The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Echo
Later text
We have cast lots among the priests, Levites, and people for the donation of wood by our families at the appointed times each year. They are to bring it to the house of our God to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the Law.
Earlier text
The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it must not be extinguished. Every morning the priest is to add wood to the fire, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. The fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not be extinguished.
Leviticus 6:12-13 emphasizes the perpetual altar fire with insistent repetition: the fire "shall be kept burning on the altar continually" and "it must not be extinguished" (לֹא תִכְבֶּה, lo tikhbeh). Maintaining this perpetual fire required a constant supply of wood, which Nehemiah 10:34 addresses through a communal commitment: the people cast lots for the "donation of wood" (קֻרְבַּן הָעֵצִים) to be brought at appointed times. This provision — unique to the post-exilic community and not prescribed in the Pentateuch — represents an institutional innovation to fulfill the Levitical requirement under new circumstances (the smaller restored community lacking the original support infrastructure). The arrangement demonstrates how the post-exilic community creatively implemented Levitical mandates.