Joel M Bradshaw

12The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. 13Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.

14“And this is the law of the grain offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD in front of the altar. 15And one shall take from it a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering and its oil and all the frankincense that is on the grain offering and burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 16And the rest of it Aaron and his sons shall eat.–Leviticus 6

I’m sure each of us knows a friend or has somebody in their life who not only can build a campfire, but who knows how to arrange the wood to keep that fire burning. It’s a skill that comes in handy when you go camping. These original priests would have honed that skill as one of their main jobs was to keep the burnt offering continually burning.

Maybe you also have a ‘grill master’ in your family. These people can accomplish anything on the grill, and you can usually find them standing by their grill at a cookout. The priests were also the original grill masters.

I once manned the grill for a church event that served hot dogs for hundreds of people. My role that day was to keep the hot dogs coming. And I was encouraged to eat a hot dog when I was hungry. I remember standing in the hot August sun in front of a hot grill all day. Occasionally it was ok to feed the grill master!

God provided food for His priests. They weren’t to worry about what they would eat and God wanted them concerned instead about His matters. Churches today provide salaries for their pastors and lay staff.–JMB