Study Desk

"You must do all these things for Aaron and his sons. You must do them exactly as I told you. The ceremony for appointing them to be priests must continue for seven days.

You must kill one bull every day for seven days. This will be an offering for the sins of Aaron and his sons. You will use these sacrifices to make the altar pure, and pour olive oil on the altar to make it holy.

You will make the altar pure and holy for seven days. At that time the altar will be most holy. Anything that touches the altar will also be holy.

"You must burn these things as an offering to the Lord every day. Do this at the entrance of the Meeting Tent before the Lord . Continue to do this for all time. When you make the offering, I will meet you there and speak to you.

"Make an altar from acacia wood. You will use this altar for burning incense.

"Aaron must burn sweet-smelling incense on the altar every morning. He will do this when he comes to care for the lamps.

Don't use this altar for offering any other kind of incense or burnt offering or for any kind of grain offering or drink offering.

"Once a year Aaron must make a special sacrifice. He will use the blood of the sin offering to erase the sins of the people. He will do this at the horns of this altar. This day will be called the Day of Atonement, and it will be a very special day for the Lord ."

"Count the Israelites so that you will know how many people there are. Every time this is done, each man must make a payment for himself to the Lord so that nothing terrible will happen to the people.

The rich must not give more than 1/2 shekel, and the poor must not give less than 1/2 shekel. All people will make the same offering to the Lord . This will be a payment for your life.

Gather this money from the Israelites. Use the money for the service in the Meeting Tent. This payment will be a way for the Lord to remember his people. They will be paying for their own lives."

"Make a bronze bowl and put it on a bronze base. You will use this for washing. Put the bowl between the Meeting Tent and the altar. Fill the bowl with water.

They must wash their hands and their feet so that they will not die. This will be a law that continues forever for Aaron and his people who will live in the future."

Also, pour the oil on the altar for burning offerings to God. Pour this oil on everything on that altar. Pour this oil on the bowl and on the base under the bowl.

Tell the Israelites that the anointing oil is holy—it must always be used only for me.

This oil is holy and you must treat it as something special. Don't use the same formula for making perfume and don't let people use this oil like an ordinary perfume.

Grind some of the incense until it becomes a fine powder. Put the powder in front of the Holy Box that holds the Agreement in the Meeting Tent. This is the place where I meet with you. You must use this incense powder only for its very special purpose.

You must use it only in this special way for the Lord . You must also make it in a special way. Don't make any other incense in this way.

There may be people who will want to make some of this incense for themselves so that they can enjoy the smell. But whoever does this must be separated from their people."

"I have chosen a man from the tribe of Judah to do some special work for me. His name is Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur.