And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law:
We cast the lots ... for the wood offering. The carrying of the wood had formerly been the work of the Nethinims. But few of them having returned, the duty was assigned as stated in the text. The practice afterward rose into great importance; and Josephus speaks ('Wars,' 2:, 17, sec. 6) of Xylophoria, or certain stated and solemn times at which the people brought up wood to the temple.