Tamid, Chapter 2, Mishnah 2. Our chapter follows the kohanim through the early morning work at the mizbe'ach: the ashes of the previous day's korbanot have to be dealt with before the new fires can be arranged. The first mishnah described the initial clearing. Our mishnah tells us where all those ashes went, and why the pile was allowed to grow to astonishing proportions.
The kohanim now cleared off everything that remained on the surface of the mizbe'ach, since the wood arrangement could not be rebuilt on top of yesterday's residue.
The mishnah continues: "Hechelu ma'alin ba'efer", they began bringing the ashes up, "al gabei hatapu'ach", onto the tapu'ach. Shovelful by shovelful, the residue of the previous day's service was collected and piled into a single great heap. Tapu'ach is the ordinary Hebrew word for an apple, and here it describes the shape of that pile, round and swelling upward; in practice it amounted to a miniature mountain of ash.
"Vehatapu'ach haya be'emtza hamizbe'ach" - and the tapu'ach sat in the very center of the mizbe'ach, right in the middle of its surface.
Three Hundred Kor
"Pe'amim alav kishlosh me'ot kor" - at times there were as much as three hundred kor of ashes piled there. In contemporary terms that is roughly twenty thousand gallons. The heap could reach a truly enormous height.
How did such a quantity ever collect? The mishnah explains: "Uveregalim", during the three festivals, Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, "lo hayu medashnin oto", nothing was ever taken off the heap. With the crowds of olei regel came korbanot beyond counting, so the ash kept rising higher and higher while none of it was carried out.
Noi Lamizbe'ach
"Mipnei shehu noi lamizbe'ach" - because it was an adornment for the mizbe'ach. Far from being an eyesore, the towering mound was a source of honor. Anyone who saw it understood at a glance how many korbanot had been offered. The height of the ashes testified to the devotion of Klal Yisrael.
"Me'olam lo nit'atzel kohen mehotzi et hadashen" - never once, in all the years of the Beit Hamikdash, was a kohen lazy about removing the ashes. When the mound grew too large and the time came to clear it, the kohanim took the ashes out and deposited them in the designated place outside Yerushalayim.
This closing statement is exactly what the mishnah is driving at. A visitor confronted by a mountain of ash sitting on the mizbe'ach might have concluded that the kohanim had been shirking their duty. The mishnah corrects that impression completely. The heap was left standing by design, because its very size was noi lamizbe'ach, a mark of splendor for the mizbe'ach, and never because any kohen was slow or careless in his service.