Leviticuschapter 6
30 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
“Command Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth of the altar all night, until morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar.
It stands in The fire that must never go out, verses 8 to 13.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The law of the offerings for the priests. The burnt offering burns on the altar all night until morning; the fire is never put out. The meat offering. A handful burned, the rest eaten by the priests in the court. Aaron's own daily meat offering at his anointing and after: half in the morning, half at even, wholly burnt. The sin offering: where it is killed, there eaten by the priests; the blood sprinkled on a garment must be washed in the holy place; the earthen vessel that boiled its flesh broken, the brass vessel scoured. Holy vocation requires holy care.
Context
Law · Moses · Leviticus overview
The world of this chapter
- Who
- Aaron and his sons, told how to handle what the nation brings, with the restitution law of verses 1 to 7 still addressed to everyone
- Where
- The tabernacle at Sinai, the altar that is never to go cold, the court where the priests ate, and the clean place outside the camp where the ashes went
- When
- Israel encamped at Sinai, the offerings given again from the side of the priesthood. c. 1445 BC on the traditional dating, in the first month of the second year after the Exodus. This site's published dossier carries a second position, that the priestly material was compiled later, with its holders named
Historical context
Four speeches open in this chapter, at verses 1, 8, 19 and 24, which is more than any other chapter of Leviticus carries. From verse 8 the addressee changes, and the offerings of chapters 1 to 5 are given again to the men who handle them.
The Hebrew text ends chapter 5 at what English Bibles print as verse 7 here and begins chapter 6 at verse 8. Adam Clarke and John Gill both record the division, so a reader working from a Hebrew Bible meets the restitution law in the previous chapter.
The wrongs listed at verses 2 and 3 are ordinary business. A deposit denied, a partnership cheated, goods taken by force, a lost thing found and kept. Verse 5 fixes the repayment on the day the guilt offering is presented, so the neighbour is settled with before the altar is.
A first hearer would have been struck by what the priests are told to do first. Before any offering is described, Aaron carries out the ashes, changes his garments and takes them outside the camp to a clean place.
Around that stands the one command this passage gives three times, at verses 9, 12 and 13, that the fire on the altar is kept burning and never goes out. Leviticus 9:24 is where that fire began, so the wood laid on each morning feeds a fire no priest kindled.
Significance
For Israel the chapter meant that the priesthood was bound by rules as tight as the ones the nation kept. The men who received the offerings were told what to wear, what to eat, where to eat it and what to break afterwards.
For a man who had cheated a neighbour it meant something plainer. The wrong was called a wrong against the LORD, and it was settled with the neighbour first and the altar second.
Where the chapter sits
Leviticus 6 falls in The five offerings (chapters 1–7). Burnt, grain, peace, sin, trespass, the sacrificial vocabulary of Israel's worship.
After it: Consecration of the priesthood, chapters 8–10.
The whole shape of Leviticus→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Give it back, and add a fifthvv. 1-7
Leviticus 6:1-8
A wrong done to a neighbour is called a trespass against the LORD, and the wrongs listed under it are ordinary business: a deposit denied, a partnership cheated, goods taken by violence, a lost thing found and kept. Verse 5 fixes the timing at the day of his trespass offering, so what was taken goes back to the man before the ram goes to the altar. Exodus 22:9 sets double payment on a thief the judges condemn, while the principal and a fifth part more here belong to a man who came forward on his own. The Hebrew text ends chapter five at verse 7 and begins chapter six at verse 8, a division Adam Clarke and John Gill both record, so the priest's half of the book opens where a new speech opens.
Leviticus 6:1
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Continuing his speech with him, for the same law of the trespass offering is still discoursed of, only with respect to different persons: saying: as follows.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Leviticus 6:1
“In the Hebrew Bible Lev 6:1-7 form part of Lev. 5. It is evident that they ought to do so.”
