is the law of] here and Leviticus 6:14; Leviticus 6:25, Leviticus 7:1; Leviticus 7:11. The regulations for each sacrifice are introduced by this formula. Note that in this section the Peace-Offering comes last in order.

Leviticus 6:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb. vv. 1-6). The Law of the Burnt-Offering commences the series, and special reference is made to the daily burnt-offering (Exodus 29:38-42).

Leviticus 6:8

"It, the burnt-offering, shall (burn) upon the hearth upon the altar the whole night till the morning, and the fire of the altar be kept burning with it." The verb תּוּקד is wanting in the first clause, and only introduced in the second; but it belongs to the first clause as well. The pronoun הוא at the opening of the sentence cannot stand for the verb to be in the imperative. The passages, which Knobel adduces in support of this, are of a totally different kind. The instructions apply primarily to the burnt-offering, which was offered every evening, and furnished the basis for all the burnt-offerings (Exodus 29:38-39; Numbers 33:3-4).