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.
Command Aaron and his sons. In this passage Moses received instructions more definite and minute than the preceding regulations respecting the sacrifices, to be delivered to the priests respecting their official duties in the various kinds of sacrificial offerings that were to be presented; and, first, the burnt offering х haa`olaah (H5930)] - the sacrifice which went up in smoke (see the note at Genesis 8:20).
The daily service which is here referred to (see the note at Exodus 29:38; Numbers 28:3) consisted of two lambs, offered, one 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 the sacrifice were so placed that they fed it all night. The priest, when performing his sacred functions at the altar, was to be dressed in his official costume, which consisted of white linen х bad (H906)] - byssus (see the note at Exodus 28:39-42; Exodus 39:27-28).
Afterward he was to resume his ordinary garb, and carry forth the ashes. х wªhowtsiy' (H3318), and shall cause to go out or to be conveyed (see the note at Leviticus 4:12).] It may be understood by the change of dress, that the ashes were removed by the personal agency of the priest. But, as Knobel observes, this would only occur on occasions; and the conjugation of the Hebrew verb, together with the analogous case of the red heifer (Numbers 19:9), leads to the conclusion that the ashes were gathered up and carried to a clean place without the camp by one of the attendant Levites.
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 Aaron (Leviticus 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, but the approaching near to the fireplace in garments that were not officially "holy." This continual burning symbolized the daily worship to which the nation of Israel, by its holy vocation, was called.