Leviticus 6:1
“Concerning the meal- offerings, ver. 14-18. Particularly that at the consecration of the priests, ver. 19-23. Concerning the sin-offering, ver. 24-30.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 6:2
“Lie unto his neighbor, etc. - This must refer to a case in which a person delivered his property to his neighbor to be preserved for him, and took no witness to attest the delivery of the goods; such a person therefore might deny that he had ever received such goods, for he who had deposited them with him could bring no proof of the delivery.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Leviticus 6:2
“Though all the instances relate to our neighbour, yet it is called a trespass against the Lord, because, though the injury be done immediately to our neighbour, yet an affront is thereby given to his Maker and our Master. He that speaks evil of his brother is said to speak evil of the law, and consequently of the Law-maker, Jam. iv.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Leviticus 6:2
“Or in fellowship - Hebrew. Or in putting of the hand: that is, commerce or fellowship in trading, which is very usual when one man puts any thing into another's hand, not to keep it, but to improve it for the common benefit of them both, in which cases of partnership it is easy for one to deceive the other, and therefore provision is made against it.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 6:3
“Have found that which was lost - The Roman lawyers laid it down as a sound maxim of jurisprudence, “that he who found any property and applied it to his own use, should be considered as a thief whether he knew the owner or not; for in their view the crime was not lessened, supposing the finder was totally ignorant of the right owner.” Qui alienum quid jacens lucri faciendi causa sustulit, furti obstringitur, sive scit, cujus sit, sive ignoravit; nihil enim ad furtum minuendum, facit, quod, cujus sit, ignoret - Digestor, lib. xlvii., Tit. ii., de furtis, Leg.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leviticus 6:4
“Is guilty - This guilt being manifested by his voluntary confession upon remorse, whereby he reapeth this benefit, that he only restores the principal with the addition of a fifth part; whereas if he were convicted of his fault, he was to pay double, Exod. xxii, 9.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 6:5
“In the day - It must not be delayed, but restitution to man must accompany repentance towards God. Wherever wrong has been done, restitution must be made, and till it is made to the utmost of our power we cannot look for forgiveness; for the keeping of what is unjustly got, avows the taking: And both together make but one continued act of unrighteousness.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 6:6
“This trespass-offering could not, of itself, make satisfaction for sin, nor reconciliation between God and the sinner, but as it signified the atonement that was to be made by our Lord Jesus, when he should make his soul an offering or sin, a trespass-offering; it is the same word that is here used, Isa. liii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The fire that must never go out
Leviticus 6:8
“And the Lord spake unto Moses - At this verse the Jews begin the 25th section of the law; and here, undoubtedly, the 6th chapter should commence, as the writer enters upon a new subject, and the preceding verses belong to the fifth chapter. The best edited Hebrew Bibles begin the 6th chapter at this verse.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
this is the law of the burnt offering: The five offerings are given here a second time from the side of the priest who handles them, each section opening as this is the law of, and the first duty laid on Aaron and his sons is carrying out ashes. He takes them up in his linen, then puts off those garments and puts on others to carry the ashes outside the camp to ground the text calls clean, so what is left of a burnt offering is handled as holy rather than thrown away. Around that housekeeping stands the one command this passage gives three times, at verse 9, at verse 12 and again at verse 13: the fire of the altar is kept burning and never goes out. Leviticus 9:24 has fire coming out from before the LORD to consume the first offering laid on that altar, and the wood the priest lays on every morning feeds a fire he did not light.
