Exodus 29.1-46

The Ordination of the Priests / The Daily Offering 

The Ordination of the Priests: Exodus 29.1-37

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(How to consecrate a priest [if you are Moses])

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Welcome back Aaron, and keep leading the people.

Ingredients:

• One young bull without blemish
• Two rams without blemish
• On basket containing:
• Unleavened bread (made with choice what flour)
• Unleavened cakes mixed with oil (choice wheat flour)
• Unleavened wafers spread with oil (choice wheat flour)

Directions:

Dressing

1. Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting
2. Wash them with water
3. Dress Aaron in the priestly vestments
4. Anoint Aaron with oil
5. Dress his sons with their vestments

Sacrificing the bull

1. Bring the bull before the tent of meeting
2. Have Aaron and his sons put their hands on the head of the bull
3. Slaughter the bull
4. Put some of the blood on the horns of the altar with your finger
5. Pour the rest of the blood a the base of the altar
6. Take the fat, liver, kidneys and “turn them into smoke” (burn them) on the altar
7. The flesh of the bull, its skin, and its dung should be burned outside as a purifying “sin offering”

Sacrificing the first ram

1. Have Aaron and his sons put their hands on the head of the ram
2. Slaughter the ram
3. Dash the blood against all the sides of the altar
4. Cut the ram into parts
5. Wash the entrails and legs
6. Burn the entire lamb. “It is a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the Lord” (Ex. 29.18)

Sacrificing the second ram (the ram of ordination)

1. Have Aaron and his sons put their hands on the head of the ram
2. Slaughter the ram
3. Put some of the blood on Aaron and his sons in the following places:
4. Right ear lobe
5. Thumb of the right hand
6. Big toe of the right foot
7. Dash the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar
8. Take some of the blood against the altar, mix with anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his sons and their vestments. This makes them and their vestments holy.
9. Take the fat, tail, liver, kidneys, and right thigh with the contents of the basket: one loaf of bread, one cake of bread mixed with oil, and one wafer.
10. Place all these on the palms of Aaron and his sons
11. Have Aaron and his sons raise the breads and innards as an elevated offering before the Lord
12. Take the innards and breads and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering. This is an offering by fire to the Lord

Eating the ram of ordination

1. Boil its flesh in a holy place
2. Aaron and his sons should eat the flesh of the ram and the breads in the basket
3. Eat outside the tent of meeting
4. Only Aaron and his sons can eat this food, which through sacrifice has purified them. The food is holy.
5. Leftovers should be burned

Moses’s portion

1. Take the breast of the ram of ordination
2. Raise it as an elevation offering; it is your portion.

The seven-day ordination

1. Ordination should last seven days
2. Every day a bull should be offered to atone for sins.
3. An additional sin offering should be made every day for the altar,
4. The altar shall also be anointed and consecrated each day for even days
5. Anything that touches the holy altar shall become holy itself.

Note
These things should be a perpetual ordinance for Aaron and his sons.


The Daily Offering: Exodus 29.38-46

The Daily Offerings

1. Each day sacrifice two one-year-old lambs, one in the morning and one in the evening
2. Sacrifices should be held at the entrance of the tent of meeting
3. Each shall be sacrificed with one-tenth an ephah of flour (about 9 cups) mixed with 1/4 hin oil (about 1.4 gallons)
4. Serve with 1/4 hin wine as a drink offering

Final note on holiness
God says:

It shall be a regular burnt-offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you, to speak to you there. I will meet the Israelites there, and it shall be sanctified by my glory; I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate, to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God. 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.
(Ex. 29.42-46)

So what does all this mean?

God's meals, the burnt sacrifices given to him, parallel the meals that the priests eat. Except God, being God, gets a lot more food - the equivalent of a few loaves of bread, an entire lamb, and 1.4 gallons of wine. God does not eat this food - it is a symbolic offering. But there is something to be said for the communion (not the New Testament type). When characters in a book share in food it represents communion, getting to know each other and sharing in a situation. It is a connection on spiritual level played out on the physical level with the eating of food. It's a way to say, "Hey, we eat the same food. We understand each other. We're in this together." Even though God is seated on his throne in the Holy of Holies, he is still among his people Israel.

So what is Holiness? This section demonstrates well the "separate" aspect of holiness. The animals have to be without blemish. You have to be physically and ritually clean when you approach God. God cannot come into contact with commonness. Hence the layers of separation of the tabernacle, described in the posts previous to this one. Though among the Israelites and having communion through sacrifice, there is still a distinct separation.

A good deal of this separation is through ritual. Through ritual you can purify yourself so that you may encounter or make sacrifices to God. There are three different ways the priests must dispose of the blood of the three sacrificed animals. Each method has a distinct purpose. The bull's blood consecrates the horns of the altar. The first ram's blood consecrates the altar itself. The second ram's blood consecrates the priests. There is an order to the ordination, and a meaning behind everything.

Notice, though, that rather than dirtying, the blood of sacrificed animals purifies. The blood of sacrificed animals does not pollute like human blood (menstrual and from wounds). Rather, because the getting of the blood has meaning, the blood itself is ritually purifying. So it is not just ram's blood that purifies, it is the blood of a sacrificed lamb.

One final note on holiness: Even the altar needs to be consecrated and have its sins atoned for (Ex. 29.36). Through contact with people (or perhaps exposure to the elements), the altar becomes impure and must be purified. But the altar also has the power to consecrate. Anything that touches the altar will become holy (Ex. 29.37).