There are specific rituals for “the burnt offering” (6:8-13), “the grain offering” (6:14-18), the offering for priests on the day they are anointed (6:19-23), “the sin offering” (6:24-30), “the guilt offering” (7:1-6), and “the peace offering” (7:11-18). Each of these have specific details: some of these details are paralleled in other offerings, while some are unique.

In the midst of this we come across the detail that the priest-du-jour had the responsibility to disposing of the ashes every day, and tending the sacrificial fire. “The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning … Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.” (6:12-13). Since wood sometimes burns faster or slower, this would require diligence: you could not sleep in, but would need to rise before dawn to rekindle the coals while they were still hot.

This forms a useful parable for us. People sometimes lament that their love seems to have grown cold, as if they imagined that the fire would just keep burning without any attention on their part. Yet the fire on the altar will need attentive feeding day by day; and the fire in our hearts will be the same.

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They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32).

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O Lord God! Let the flame of your love burn continually in our hearts, and may we feel the warmth and sureness of your presence! And may we never forget the duty of stoking the fire each morning, and offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to you.

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