Leviticus 6:10

10 The priest shall be clothed with a coat, and with linen breeches; and he shall take away the ashes, which the fire devouring hath burnt out, and he shall put those beside the altar; (The priest shall be clothed with a linen robe, and with linen breeches; and he shall take away the ashes, which the devouring fire hath burned out, and he shall put them beside the altar;)

Leviticus 6:10 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 6:10

And the priest shall put on his linen garment
"His measure" ^F17, 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 ^F18:

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 ^F19;

``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 ^F20 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (wdm) , "est" (dm) "proprie vestis commensurata corpori", Munster; so Jarchi.
F18 Maimon. in Misn. Tamid, c. 5. sect. 3.
F19 Misn. Yoma, c. 1. sect. 8.
F20 Bartenora in ib.
F21 Jacob. Jud. Leo. Tabnitid Hecal, No. 90. apud Wagenseil. Sotah, p. 426.

Leviticus 6:10 In-Context

8 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

9 Command thou to Aaron, and to his sons, This is the law of burnt sacrifice; it shall be burnt in the altar all night till the morrow; fire that is given from heaven shall be of the same altar. (Command thou to Aaron, and to his sons, and say, This is the law for the burnt sacrifice; it shall be burned on the altar all night until the morning; and the fire on the altar shall be kept burning there.)

10 The priest shall be clothed with a coat, and with linen breeches; and he shall take away the ashes, which the fire devouring hath burnt out, and he shall put those beside the altar; (The priest shall be clothed with a linen robe, and with linen breeches; and he shall take away the ashes, which the devouring fire hath burned out, and he shall put them beside the altar;)

11 and he shall be spoiled of the former clothes, and he shall be clothed with other (clothes), and he shall bear those ashes out of the tents, and in a most clean place he shall make them to be wasted, or quenched, till to a dead spark. (and then he shall take off those clothes, and he shall be clothed with other clothes, and he shall carry those ashes away from the tents, to a most clean place.)

12 Forsooth [the] fire shall burn ever[more] in the altar, which fire the priest shall nourish, putting wood under (it), in the morrowtide by each day; and when [the] burnt sacrifice is put above, the priest shall burn the inner fatness of peaceable things. (And the fire shall burn forevermore on the altar, which fire the priest shall nourish, putting wood under it, each day in the morning; and when the burnt sacrifice is put on it, then the priest shall burn the inner fat of the peace offering on top of it.)