Nehemiah 10:34

And we cast the lots R.V. And we cast lots. The use of the article in the Heb. does not here call attention to the use of any peculiarly sacred -lots," but generally to the means employed for ascertaining the Divine will. For decision by the casting of lots, cf. the choosing of the goat on the day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:8-10), the distribution of the Promised Land (Joshua 14:2; Joshua 18:10), the selection of the first king (1 Samuel 10:19), the distribution of offices among the 24 priestly houses (1Ch 24:5; 1 Chronicles 25:8; 1 Chronicles 26:13), and of the priestly duties among the individual members (Luke 1:9). Here the lot was to decide the succession of the houses, which took it in turn to supply the wood for the sacrifices of the Temple.

for the wood offering Cf. Nehemiah 13:31. The supply of wood for the enormous number of sacrifices offered at the Temple of Jerusalem must have represented a large annual sum. The difficulty of procuring wood must have been very great: (1) the area of territory occupied by the Jewish community was small, (2) the trees in the neighbourhood must have suffered during the Chaldean invasion and siege.

after the houses of our fathers R.V. according to our fathers" houses. Another translation, -even into the house of our fathers," i.e. -into the Temple" would certainly be possible according to the Hebrew, but is not to be accepted, as its use occurs nowhere else, and after the mention of -the house of our God" there would be no special appropriateness for the employment of another name.

at times appointed Cf. Nehemiah 13:31; Ezra 10:14. According to the Talmud on ninedays in the year.

as it is written in the law There is no statute in the Levitical code regulating the supply of firewood for the sacrifices. The only reference to the wood of the offering in -the Law" is contained in Leviticus 6:12-13, -And the fire upon the altar shall be kept burning thereon, it shall not go out; and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning; and he shall lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out." If the words -as it is written in the law" contain a reference to a passage in the Pentateuch, it must be looked for in connexion with -the burning on the altar" (e.g. Leviticus 6:12-13), not with -the wood-offering." Against this it may fairly be urged that -the wood offering," being the principal subject of the verse, is also the most probable subject for this quotation from Scripture. But if -as it is written in the law" alludes to -the wood offering," -the law" must be understood in a general sense of the traditional regulations of the priests, which apparently were not all embodied in our Pentateuch. New circumstances necessitated new regulations; and we have to suppose that among the new written regulations of the priests was one relating to -the wood offering." We may conjecture that after the return from the exile the scarcity and expensiveness of fuel for the sacrifices made it necessary to draw up special regulations by which -the houses" took it in turn to supply the wood. The burden was thus distributed over the community. The new regulation had been committed to writing; but, as appears from our Pentateuch, it was never incorporated in the canonical -Thora," perhaps from the reason that its history was known to be recent. Josephus (Bell. Jud.ii. 17. 6) mentions that on the 14th day of the 5th month Loos (Ab) was the Festival of Wood-bringing (Ξυλοφόρια), at which every Jew used to bring wood for the altar of burnt offering, that there never might be wanting a supply of fuel for the sacred fire.