Bible Commentaries
Exodus 29

Verses 1-46

Chapter 29

Now in chapter twenty-nine the consecration of the priests and the offerings.

And thus they were to take a young bullock, and two rams without blemish, And unleavened bread, and cakes of unleavened tempered with oil, and the wafers of unleavened anointed with oil: of wheat flour shall you make them. And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring the basket, with the bullock and the two rams. And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall [first of all] wash them with water. And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, the breastplate, and dress him with the curious girdle [or that sash around him was] the ephod: And thou shalt put the crown upon his head, and the holy crown upon the mitre. [The mitre, and then the holy crown upon it.] And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him. And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats on them. And thou shalt clothe them with the girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. 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. And thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And thou shalt take 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. And thou shalt take all the fat that covers the inwards, and that which is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, with his dung, thou shalt burn with fire outside of the camp: it is a sin offering ( Exodus 29:1-14 ).

So first of all, as Aaron is consecrated, the oil signifying the anointing of God, putting on him all of these beautiful robes and all and anointing him with oil. And then bringing, because he is to be serving for the people before God, he had to have his sins taken care of. So the first thing was a sin offering to take care of the sins of Aaron, washing him with water, putting on these robes, anointing him with oil, and then the offering of this sin offering.

Now Aaron and his sons were to put their hands on the head of the bullock. This is a symbolic action which symbolizes the transfer of my guilt over onto the ox. As I lay my hands on the head of the ox, I would be transferring the guilt of all of my sin over onto the ox, so that as that oxen has his throat slit, it is dying for my sins. It brings me the awareness of the awfulness of sin. Sin brings death. So I see the death of that animal, I see the blood shed, and I realize that my sins were put on it. And it was because of my sins that animal had to die, the transference of my guilt onto the animal, as my hands are upon its head.

Now the blood was to be taken with the finger and put on the horns, the four brass horns that were upon this brass altar. And then the fat and the kidneys were to be burned on the altar itself, but the carcass and the whole thing, because it was a sin offering, was to be taken outside of the camp and burned.

Now later we are told that that is the reason why Jesus was crucified outside of the city of Jerusalem, let out of the camp, because He was the sin offering. His was the sin offering being offered to God for us. That way, that's why it had to be outside the camp that Christ was crucified. So they led Him out of the city, nearby, but out of the city His crucifixion, out of the camp of God's people.

So first of all for the priest to serve God, he had to have something done about his own sin. Thus, the sin offering offered for Aaron.

Now one of the rams,

Thou shalt take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of that ram. And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them into pieces, and unto his head. 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 God. And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the other ram. Then thou shalt kill the ram, and take his blood, and put it on 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, upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. And thou shalt take the blood that is upon the altar, and the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, upon his garments, upon his sons, on the garments of his sons with him: and they shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. 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 ( Exodus 29:15-22 ):

So the ram for a burnt offering unto God; that's just really as a gift to God. But then the next ram was the ram of consecration, and thus the blood was placed upon Aaron and his sons on the tip of their right ear, upon their right thumb, and upon their big toe of their right foot. Remember it's the consecration, "I consecrate my ear to hear to hear the voice of God. I consecrate my hands to do the work of God. I consecrate my feet to walk in the path of God." A life of consecration unto God. "That I may hear His voice, that I might do His work, that I might walk in His path."

So the life of consecration represented by the blood on the tip of the ear, on the right thumb, and upon the big toe of the right foot, as Aaron and his sons were then consecrated. Their lives were to be set apart for ministry unto the Lord in this offering of consecration.

Then,

One loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread the bread that is before the Lord: And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord ( Exodus 29:23-24 ).

So they would take then these loaves of bread that had been baked with this oil and wheat, and they were to wave them. The wave offering could be either in an up and down or in a cross fashion, but waving them before the Lord. It's called the wave offering. Now the wave offerings were the offerings of the meal offerings, or the grain offerings that they would make these little cakes out of them and wave them before the Lord.

Thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour ( Exodus 29:25 )

Baked bread; what smells better than barbecued meat and baked bread? So the sweet savour unto the Lord. That's the idea of just that, you know, putting them on the altar, burning the ox, that neat smell that you get from barbecued meat, and the neat smell from baked bread and just a sweet savour unto God. Who doesn't like the savour of baking bread?

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. And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons: And it shall be Aaron's and his sons' by a statute for ever [So the priests could eat that portion themselves, it became theirs.] for it is a heave offering, it shall be a heave offering for the children of Israel: for it is a heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the Lord. And the holy garments of Aaron and his sons' were to be anointed ( Exodus 29:26-29 )

Verse thirty-two,

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. They shall eat those things wherewith the covering was made ( Exodus 29:32-33 ),

Atonement in the Old Testament, "kaphar" is to cover. We have in the New Testament the word "atonement" which is an entirely different word. In the New Testament it is "atonement". It is becoming one with God, only possible through Jesus Christ. "It was impossible" we are told, " that the blood of goats and bulls could put away our sins". All they could do is testify of a better sacrifice that was to come.

So they were only a substance, they were only rather the shadow. The substance is of Christ. These things were all testifying of Jesus Christ, our great sacrifice. The One who was sacrificed for our sins. So it was not possible, they did not put away sin. What they did make was an atonement "kaphar". They were a covering for this sin, but did not put them away. It remained for Jesus to do that through His death.

to consecrate to sanctify: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy ( Exodus 29:33 ).

What isn't eaten was to be burned in the fire, just special for God's servants.

Thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for a covering: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made the atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, and sanctify it. Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever touches the altar shall be holy ( Exodus 29:36-37 ).

So it was, that is consecrated to God once it has touched the altar, you could not take it back. It then belonged to God; whatever was laid on the altar it became God's. If you laid your life upon the altar, then it becomes God's; it isn't yours to take back again. It isn't, no longer belongs to you.

Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year every day continually. One lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other in the evening: And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of beaten oil; and the fourth part of wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer in the evening, and you shall do according to the meal offering [actually] of the morning; and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire to the Lord. And 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 ( Exodus 29:38-42 ).

So that was the purpose of the tabernacle: a place where God would come and meet with them, and speak unto them.

I will meet with the children of Israel, and [the tabernacle] shall be sanctified by my glory. 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. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am Jehovah their God ( Exodus 29:43-46 ).

Now Moses was up in the mountain getting all of these instructions from the Lord. "