Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 6:10
And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.
10. the priest shall put on ] in the morning.
his linen garment ] Perhaps the ‘coat of (in) chequer work’ mentioned Exo 28:4; Exo 28:39.
his linen breeches ] Exo 28:42.
and he shall take up ] The removal of the ashes was regarded as the completion of the sacrifice of the preceding day, and for it priestly garments were necessary: the Heb. verb is hrm (see note on Lev 7:14). The Jewish commentators, taking the word as implying a heave offering, have based on this word a ceremony observed in the second temple. The priest took a handful of the ashes as in the Meal-Offering (Lev 2:2) and laid it aside as a memorial of the preceding day’s service. This was called trmath haddshn, the heave offering of the ashes, and was part of the daily ritual. But this action would be described by ‘he shall take up from ’ as in Lev 2:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ashes … with the burnt-offering – Rather, the ashes to which the fire hath consumed the burnt-offering.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Lev 6:10-12
The priest shall put on his linen garment.
Sacred attire
I. In holy attire they serve at the altar.
1. Suggestive of the essential holiness of Christ.
2. Symbolic of their derived purity and righteousness.
3. Indicative of the spirit of service.
II. In altered garments they bear the ashes from the sanctuary.
1. The changed tone of feeling in the ministrant.
2. The altered scenes which a Christian frequents. (W. H. Jellie.)
The priests garments
The linen garment is the type of purity, as we see in the Book of Rev 19:8. The priest is the emblem of the Redeemer in his perfect purity coming to the work of atonement. The word for garment means a suit of clothes. It takes in the linen breeches, as well as all the other parts of the priests dress. His whole suit is to be the garb of purity. It is not glory; these ale not the golden garments. It is holy humanity; it is Jesus in humiliation, but without one stain of sin. There is a special reason for the direction as to the linen breeches. It is meant to denote the completeness of the purity that clothes him; it clothes him to his very skin, and covers the flesh of his nakedness (Exo 28:42). It was not only our unrighteousness and our corrupt nature that Jesus was free from, but also from that other part of our original sin which consists in the imputed guilt of Adam. Tile linen breeches that covered the nakedness of the priest, lead us back at once to our first parents sin, when they were naked and ashamed in the garden, after the Fall. Here we see this sin also covered. (A. A. Bonar.)
Take up the ashes.
He shall take up the ashes which the fire has consumed
By the figure which grammarians call ellipsis, or breviloquence, ashes is used for the material out of which ashes came, as Isa 47:2, speaks of grinding meal (Ainsworth). The wood was underneath the burnt-offering. This being done, the ashes were to be placed by themselves, for a little time, beside the altar. All eyes would thus see them and take notice of them, before they were carried out into a clean place. Probably there were two reasons for this action.
1. The fire was thus kept clear and bright, the ashes being removed. God thereby taught them that He was not careless as to this matter, but required that the type of His justice should be kept full and unobscured.
2. The ashes were shown for the purpose of making it manifest that the flame had not spared the victim, but had turned it into ashes. It was not a mere threatening when the angels foretold that Sodom and Gomorrah were to be destroyed for their sin; their doom (2Pe 2:6) is declared to have come on them, turning them to ashes. So here, all that was threatened is fulfilled. There the ashes lie; any eye may see them. The vengeance has been accomplished! The sacrifice is turned into ashes! Justice has found its object! The Lords arrows are not pointless; He performs all His threatenings, for He is holy. O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee? or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee? (A. A. Bonar.)
Burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt-offering in order upon it.—
The daily sacrifice
By no Levitical rite or service was Christ, as the Lamb of God, more perfectly typified, than by the daily sacrifice. It significantly prefigured Him in His death, the satisfaction He yielded to the Father, and His intercession in behalf of men. It is Christ, then, that we have here; and–
I. In the perfectness of his character. The lamb was without spot; and He was without blemish. And this is what He needed to be. And yet He was more. He was marked not only for the absence of all defect, but for the presence of every excellence. He was absolutely and universally perfect. This was the case with the affections He cherished, the dispositions He cultivated, and the virtues He practised. Only what is perfect can satisfy an infinitely perfect God. All, therefore, that is defective and unholy is forbidden a place on His altar. Gods requirement extends to what is internal as well as to what is external. He demands truth in the inward parts as well as integrity in the outward life. The demand was fully met by Jesus. But what God required in the offering, He required also in those for whom it was presented. Only as we are personally what God requires, in righteousness of walk before Him, can we occupy the position to which we are invited, appreciate and enjoy the blessings of salvation, and fulfil the purposes of our high calling. But we may be that; provision for our being so has been made. Strengthened, therefore, with might by the Spirit in the inner man, there is no duty that we may not fulfil, and no appropriation of offered blessing that we may not make. Bus God not only strengthens for service; He Himself works in us, and for us, and by us–leading us to will and to do according to His good pleasure.
