Chapter 29

Instructions for consecrating the priests.

Sacrifices gathered, unleavened bread in three forms gathered, oil put on some of the bread.

Aaron and his sons brought to the entrance of the tent.  The door into fellowship with God if you will.

WASH THEM WITH WATER.  Ceremonial cleanliness perhaps.  I think of this as the first baptism (4/5/20).  They had already been chosen as Holy to God, they had been set apart by God's own decree.  Even so, before they could serve him, they needed to be washed of the contaminants of the world.  Of earthly dirt and grime.  They needed to be earthly clean in order to serve God spiritually, inside the tent of meeting.  To come near God physically, they needed to be clean physically.

In verse 7, anointing oil is poured on Aaron.  This first time.  This next:

9 and you shall gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and bind caps on them. And the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons. [Exo 29:9 ESV]

Aaron was anointed with oil, his sons were only washed.  Aaron is high priest, his sons offices are different.  This is the start of the Aaronic priesthood.  It is after Melchizedek, and before the Levitical priesthood.

14 But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering. [Exo 29:14 ESV]

So the sin offering was not all burned on the altar.  On the altar, they burned the fat covering the entrails, the long lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat that covered them.  That is all that was burned of the sin offering on the altar.  Remember too that this was done in consecrating Aaron and his sons.  I would think it is also what is done in all sin offerings but that is yet to be seen.  Very little really of the sin offering is burned on the altar.  I saw somewhere that the best fat to use in making rendered fat is the fat off the kidneys.  I have never eaten liver and kidney meat, it tastes bad to me.  But I know these organs are packed with nutrients, and that more "primitive" peoples consider the organs delicacies.  The rest of the sacrificial animal - all the rest of it - was burned outside the camp.  Surely there is much symbolism here.  God gets the most desired parts as offering for sin - the best fat, and the best organs - but the sinner who offers the sacrifice gets nothing.  No one else gets any part of this sin offering.  There is no "benefit" to anyone from sin, and the offering for sin is only about appeasement, waste, and loss. 

2023 - I don't think I have this burnt offering exactly right.  If you look at what they "don't" burn, there is a lot left out besides just that fat and those few organs.  That is, if you add up what they burn on the altar and what they burn outside the camp, there is a lot of the bull still unaccounted for.  The meat is all missing.  The tenderloins, the ribeye, the head...I can't see that the disposition of these things is accounted for so far.

2023 - I am leaving the blood out of all this.  They blood is drained from the bull, and some of it is placed on each of the horns of the altar with a finger, and then the rest - the most - is poured out at the base of the altar.  So the blood stays with the altar.  I don't know if the "base" of the altar gets burned.  Then, it appears that beyond the specific parts mentioned to be burned, ALL the rest of the bull is burned outside the camp.  None of the sin offering is eaten by anyone.

2024 - Aaron and his sons are washed with water.  They are as clean as water can make them.  Only then do they don the trappings of the priests.  They are dressed for service to God.  Then they all lay their hands on the head of the bull to be sacrificed.  I think this symbolizes a "transfer" of their sins to the bull, which then dies - which then sheds its blood - and so temporarily atones for that sin.  Next, blood is placed on the horns of the altar, and the rest of the blood is poured out at the base of the altar.  The blood has special handling at this time.  It is neither discarded nor disregarded.  But it is neither offered by being burned on the altar, nor is it carried outside to be burned.  It is simply poured out on the ground at the base of the altar.  The life of the flesh is poured out because the life of bulls and goats has not associated righteousness.  Part of the bull - the fat, the kidneys, and the liver - are burned on the altar.  These represent appeasement.  The best of the bull is burned on the altar to appease God.  He has been offended, even angered, by sin, and this is not sin that is being burned up, it is a "gift" to turn away anger.  It is given in exchange for mercy toward the one who offended.  But in the Old Covenant, it is also propitiation - payment - for sins committed.  Then the rest of the animal is taken outside the camp, and burned up.  The sins of Aaron and his sons were transferred - symbolically to the bull, the bull dies for the sin, the best is offered to God for appeasement, and the rest - the shell, the common, the ordinary - is taken outside to an unused place and burned with the sin it now contains.  As I'm seeing this right now, the sin offering cleanses the sin of the priests.  Removes their sin.  Obviously, the washing that preceded it all did nothing about the sin. 

