“Aaron's Errands”

Friday, July 19, 2013

Does it indicate in the Bible how many times a day God required the levitical priests to enter His temple to do their duties?  If so, how many times and where does it indicate this?

Sincerely,
Daily Duties

Dear Daily Duties,

The Bible never specifically says how many times a day that the priests were allowed to enter the temple, but they had to do it at least twice.  All of the sacrifices and burnt offerings were made on the altar, which was outside of the temple (Ex 40:6) – and that is where most of the priests’ time would have been spent.  However, inside the temple structure itself, there were three things that needed regular attention: the golden lamp stand, the incense altar, and the table of showbread (Ex 35:13-15).  The table of showbread only had to be attended to weekly (Lev 24:5-9).  The lamp stand had to be kept continually burning (Lev 24:2).  And last, but not least, the incense altar needed to have incense burned on it every morning and every evening (2 Chr 13:11).  Since the priests were supposed care for the lamp stand at the same time that they burned incense (Ex 30:7-8), they didn’t need to enter the temple more than twice on any regular day.

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