Fuel

The wood that burned on Yahweh's altar was not gathered haphazardly. After the return from exile, the supply of fuel for the temple was set on a regular footing — apportioned by lot among the families of priests, Levites, and people, and brought up at fixed times so the fire would never lack.

The Wood-Offering for the Altar

In Nehemiah's covenant of obligations, the wood-offering is among the regular dues. "And we cast lots, the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood-offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of Yahweh our God, as it is written in the law" (Ne 10:34). The fuel for the altar is treated as a sacred charge — a household obligation rotated by lot, brought "at times appointed," to keep the burning continual.

When Nehemiah returns and reforms the temple service, he restores the same arrangement among his other corrections: "Thus I cleansed them from all foreigners, and appointed charges for the priests and for the Levites, every one in his work; and for the wood-offering, at times appointed, and for the first fruits" (Ne 13:30-31). The wood-offering stands beside the firstfruits as part of the ordered worship — supplied on schedule, by appointed houses, to a settled altar.