Next is the burnt offering.  Note the laying on of hands to sort of "transfer" the sins of Aaron and his sons to the offering. 

18 and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. [Exo 29:18 ESV]

They laid their hands on the ram next, and then it was sacrificed.  It was killed, and then cut into pieces (so it could be moved more easily onto the altar?).  The entrails and the legs were to be washed, and then put with the pieces and the head.  It does not appear that all of it had to be washed, only some, and perhaps that is the reason for cutting it up.  So the "dirty" parts could be washed.  Then, the whole of it was burnt.  This is a burnt offering.  So burnt offerings are to God alone, and the priests do not eat any part of it.  It is also called a food offering here.  The sin offering mostly burnt outside the camp.  The burnt offering burned in its entirety on the altar.  2023 - The blood from this offering is thrown against the sides of the altar.  All its blood.  That would likely get pretty hot and dry that blood...what a sight...

2024 - The first ram was the high priests ordination offering.  In this case Aaron's.  The high priest is differentiated here from the rest of the priests - his sons.  They all lay hands on this first ram, and the first thing they do is sprinkle its blood all over the altar.  This is not poured out.  Then it is cut up in manageable pieces, the "dirty" parts are washed, and then all of it burnt.  "It is a soothing aroma".  I think the sin went away with the bull.  Anger has been abated.  Now, like playing soft music to sooth, comes the whole burnt offering.  This seems to be about insuring a good standing for the priest before God.

The second ram is the ram of consecration.  Seems like a "special" sacrifice.  They lay their hands on this one also.  The blood from this ram is applied to those being consecrated - on their right earlobe, right thumb, right great toe.  I don't get this, but that's what it says.  Then blood from the altar itself and anointing oil are sprinkled on Aaron and his sons.  This verse about that:

21 Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons' garments with him. [Exo 29:21 ESV]

So Aaron, his sons, and their clothing are now Holy.  They are set apart for use in service to God.

2023 - The remaining blood was thrown on the sides of the altar.

After the blood is sprinkled, the fat from the ram, some of the bread, and so on are placed on the palms of Aaron and his sons.  They touch these things - they hold them, each one - and then they "wave them" before the Lord.  So this is what a wave offering is.  After they are waved, they go on the altar, atop the burnt offering, and these parts are all burnt also.  This is the fat that gets burned.  It is not the whole animal in the case of the wave offering.  This wave, like the burnt, is also referred to as a food offering.  I note that the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination) is included in the wave offering and then burnt.  The right thigh is what the angel touched in Jacob's wrestling match with the angel.  This thigh is where God touched man...and that angel made a promise to that man.  So somehow this is a reference back to that.  It is ordination, it is setting apart for service, as Jacob was chosen and set apart from men as God's chosen.  That is played out again here.

2024 - Wave offerings are burnt.  Though they are not a part of the burnt offering, they are placed on top of the burnt offering and burned also.  No....because the breast of Aaron's ram is also waved, and then eaten.  So...the breast of the first ram, the one for Aaron, is a wave offering, and the breast of the second ram, for his sons, is called a "heave" offering.  This portion is always for the priests. As I read it, the breast of the peace offerings (which we have not yet seen I don't think) is also for the priests.

Then this verse:

26 "You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination and wave it for a wave offering before the LORD, and it shall be your portion. [Exo 29:26 ESV]

The burning of the fat of the wave offering and the unleavened bread that accompanied it are done.  Now another part of this ram - the breast (brisket?) is also waved before the altar.  This becomes the perpetual "due" to Aaron and his sons - to the Aaronic priesthood - for their service to God.  This is from the second ram, the ram of ordination.  In future, it is to come from the "Peace offerings" of the people.  We haven't seen that offering yet. 

