Year 1, Week 11, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 11, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Exodus 29-30.

Today’s reading continues with instructions pertaining to the Tabernacle and the Priesthood. Exodus 29 describes the process whereby the priests were to be consecrated for their work. The Priests, as we noted in the design behind their garments, were to be holy or set apart. There was a procedure for how being made holy would be achieved. Exodus 30 describes additional furnishings for the Tabernacle, some of the details for the operation of these additional furnishings, and a tax assessment for the Tabernacle.

What struck me from today’s reading is what it reveals about the process that the LORD required to consecrate the priests for the Tabernacle service. Being a priest in service to the LORD was a great privilege: “Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!” (Psalm 134:1-2). The priests were called to approach the LORD at the Tabernacle on behalf of the people: “There I will meet with the people of Israel, 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.” (Exodus 29:43-44). As the LORD met with Israel through the priesthood, they would be experiencing their relationship with the LORD: “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God” (Exodus 29:45); and thereby, come to genuinely know the LORD: “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.” (Exodus 29:46).

But the serious duties of the priesthood required extensive preparation of the priests themselves: they were to be made holy: “Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through seven days shall you ordain them, 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. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.” (Exodus 29:35-37). The priests were to be holy or truly devoted to the LORD. To achieve a declared state of holiness, the priests would need to first offer sacrifices for themselves. The priest’s holiness would come through a process of sacrifice. The priests did not have a holiness of their own, but through a sequence of three sacrifices, they would be made holy unto the LORD and for their service to Israel.

The first sacrifice would provide their purification: “Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. Then you shall kill the bull before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar” (Exodus 29:11-13). The second sacrifice would display their dedication: "Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, and you shall kill the ram and shall take its blood and throw it against the sides of the altar. Then you shall cut the ram into pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head, and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD.” (Exodus 29:15-18). The third sacrifice would confirm their ordination to the priesthood: “You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. 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.” (Exodus 29:19-21).

Before the Aaronic Priesthood was fit for offering sacrifices before the LORD on behalf of the people, they first needed to offer sacrifices for themselves. The priests suffered from the same moral degradation as the rest of the nation. The priesthood of Jesus is very different in this matter: “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” (Hebrews 7:26-27). The result of Christ’s priestly work is full and final: “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe