What happened to the fire on the altar during the breaking up of the camp in the wilderness?

Question

Leviticus 6:8

8 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 9 Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. 10 And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. 11 And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. 12 And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. 13 The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

The fire for the burnt offering was commanded to be kept burning never was it to be extinguished, but what happened during the breaking up camp in the wilderness

Answer 1

There is no answer to this question in the MT itself, but there are several possible answers that do not overtly contradict the MT:

1. The law dates from the time of, or only refers to, the stationary central sanctuary in Bet El or Jerusalem.
2. The law applied only when the altar in the desert was actually set up, but not to the time during which it was transported.
3. The law was interpreted to mean "every day" in the sense of at least part of the day and the fire should not be intentionally put out.
4. There was an additional means, possibly miraculous, not mentioned in the text, by which the fire on the altar was transported.

The earliest reference to this question is in the Jerusalem Talmud, tractate Yoma (Yom Kippur) Chapter 4, Mishna 6 (page 23b)¹:

Rabbi Yohanan said "Even during transport the fire was not allowed to go out". What did they do? During transport they covered the fire with a copper hood [loan word from the Greek ψυκτήρ] as Rabbi Yehudah said. Rabbi Shimon said, "During transport they tended the fire [in a separate vessel, not on the altar itself]".

Similar problems with other "eternal" commandments occur in the case of the showbread and its accompanying spice offering, which were solved in practice during the second temple period by either interpreting the commandment to mean "daily" as in (3) above or by sliding off the past week's bread while simultaneously sliding on the new bread.

Note that this problem either did not bother anyone in the ancient world very much, or else the material relating to it was lost in the processes of "natural selection" that favors preservation of texts with more practical value. The Jerusalem Talmud is the only ancient text that references this question, and it is a work of secondary importance in the Jewish tradition. Critical scholars today would probably say that Leviticus 6 referred to the stationary sanctuary only, as in (1) above.

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1. מתניתא מסייעא ליה לרבי יוחנן לא תכבה אף במסעות, בשעת מסעות מה היו עושין לה, היו כופין עליה פסכתר, דברי רבי יהודה, רבי שמעון אומר אף בשעת מסעות היו מדשנין אותה

Answer 2

Firstly I post this as guidance towards the glory of God and with love to all who are following Jesus. There are many questions, some seem small and others for a time seem to block our way but with prayer and support from God we will find our way. There are matters of primary and secondary importance and matters even less important and even points of contention. Are we to spend our time wisely and are we to be good teachers trying to answer everything, the dangers of pride are to be considered here, or to spread the good news to others about Jesus so they can be saved from Hell.

I think it necessary to consider the 4 points previously mentioned, and my answers in "(brackets)":

1. The law dates from the time of, or only refers to, the stationary central sanctuary in Bet El or Jerusalem. ( No it is in Leviticus 6 and this is mentioned three times in this chapter (verses 9, 12, and 13), verse 9 is even in the form of a command. Leviticus is written by Moses in the same time period as Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Even in Exodus 3:5 it refers to the burning bush and holy ground where the fire is not consuming anything which must have suggested something of a divine nature as it made no physical sense. As this is literally a holy situation with biblical emphasis we must take care in what we make assumptions about; what the Bible states is the law and it clearly makes no reference to a specific stop or starting time or to any particular geographical location about how this this fire on the altar is to behave, let alone any interference by man)
2. The law applied only when the altar in the desert was actually set up, but not to the time during which it was transported. (No - This is practical but setting up and transportation arrangements are not mentioned. As it is extremely important it surely would have been included if there were different principles that were to apply)
3. The law was interpreted to mean "every day" in the sense of at least part of the day and the fire should not be intentionally put out. (No - it says the fire on the altar shall never go out)
4. There was an additional means, possibly miraculous, not mentioned in the text, by which the fire on the altar was transported. (Most likely OR the copper hood would be one practical solution. Another vessel seems unlikely as it would have to be holy and mentioned specifically during the tabernacle manufacture and use. If the fire had at any time been extinguished it would surely have been mentioned and God would have to intervene to sort out the practicalities in more detail)

The fire that comes from God does consume the sacrifice in Leviticus 9:24 but this is after the fire had been burning other sacrifices earlier in Leviticus 9. Looking in simple terms it is the case that the fire of God is operating in the altar fire as the sacrifices were offered in the fire and God accepted them. A continuing fire suggests the continual presence of God and in Rev 1:14, Rev 2:18 Rev 4:5, Rev 8:5 and Rev 19:12 we see Jesus with eyes of fire, seven lamps and an altar with fire. Also fire is used to devour the enemies of God and eternally in Hell.

I hope that we follow the Bible and not lean on tradition because the true source material is eternally holy. One day we will see Jesus and in glory and where our doubts will be replaced with love and our understanding will be perfected. In his Love Mark