Consecration of the Priests (Exodus 29)

1 “Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate [make holy/set aside] them, that they may serve me as priests [the role and purpose of the priesthood as household servants]. Take one [young and tender, not old and tough] bull of the herd and two rams without blemish [only the best males were kept for breeding], 2 and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour. 3 You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams. [These are the ingredients for a special, formal meal.] 4 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. [Before being robed, the priests had to be ritually cleaned. It made sense to wash after sacrificing animals, but washing before meant obeying a divine command in regard to holiness. Because no mention of linen undergarments is made, the priests were probably already wearing them, suggesting that only certain parts and not the whole of their bodies were washed.] 5 Then you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod [all the items worn by the high priest]. 6 And you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. 8 Then you shall bring his sons and put coats on them, 9 and you shall gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and bind caps on them. And the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

10 “Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. [This was a symbolic transfer of guilt from the men to the animal, which was a substitute for the men.] 11 Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, 12 and shall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar [to cleanse it] with your finger, and the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. 13 And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. [Only a small portion of the animal is offered to God.] 14 But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering. [No one was to enjoy eating this bull. Its death was an atoning, sin-cleansing death rather than any sort of basis for a fellowship meal.]

15 “Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram [another symbolic transfer of sin], 16 and you shall kill the ram and shall take its blood and throw it against the sides of the altar [which did not receive blood from the bull]. 17 Then you shall cut the ram into pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head, 18 and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. [This ram was given entirely to God symbolically in the smoke rising up into the sky.]

19 “You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram [another symbolic transfer of sin], 20 and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet [this blood is used to cleanse people from toe to lobe], and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. 21 Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons' garments with him. [The amount of blood obtained from the side of the alter was most likely miniscule. Only by mixing it with the oil could enough quantity be produced to sprinkle the priests. Why must there be blood, even this token amount? “Because it is the death of Christ that qualifies his servants to be holy enough to enter into the work of his ministry because that death can be signified only by blood, not oil, and because all Old Testament sacrifices point to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, the sacrifice that actually provides the atonement, to which all other previous sacrifices look for their derived validity. In the logic of the Old Testament’s revealed sacrificial system, oil helps signify purity and cleanness, but not forgiveness. The combination of the oil and the blood signify purity of service and forgiveness of sins respectively. Purity and forgiveness made the priests acceptable to God.”]

22 “You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination), 23 and one loaf of bread and one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord. 24 You shall put all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. 25 Then you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma before the Lord. It is a food offering to the Lord.

26 “You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be your portion [to eat]. 27 And you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh of the priests' portion that is contributed from the ram of ordination, from what was Aaron's and his sons'. 28 It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a perpetual due from the people of Israel, for it is a contribution. It shall be a contribution from the people of Israel from their peace offerings, their contribution to the Lord. [The priests always get the breast and the right thigh to eat. The lay worshippers did not. They were making a contribution to the priests when they brought an animal for sacrifice.]

29 “The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him; they shall be anointed in them and ordained in them. 30 The son who succeeds him as priest, who comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, shall wear them seven days.

31 “You shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place [the tabernacle courtyard]. 32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 33 They shall eat those things with which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration, but an outsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy. 34 And if any of the flesh for the ordination or of the bread remain until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy. [Since the food was holy, only the priests could eat it. What remained uneaten was destroyed by fire.]

35 “Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through seven days shall you ordain them, 36 and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it to consecrate it. 37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy [“will be holy,” as in prescriptive not descriptive]. [This is not for the priestly ordination but for making the altar holy. It is a separate seven-day period.]

38 “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs [rams, as the requirement is for a male lamb] a year old day by day regularly. [These were full grown animals of value, not newborns, as opposed to the Passover lamb that was a newborn.] 39 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. 40 And with the first lamb a tenth measure of fine flour [two quarts] mingled with a fourth of a hin [about a quart] of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the morning, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. 42 It shall be a regular burnt offering [meaning a sin offering consumed on the altar and offered entirely to God] throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. [This twice daily offering reminded the Israelites of the need for the forgiveness of their sins that ultimately points to the need of the once-for-everyone and all-atoning death of Jesus.] 43 There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. [The people had seen God’s presence leading them in the pillar of cloud and fire; however, that would come to an end and he would be present with them in the tabernacle.] 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. [God is the real consecrator. All these rites and sacrifices point to his sanctifying presence.] 45 I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. [We might ask, “Isn’t it obvious that God is with them and leading them? The answer is “no.” While Moses is hearing this words, his people are at the bottom of the mountain looking for a new god, thinking that Yahweh has already abandoned them! These men and women had grown up as polytheist, pantheists, and syncretists in Egypt and did not really know God, that he was the only God and superior to all. Why is God taking all this time to define how they will worship him? Because the Israelites will come to know that they can know God in worship, and that their worship will be the only true, correct, spiritual worship taking place anywhere on the planet. Look back at 3:12.]