II. We have Christ here in his completeness of dedication to the father and to men. The lambs were, with the exception of the skin, wholly consumed by the fire; and Christ gave Himself to God for us. The primary object of His incarnation and mission to earth was–to glorify the Father. The path might be rugged, but leading to the glory of the Father, He cheerfully trod it; the Cross might be ignominious, but ensuring the glory of the Father, He gave Himself up to it. He made of Himself a whole burnt-offering to God. But it was a twofold gift He made of Himself when He laid Himself upon the altar. He gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour (Eph 5:2). He loved me, and gave Himself for me. One of the purposes for which He became our substitute, delivered us from the dominion of evil, and endued us with Divine strength, was, that we might walk in His steps, and, in our measure, yield ourselves to God as He did. But is this being done? It is on record that, during the late civil war in America, and when victory was swaying from side to side, that commissioners from the Confederate States sought and obtained an interview with President Lincoln, with the view of trying to effect an arrangement for the independence of the territory they represented. They knew the tender-heartedness of Mr. Lincoln, and appealed to him to stay the effusion of blood which, at the moment, was flowing in torrents. They were willing to for go several of the States for which they had hitherto fought, if he would consent to the remainder being independent. They pleaded with him for hours, and made use of the strongest arguments and considerations they could adduce to gain their object. When they had finished, the president, who had patiently listened to all that had been said, raised his hand, and then bringing it down with emphasis on the map which lay before him, replied, Gentlemen, this Government must have the whole. And so God says, regarding the inner kingdom of every human heart. He will allow no partition or division there. The whole is His by right, and He will suffer no one to share with Him the throne He has erected for His own occupancy.
III. By the daily burnt-offering we are minded of Christs acceptableness to the father. The lamb was an offering of a sweet savour unto God, in which He had delight, and from which He derived satisfaction. And He was ever pleased with Christ. But is this remembered as it should be? Christ is much more thought of as providing for mens necessities than for Gods requirements; as appeasing justice than as giving delight to Him from whom He came; as ministering peace to the troubled than as satisfying the Fathers heart. But what Christ was to God, believers are intended to be, in their measure, also. Is this now, to any extent, the case? Has God satisfaction in all who call themselves by the name of His Son? Has He joy in that which you lay upon His altar, in the services that you fulfil, and in the measure of resemblance which you bear to His Beloved? Then Christ is brought before us here in the position He ever occupies on our behalf. A lamb was always before God, and Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us. Now, where Christ is in reference to the Father He ought to be in reference to all who bear His name. Only as this is the case, as He is ever before you, occupying the vision of your faith, filling the sphere of your life, and engaging your feelings and thoughts, will you become assimilated to His likeness and meet for His presence and glory above. (James Fleming, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
His linen garment, i.e. his linen coat, of which see Exo 28:39,40. The ashes are said to be consumed improperly, When the wood is consumed into ashes; as meal is said to be ground, Isa 47:2, when the corn is ground into meal; and the naked to be stripped of their clothing, Job 22:6, when by being stripped they are made naked.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the priest shall put on his linen garment,…. “His measure” q, as the word signifies, a garment that was just the measure of his body, and exactly fitted it; it was a sort of a shirt, which he wore next his body, and reached down to his feet; and in this he always officiated, and was an emblem of the purity and holiness of Christ our high priest, who was without sin, and so a fit person to take away the sin of others, by offering up himself without spot to God:
and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh; to cover his nakedness; that indecency might be prevented, and that he might not be exposed to ridicule; and though these two garments are only mentioned, yet the wise men say the word “put on” includes the bonnet and the girdle; for the removing of the ashes from the altar, which is the thing he was to be thus clothed to do, was done in the four garments, though the Scripture mentions but two r:
and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed, with the burnt offering on the altar; this was the first thing the priests did in a morning, and which in later times they cast lots for, and the first lot was for this service, and which was performed very early s;
“every day they cleansed or swept the altar, at cockcrowing or near it, whether before or after, and on the day of atonement at midnight, and at the feasts from the time of the first watch:”
and he shall put them beside the altar: without, at the corner of the altar, as Aben Ezra, on the east side of it; so says Jarchi, the priest takes a full censer of the innermost consumptions (that is, of the innermost parts of the sacrifice reduced to ashes), and puts them in the east of the rise of the altar; or, as by another t expressed, he takes the ashes in a censer, more or less, and lays them down at the east of the rise of the altar, and there leaves them, and this is the beginning of the morning service: and we are told by another writer u, that there was a place called the house of ashes, and it was at the east of the rise of the altar, at a distance from the foot of it ten cubits and three hands’ breadth; where the priest, before they began to sacrifice, laid the ashes of the sacrifices, and of the candlestick, and of the altar of incense, and of the offering of the fowl that were cast out.