Leviticus 6:9
“Rather, “This, the burnt-offering, shall be upon the fire on the altar all night unto the morning.” See Exo 29:38-46, with the notes.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 6:9
“And the Lord spake - Hitherto he hath prescribed the sacrifices themselves; now he comes to the manner of them. The burnt- offering - The daily one, which Exod. xxix, 38, Num. xxviii, 3, as the following words shew. This was to be so managed and laid on piece after piece, that the fire might be constantly maintained by it.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 6:10
“God would have this done, for the honour of his altar and the sacrifices that were burnt upon it. Even the ashes of the sacrifices must be preserved, to testify the regard God had to it; by the burnt-offering he was honoured, and therefore thus it was honoured, and therefore thus it was honoured.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Leviticus 6:11
“And put on other garments - The priests approached the altar in their holiest garments; when carrying the ashes, etc., from the altar, they put on other garments, the holy garments being only used in the holy place. Clean place - A place where no dead carcasses, dung, or filth of any kind was laid; for the ashes were holy, as being the remains of the offerings made by fire unto the Lord.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leviticus 6:12
“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 Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 6:13
“We may suppose that no day passed without some extraordinary sacrifices, which were always offered between the morning and evening lamb; so that from morning to night the fire on the altar was kept up of course.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The priests' portion of the grainvv. 14-18
A handful of the flour, the oil and all the frankincense goes up as the memorial, and the rest of it is food. The burnt part is called a sweet savour, a phrase that falls sixteen times in Leviticus and lands almost every time on the burnt, meat and peace offerings; the one exception is the fat of a sin offering at 4:31, and the trespass offering never carries it. What remains is eaten unleavened by the males of Aaron in the court of the tabernacle, and verse 17 says why they have it, that God gave it them for their portion of the offerings made by fire. Verse 18 ends with holiness moving outward by contact, every one that toucheth them shall be holy, and the same clause returns on the sin offering at verse 27.
Leviticus 6:14
“Of the meal-offering - Of that which was offered alone, and that by any of the people, not by the priest, for then it must have been all burnt. This law before delivered, is here repeated for the sake of some additions made to it.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 6:15
“His handful of the flour - An omer of flour, which was the tenth part of an ephah, and equal to about three quarts of our measure, was the least quantity that could be offered even by the poorest sort, and this was generally accompanied with a log of oil, which was a little more than half a pint. This quantity both of flour and oil might be increased at pleasure, but no less could be offered.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leviticus 6:16
“It was a great crime to carry any of it out of the court. The very eating of it was a sacred rite, by which they were to honour God, and therefore it must be done in a religious manner, and with a holy reverence, which was preserved by confining it to the holy place.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 6:16
“See Lev 2:1-10; Exo 29:40-41. Lev 6:16 With unleavened bread shall it be eaten - This should be, it (the remainder) shall be eaten unleavened.”
Leviticus 6:18
“Of the less holy things, as the first-fruits and tithes, and the shoulder and breasts of the peace-offerings, the daughters of the priests might eat, for they might be carried out of the court; but this was of the most holy things, which being to be eaten only in the tabernacle, the sons of Aaron only might eat of it.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The high priest's daily cake, wholly burnedvv. 19-23
Leviticus 6:19-24
Every other meat offering feeds the priest, and the priest's own feeds nobody. A tenth part of an ephah, half in the morning and half at night, is offered in the day he is anointed and by each successor anointed in his stead, and verse 22 has the whole of it burnt. Adam Clarke reads in the day when he is anointed as the opening of a standing obligation rather than one occasion, since verse 20 calls it a meat offering perpetual. A fourth speech begins at verse 24, and this single chapter carries four of the thirty-three places in Leviticus where the LORD spake unto Moses.
Leviticus 6:19
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... At the same time the above laws were delivered: saying; as follows.”
Leviticus 6:20
“This law of his consecration was delivered before, and is here repeated because of some additions made to it. Perpetual - Whensoever any of them shall be so anointed. At night - Or, in the evening; the one to be annexed to the morning-sacrifice, the other to the evening- sacrifice, over and besides that meal-offering which every day was to be added to the daily morning and evening sacrifices.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 6:20
“In the day when he is anointed - Not only in that day, but from that day forward, for this was to them and their successors a statute for ever. See Lev 6:22.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leviticus 6:22
“And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it,.... The successor of the high priest: it is a statute for ever unto the Lord; which he by an everlasting statute appointed to be offered to him by every high priest, until the Messiah should come: it shall be wholly burnt; of a common meat offering only a handful was burnt, and the rest was the priest's; see Lev 6:15.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 6:22
It shall be wholly burnt - literally, “it shall ascend in fire as a whole burnt-offering.”
