Exodus 29:1-46
1 And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish,
2 And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them.
3 And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams.
4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water.
5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod:
6 And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre.
7 Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.
8 And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them.
9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and puta the bonnets on them: and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.
10 And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock.
11 And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.
13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caulb that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar.
14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.
15 Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.
16 And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.
17 And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head.
18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
19 And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.
20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.
21 And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.
22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration:
23 And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the LORD:
24 And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wavec them for a wave offering before the LORD.
25 And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
26 And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before the LORD: and it shall be thy part.
27 And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:
28 And it shall be Aaron's and his sons' by a statute for ever from the children of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the LORD.
29 And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in them.
30 And that sond that is priest in his stead shall put them on seven days, when he cometh into the tabernacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place.
31 And thou shalt take the ram of the consecration, and seethe his flesh in the holy place.
32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
33 And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy.
34 And if ought of the flesh of the consecrations, or of the bread, remain unto the morning, then thou shalt burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.
35 And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, and to his sons, according to all things which I have commanded thee: seven days shalt thou consecrate them.
36 And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it.
37 Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.
38 Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually.
39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:
40 And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering.
41 And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.
43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.
44 And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office.
45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.
46 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.
Exodus 29:6. The holy crown, a plate of gold, as appears from Leviticus 8:9; Exodus 28:36.
Exodus 29:9. A perpetual statute. Many promises of this kind occur; and they are all like the sure mercies of David, absorbed in the everlasting priesthood and kingdom of the Messiah, the Christ of God. For the Jews were to have a better priest than Aaron, Psalms 110:4; a better sacrifice than those offered under the law, Psalms 40:6; a better fountain than the brazen laver, Zechariah 13:1; a better covenant than that of Moses, Jeremiah 31.
Exodus 29:10. Shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock, to signify that they offered it for themselves and for their own sins, which the offerers performing this rite were to confess, Leviticus 16:21; and to testify their faith in the future sacrifice of Christ, upon whom their sins were to be laid, and by whose blood they were to be expiated.
Exodus 29:12. Horns of the altar. Not of incense, as some would have it, but of the burnt-offerings.
Exodus 29:14. It is a sin-offering, for the highpriest, as is plain from the whole context, and therefore ought to be burnt. There was indeed a law that the sin-offering, whose blood was not carried into the tabernacle, which was the case here, should not be burnt, but eaten. Leviticus 6:30. But that concerned the people, not the priests who did not eat, but burnt their own sin-offerings. Leviticus 4:3; Leviticus 4:12.
Exodus 29:18. Sweet savour. Hebrews a savour of rest, wherewith God will be well pleased.
Exodus 29:19. Take the other ram, for a peace-offering. So here were all the three sorts of sacrifices, which were afterwards to be offered by them for the people. These are the full oblation, as in Genesis 15.
Exodus 29:20. Tip of the right ear and thumb. These parts are consecrated in the name and stead of all the rest; the ear, as the instrument of hearing and receiving the mind and will of God in all their sacred administrations, and in their whole conversation; the hand and foot, as the instruments of action, and execution of that which they hear and understand to be the mind of God. All these parts are sprinkled with blood, to show the absolute necessity of Christ's sacrifice to qualify them for an acceptable and successful discharge of their office.
Exodus 29:22. A ram of consecration; of the priests in their office.
Exodus 29:26. It shall be thy part, namely, the breast alone, whereas both shoulder and breast were afterwards given to Aaron. The reason of this might be, that Moses was not a proper and complete priest, as Aaron afterwards was, but one appointed for this time to do the work.
Exodus 29:27. Waved and heaved up. The rabbins tell us the difference between these two is, that the former was waved up and down, east, west, north and south, to signify that he to whom it was offered was Lord of the whole world, the God who fills all space, and to whom all things of right belong. The latter was only lifted up towards heaven, in token of its being devoted to God: but both these words are often used for an offering in general.
Exodus 29:29. His sons', his eldest sons successively.
Exodus 29:30. Seven days; for so long the solemnity of the consecration lasted, Exodus 29:35.
Exodus 29:31. The holy place. In the court-yard at the door of the tabernacle, where it was both boiled and eaten, as appears from this and the next verse, and from Leviticus 8:31.
Exodus 29:33. A stranger, one who is not of the priestly race.
Exodus 29:37. An altar most holy, because it was not only holy in itself, but by its touch communicated a legal holiness to the victims, and to the people.
Exodus 29:38. Two lambs day by day. There were other occasional sacrifices of various sorts; but these were constant, and never omitted. The whole church in their evening and morning devotion need the atonement of the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29.
Exodus 29:40. Tenth deal of flour, an omer, or the tenth part of an ephah; equal to about half a peck English. A hin, the sixth part of an ephah; so that the fourth part of a hin of wine, according to Dr. Cumberland, was about a quart and something more than the quarter of a pint English. It contained the quantity of seventy two eggs.
Exodus 29:45. I will dwell, by my special grace, and favour and blessing.
REFLECTIONS.
The Hebrew ritual exhibits here a scale of tragic grandeur, to show the holiness of God, the sinfulness of sin, and the manner in which the contrite might approach; for without shedding of blood there was no remission. Hebrews 9:22.
The law concerning the morning and evening sacrifice is founded on the obligation all men are under to serve God continually; and in particular, of offering him, at the beginning and end of every day, the sacrifice of prayer and praise.
If God promised the Israelites to dwell among them, we cannot doubt but he is more intimately present to defend and protect the christian church. This Paul proves, when he applies the promise in this chapter to christians: “I will dwell among them, and will be their God.” Also when he exhorts them, from this very consideration, to “cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1.