q , “est” “proprie vestis commensurata corpori”, Munster; so Jarchi. r Maimon. in Misn. Tamid, c. 5. sect. 3. s Misn. Yoma, c. 1. sect. 8. t Bartenora in ib. u Jacob. Jud. Leo. Tabnitid Hecal, No. 90. apud Wagenseil. Sotah, p. 426.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(10) And the priest shall put on his linen garment.The officiating priest was to put on his sacerdotal garments, which consisted of four piecesviz., (1) the tunic, which was a long close robe of fine linen, with sleeves but without folds, covering the whole body, and reaching down to the feet; (2) linen breechesbetter, linen drawerswhich, according to the authorities during the second Temple, reached to the knees and were fastened by ribbons above the flanks; (3) a linen girdle, which, according to the same authorities, was three fingers wide and thirty-two cubits. long, and, like the veil of the court and of the sanctuary, was embroidered with figures; and (4) a mitre, or better, turban, which was likewise of fine linen, and was fastened to the head by means of ribbons, to prevent its falling off (Exo. 28:4; Exo. 28:40; Exo. 29:5-10; Lev. 8:13). Though the second and third only are here mentioned, there can hardly be any doubt that all the four garments were meant, and that the third and fourth are either omitted for the sake of brevity, or because they are included in the first term, which is the reason why some of the ancient versions have it in the plural.
Take up the ashes which the fire had consumed with the burnt offering.Better, take up the ashes into which the fire had consumed the burnt offering. That is, the ashes into which the consuming fire had converted the victim.
He shall put them beside the altar.During the second Temple, a priest was appointed by lot to take off from the altar every morning at least a shovelful of ashes and carry it without the camp, and when the ashes accumulated they were entirely removed to the same place.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Linen breeches Or drawers. These and the rest of the sacerdotal apparel are described in Exo 28:39-43. See notes. To symbolize holiness, the robe was to be composed of only one material. Mixed materials, as wool and flax, were forbidden to the common people.
Rev 19:19. Garments wholly of wool would not have suited the climate; and moreover, from their animal origin, were not regarded as pure. Linen robes are emblematical of purity. Rev 19:14. From immemorial antiquity Egypt was the great centre of the linen manufacture in the world. The verecundia of the Hebrew ritual in this and other places was a protest against some of the shameless forms of nature-worship prevalent among the idolatrous nations, and especially in some Egyptian rites according to the father of history ( Herodotus, 2: 60) and the pictures still visible on the monuments. Over the drawers was worn the cethoneth, or close-fitting cassock, also of fine linen, white, but with a diamond or chess-board pattern on it. This came nearly to the feet, and was woven without seam.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 6:10. The ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt-offering Or, the ashes, when the fire hath consumed the burnt-offering. Houbigant renders it thus: after the fire of the altar hath consumed the burnt-offering, he shall take away the ashes.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The order is here given for the service of the priests in readiness against the time, when the LORD would himself first kindle this fire, and which when kindled, the priests were thus carefully to preserve. See Lev 9:24 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 6:10 And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.
Ver. 10. Beside the altar. ] On the east side farthest from the sanctuary, Lev 1:16 in reverence of the Divine Majesty.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
linen garment. See Lev 8:13. Exo 28:4, Exo 28:40; Exo 29:5-10. with the burnt offering. Abbreviation of Hebrew word = “the offerings of Jehovah” (so Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and Vulgate, and some codices).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
linen garment: Lev 16:4, Exo 28:39-43, Exo 39:27-29, Eze 44:17, Eze 44:18, Rev 7:13, Rev 19:8, Rev 19:14
consumed: Lev 1:9, Lev 1:13, Lev 1:17, Num 16:21, Num 16:35, Psa 20:3, *marg. Psa 37:20
beside: Lev 1:16
Reciprocal: Exo 28:42 – breeches Lev 4:12 – the ashes Eze 44:19 – they shall put
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 6:10. The ashes which the fire hath consumed As the word asher, rendered which here, also signifies when, and is so translated chap. Lev 4:22; Gen 30:38; Num 5:29, and in many other places, it is evident the passage here ought to have been translated, And take up the ashes when the fire hath consumed the burnt-offering.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:10 And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon {e} his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the {f} altar.
(e) Upon his secret parts, Exo 28:42.
(f) In the ash pans appointed for that use.