Exodus 29.22-35-The Seventh And Eighth Steps Connected To The Consecration Of The Priests
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday June 10, 2012
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 29:22-35-The Seventh And Eighth Steps Connected To The Consecration Of The Priests
Lesson # 39
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 29:1.
This morning we will continue our study of Exodus chapter 29 by noting verses 22-35, which contain the last two steps in the ordination ceremony of the priests.
The ordinationconsecration ceremony which is described in verses 1-37 contains eight steps: (1) Washing Aaron and his sons (verse 4) (2) Clothing Aaron and his sons (verses 5-6, 8-9) (3) Anointing Aaron and his sons (verse 7). (4) The use of the bull as a sin offering (verses 10-14). (5) The first ram as a whole burnt offering (verses 15-18). (6) The use of the blood of the second consecrationordination ram (verses 19-21). (7) Offering the rest of the second consecrationordination ram (verses 22-26). (8) Cooking and eating consecrationordination ram (verses 31-34).
Exodus 29:1 “Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them to minister as priests to Me: take one young bull and two rams without blemish, 2 and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour. 3 You shall put them in one basket, and present them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. 4 Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 5 You shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod; 6 and you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 Then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. 8 You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. 9 You shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them, and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons. 10 Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 You shall slaughter the bull before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 12 You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. 13 You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and offer them up in smoke on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering. 15 You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram; 16 and you shall slaughter the ram and shall take its blood and sprinkle it around on the altar. 17 Then you shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head. 18 You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the Lord: it is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord. 19 Then you shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20 You shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of his sons’ right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and sprinkle the rest of the blood around on the altar. 21 Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him; so he and his garments shall be consecrated, as well as his sons and his sons’ garments with him. 22 You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination), 23 and one cake of bread and one cake of bread mixed with oil and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread which is set before the Lord; 24 and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. 25 You shall take them from their hands, and offer them up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering for a soothing aroma before the Lord; it is an offering by fire to the Lord. 26 Then you shall take the breast of Aaron’s ram of ordination, and wave it as a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be your portion.” (NASB95)
“Ordination” is the noun mil∙lǔ∙ʾîm (מִלֻּאִים) (mil-loo´), which refers to the consecration of someone to fill a particular office and here it refers to the ordination of Aaron and his sons in their high priestly office.
Therefore, this second ram was sacrificed as a substitute for Aaron and his sons in order to qualify them to serve as priests in the tabernacle.
These verses describe the wave offering which was a part of this ordination ceremony of Aaron and his sons.
In this wave offering, they were to take from the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them.
They were also to take the right thigh of this second ram as well as one round flat cake of bread, one perforated cake of oiled bread and one wafer from the basket of bread made without yeast that is in the presence of the Lord.
Before these parts of the animal were burned, Aaron and his sons were to hold the meat and the bread up before the Lord as a special symbolic offering.
This is called the “wave offering” which is the noun tenû∙p̄ā(h) (תְּנוּפָה) (ten-oo-faw´), which was a peace offering signifying that Aaron and his sons were restored to fellowship by the sacrifice of this ordination ram.
After this wave offering, the parts of the animal were then to be burned on the altar for a burnt offering for a soothing aroma in the presence of the Lord.
The fire typifies or foreshadows the Father’s judgment of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross and the soothing aroma typifies or foreshadows that the demands of the Father’s holiness was propitiated or satisfied by the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross.
Exodus 29:27 “You shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering which was waved and which was offered from the ram of ordination, from the one which was for Aaron and from the one which was for his sons. 28 It shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the sons of Israel, for it is a heave offering; and it shall be a heave offering from the sons of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their heave offering to the Lord. 29 The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, that in them they may be anointed and ordained. 30 For seven days the one of his sons who is priest in his stead shall put them on when he enters the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.” (NASB95)
“Heave offering” is the noun terû∙mā(h) (תְּרוּמָה) (ter-oo-maw´), which means “contribution” and describes the offering of this second goat as a “contribution” from the Israelites from their peace offerings to Aaron and his sons as well as to the Lord.
This was a perpetual ordinance in Israel and established a principle that the priesthood of Israel was to be fed from the offerings brought to the Lord by the non-Levitical tribes.
The Levites and priests were to be cared for by the other eleven tribes.
Actually, there were twelve tribes since Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh were to be granted extensive territory of their own, whereas the Levites were to have only limited garden plots around the four principal cities of each of the other tribes (forty-eight in all-cf. Number 35:7).
The high priestly garments mentioned in detail in chapter 28 are only mentioned in summary form here in verses 29 and 30.
These verses specify that the high priestly garments described in chapter 28 would be inherited meaning that successive generations would not need to make new garments as long as the old ones remained intact and useable.
These verses make clear that the holy garments of Aaron and his sons were to be kept apart for the ordained priesthood to wear exclusively.
Each new priest in the line of Aaron in future generations would be required to wear his consecrated vestments for the first week of his ministry.
Other than that, they were to wear them only when they officiated in the tabernacle.
The wearing of Aaron’s garments for this week would serve to encourage the new high priest to think of his role as keeping with the sacred traditions of his forefathers.
The fact that the vestments of Aaron were to be worn for seven days by the new priest was necessary since the ordination process took a week to complete according to verse 35.
Also, this was to get the people use to the idea of a new successor to the high priesthood had indeed taken over and would now be the one to carry out the functions of the high priest.
Exodus 29:31 “You shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. 32 Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 33 Thus they shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy. 34 If any of the flesh of ordination or any of the bread remains until morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.” (NASB95)
These verses teach that Aaron and his sons were to boil the flesh of the ordination ram in a holy place, which is the courtyard of the sanctuary since Leviticus 8:31 says that this ram is to be cooked at the entrance of the tent of meeting and eaten there as well.
This meal was symbolic of the fact that Aaron and his sons ceremonially clean, in fellowship with God and experiencing peace with God.
A comparison of this passage along with Exodus 27:3, 38:3, Leviticus 6:28 and 1 Samuel 2:13-15 reveals that the meat of the ordination ram was boiled in large pots then finished ceremonially on the bronze altar of the tabernacle, in the courtyard.
The priest sat out in the courtyard and ate this ordination ram and the remainder of the bread that had not been given to the Lord symbolically by fire in front of the entrance to the tabernacle tent itself.
This meal could only be eaten by the priests.
Since the bread and the meat from this meal were consecrated and holy to God, the remainder of the meal was to be burned with fire and thus could not be disposed of in a profane manner, thus the leftovers from this meal are unlike the leftovers from an ordinary meal.
Exodus 29:35 “Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; you shall ordain them through seven days.” (NASB95)
This verse is a brief summary statement which brings to an end the instructions concerning the ordination of Aaron and his sons and is saying that the preceding instructions that appear in verses 10-34 are the procedure to ordain priests and this process is to take one week.
