 For God commanded that the Israelites should give it to the Levites, but (since the days of Ezra) they presented it to the priests instead.The Mishnah told that the stones of the Temple's altar and ramp came from the valley of Beit Kerem.When retrieving the stones, they dug virgin soil below the stones and brought whole stones that iron never touched, as required by because iron rendered stones unfit for the altar just by touch.