Leviticus 6:8

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt-offering: the burnt-offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night unto the morning; and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning thereon. And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh; and he shall take up the ashes whereto the fire hath consumed the burnt-offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. And the fire upon the altar shall be kept burning thereon, it shall not go out; and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning: and he shall lay the burnt-offering in order upon it, and shall burn thereon the fat of the peace-offerings. Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out."

"The main concern of this paragraph is that the fire on the altar of burnt-offerings should never go out."[5] This instruction is repeated three times (Leviticus 6:9,12,13). "Marvels were related concerning this. It came forth from God's presence (Leviticus 9:24), and it burned continuously for 116 years; and yet the thin copper sheathing of the altar never melted."[6] The phenomenon of a perpetual light or perpetual fire has been observed repeatedly historically. The Romans had a perpetual fire in the temple of the Vestal Virgins. In America, a perpetual light has burned in Atlanta for over a century. And today, there is a continuous Peace Light on the Gettysburg battlefield. What was the purpose of this? Several reasons have been advanced.

Unger thought it was intended to represent "Christ's ceaseless presence in the heavenly sanctuary,"[7] a thought which appears also in the New Testament. "He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). Calvin thought it was to make certain that the offerings would always be burnt with "heavenly fire," since it was originally kindled by God.[8] Keil thought that it represented the "uninterrupted worship of God."[9] Wenham thought it might have indicated "the constant need of atonement" by the people.[10] Cate believed that it was a symbol of "uninterrupted worship."[11] There is no reason, really, to exclude any of these reasons.

This paragraph begins the final division of this first section of Leviticus. The topic is special instructions for the priests, and, beginning here, we have regulations pertaining to each one of the offerings already enumerated in the previous chapters. Each topic is introduced by the words, "this is the law of" (Leviticus 6:9,14,25, etc.). "Each of the laws already discussed is now dealt with from this angle."[12] The law of the burnt-offering (Leviticus 1) is the topic in this first paragraph.

In addition to the edict that the altar fire was never to go out, the other principal instruction regarding the burnt-offering concerned the disposal of the ashes. Significantly, the priest charged with that duty could not wear his sacred vestments outside the tabernacle court, but had to change his clothes. One meaning of this must be that true holiness pertained only to that structure identified with the presence of God within it.

Another significant instruction here is seen in the specific mention of the linen breeches which "he shall put upon his flesh," that is, "cover his private parts." Ritual nakedness was a prominent part of the worship of ancient pagan priests, a fact evident today in the Metropolitan Opera's presentations of the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi. The male dancers before the goddess in the pagan temple illustrate this perfectly, although with some accommodation to modern taste. The repetition of God's law in this instance shows the importance attached to the observance of it.

References to the burnt-offering here pertain to the daily sacrifices, "consisting of two lambs offered one in the morning at sunrise, the other in the evening when the day began to decline."[13] See Exodus 29:38; Numbers 28:3. The officiating priests laid the pieces of the sacrifice upon the altar in such a manner as to expedite keeping the fire going continually.