Leviticus 6:23
“For every meat-offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt - Whatever the priest offered was wholly the Lord’s, and therefore must be entirely consumed: the sacrifices of the common people were offered to the Lord, but the priests partook of them; and thus they who ministered at the altar were fed by the altar. Had the priests been permitted to live on their own offerings as they did on those of the people, it would have been as if they had offered nothing, as they would have taken again to themselves what they appeared to give unto the Lord.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Handling the sin offering in a holy place
Leviticus 6:24
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Continued his discourse with him: saying; as follows.”
this is the law of the sin offering: The sin offering is killed in the same spot as the burnt offering, and the flesh is eaten by the priest who offered it. The chapter gives no reason for that, and the reason arrives later at Leviticus 10:17, where Moses says God gave it them to bear the iniquity of the congregation. Verse 27 treats holiness as something that transfers, since whatever touches the flesh becomes holy and a garment caught by the sprinkled blood is washed inside the holy place rather than carried home. Leviticus 10:16-20 is the one place the eating rule is broken, when Aaron's surviving sons burn a goat they were to have eaten and Moses calls them to account.
Leviticus 6:25
“The place where ... - See Lev 1:11. It is most holy - See Lev 2:3. The key to the special sanctity of the flesh of the sin-offering, as set forth in Lev 6:26-30, must, it would seem, be found in the words of Moses to the priests Lev 10:17. The flesh of the victim, which represented the sinner for whom atonement was now made, was to be solemnly, and most exclusively, appropriated by those who were appointed to mediate between the sinner and the Lord.”
Leviticus 6:26
“The priest - shall eat it - From the expostulation of Moses with Aaron, Lev 10:17, we learn that the priest, by eating the sin-offering of the people, was considered as bearing their sin, and typically removing it from them: and besides, this was a part of their maintenance, or what the Scripture calls their inheritance; see Eze 44:27-30. This was afterwards greatly abused; for improper persons endeavored to get into the priest’s office merely that they might get a secular provision, which is a horrible profanity in the sight of God.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 6:26
“For sin - For the sins of the rulers, or of the people, or any of them, but not for the sins of the priests; for then its blood was brought into the tabernacle, and therefore it might not be eaten.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 6:27
“Upon any garment - Upon the priest's garment; for it was he only that sprinkled it, and in so doing he might easily sprinkle his garments. In the holy place - Partly out of reverence to the blood of sacrifices, which hereby was kept from a profane or common touch; and partly that such garments might be decent, and fit for sacred administrations.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
An earthen vessel the flesh was boiled in is broken, and a brass pot is scoured and rinsed and stays in use. The text draws that line and leaves it unexplained, and the readings on offer run from the porousness of clay to the worth of the metal. Verse 30 then lifts one class of sin offering out of the eating rule, since where the blood was carried into the tabernacle the flesh is burnt in the fire and no priest eats it. That is the offering of the day of atonement in chapter 16, and Hebrews 13:11-13 takes up the burning outside the camp and sets the suffering of Jesus without the gate beside it.
Leviticus 6:28
“This intimated that the defilement was not wholly taken away by the offering, but did rather cleave to it, such was the weakness and deficiency of those sacrifices; but the blood of Christ thoroughly cleanses from all sin, and after it there needs no cleansing.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Leviticus 6:28
“The earthen vessel - shall be broken - Calmet states that this should be considered as implying the vessels brought by individuals to the court of the temple or tabernacle, and not of the vessels that belonged to the priests for the ordinary service. That the people dressed their sacrifices sometimes in the court of the tabernacle, he gathers from 1Sa 2:13, 1Sa 2:14, to which the reader is desired to refer. In addition to what has been already said on the different subjects in this chapter, it may be necessary to notice a few more particulars.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leviticus 6:28
“Broken - Because being full of pores, the liquor in which it was sodden might easily sink into it, whereby it was ceremonially holy, and therefore was broken, lest afterwards it should be abused to common uses.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 6:29
“And all the males among the priests shall eat thereof,.... As of the meat offerings, Lev 6:18 and this shows that not the single priest that offered only ate of it, Lev 6:26 but his male children, and not those only, but those of other priests then upon duty, or in the court: it is most holy; See Gill on Lev 6:25.”
Leviticus 6:30
“To reconcile withal generally rendered “to make atonement for.” The holy place - The outer apartment of the tabernacle. See the Lev 10:18 note.”
Keep studying
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.