2023 - First offered as a wave offering, then eaten.  So this is given to God, and God designates it for them to eat.  Since offered, it seems that this would be holy to God.  They are consuming what is holy. 

This whole chapter seems to be the institution of sacrifices for their specific purposes and of their specific procedures and protocols.  These examples will be followed by Israel from this time in their history - at Mt. Sinai, until the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. 

This is what is done with the portion of the wave offering from the consecration offering that is not burnt on the altar:

31 "You shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. 32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket in the entrance of the tent of meeting. 33 They shall eat those things with which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration, but an outsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy. [Exo 29:31-33 ESV].

2023 - This verse:

33 They shall eat those things with which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration, but an outsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy. [Exo 29:33 ESV].  So, this sort of ties to the Lord's Supper I think.  The flesh and the blood of Christ atoned for all mankind.  So symbolically, we eat the body of Christ.  But again, the blood had been drained in the OT consecration.  But we symbolically drink the blood rather than throw it on the sides of the altar. 

So...I wonder if it is even valid to try and connect these sacrifices in the OT to the Lord's Supper.  Should there even be a correlation? 

In the NT, we are priests, and our bodies are temples.  So we ought to consume the priests portion, but to sprinkle blood on the sides of the altar, that blood must be inside us - if our bodies are temples, the altar is inside the temple.  To drink the blood is to apply it to the altar.  This seems so very hyperbolized in order to "make it work", that it is hard to believe this is even close.  So I still don't get this part...

2024 - This year, I think the above is very much on track.  Not exact, not perfectly explained and understood, but surely on the right track.  Look at that phrase:  They eat that with which atonement was made.  They consume that which atoned for them.  In the Lord's supper, the bread symbolizes the flesh with which atonement was made for us.  But animal blood does nothing.  It is poured out for sin.  It consecrates the altar and the special clothing, and even the people designated to serve as interventionists with God - which we no longer need at all in the NT.  So we drink the blood because it is no longer needed for consecrating the "men and the trappings of service". 

2024 - The blood of animals can consecrate, it can confer temporary holiness upon both men and items.  It makes those on whom it is sprinkled holy in the eyes of God for a time.  But it does not MAKE them holy, it does not confer righteousness upon them.  Only Jesus' blood could actually make them holy, where the blood of animals made them temporarily holy.  But in Jesus' case, we eat his flesh because it atoned for all our sins - it paid the price, it made it all even with God as to sin - and we drink the blood because where sprinkling animal blood on the altar made it externally holy - ONLY externally - drinking Jesus' blood makes us holy internally.  It consecrates us wholly for God's service forever.  I can't seem to get there...but I think that the flesh of Christ fully atones for our sins, and the blood of Christ makes us righteous, holy, suitable for service to God.

2024 - Later in today's ST study, I found this:  24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. [Heb 12:24 ESV].  The blood of Abel cried out to God from the ground:  10 And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. [Gen 4:10 ESV].  Abel's blood brought injustice to God's attention.  Blood on the ground draws God's attention.  He hears the blood cry out, and he turns to deal with it.  Shed blood gets God's attention.  Abel was killed because of his better sacrifice.  Sprinkled blood, on the altar, consecrates the physical and makes it holy to God.  There is shed blood, and there is sprinkled blood.  Sprinkled is better?  There is something here...But I can't see what it is.  Not yet.

Vs 36:  36 and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it to consecrate it. [Exo 29:36 ESV].  The sin offering is for atonement. 

Beginning in vs 38, we seem to be seeing the "daily sacrifices" required for the duration of the people of Israel.  Each day:

Two lambs, a year old, every day, one in the morning, the other at twilight.

With the first, some fine flour mingled with some beaten oil and some wine as a drink offering. 

With the twilight offering, a grain offering and a drink offering, as in the morning. 

So these were like "feeding" God.  It is an interesting concept.  Not only meat and fat, but flour and wine were offered.