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Moshe (Moses) is still on the mountain and receiving the instruction from God about how to build the Tabernacle but in this chapter, God is telling Moshe the procedure He wants Moshe to do to prepare Aharon (Aaron) and his sons for ministry in the Temple. Why does God ask Moshe to this complicated, seven-day ritual? The end of the chapter tell us the punchline. Although Moshe will be doing all of this but it really God will do all the sanctification, not Moshe.
“I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aharon and his sons to minister as priests to Me. I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 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.” (Ex. 29:44–46)
There’s an interesting theme in this chapter. It’s really about what Moshe does, not about Aharon or the High Priest. Moshe is doing all this. This was not done right away, it took at least a year to make the pieces of the Tabernacle.
God didn’t just show Moshe the parts of the Tabernacle while he was on the mountain for 40 days. He was also shown the template for all the garments of the priests and which priests were to wear which garments.
There’s a recurring phrase, “You shall do….” Moshe was responsible to make sure that what he saw on the mountain is what the people would make.
This chapter is how to ordain a high priest. Exodus 28 was about the attire of the High Priest, this chapter shows us how they were ordained and consecrated for office.
Later we will read about what happened during the course of the seven days. The three different kinds of animals brought to the Tabernacle to be offered for the ordination were donated by the people, not by Aharon and his family.
They were also supposed to bring three different kinds of unleavened bread and cakes, which represents purity and truth.
The High Priest represents Yeshua (Heb. 2:17; 3:1; 4:14–15; 5:5, 10; 6:20; 7:26; 8:1; 9:11, 25). In Yeshua there is purity and truth. The apostle Paul tells us that we are to be “unleavened” — be pure and true — because Yeshua’s Passover was killed for us (1st Cor. 5:7–8). Do you clearly see the truth? Do you walk in it?
The “Tabernacle of Meeting” in Hebrew is אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד ’oheyl mo’ed (Strong’s lexicon No. H168 and H4150), a set place where appointments with God are kept. It doesn’t exist, yet but when they build it, it will be the place where God meets with Moshe. The moed is an appointed place or time.
This is a symbol of how our Messiah Yeshua is ordained.
The turban was wrapped tightly around the head, and a “crown” was placed on top of it. The Hebrew word for crown in this verse is נֵזֶר nezer (H5145), which has a similar root to the word נָזִיר nazir (H5139) or the nazirite vow (Numbers 6). The nazir is a person separated from everyone else. On the High Priest wore this crown. Every High Priest had to go through this ordination process before coming into office. Moshe wrote it down and performed the first ordination.
There was also a tunic, which was long enough to totally cover the thigh and reached the knee.
The other priests were to wear a “cap,” which in Hebrew is מִגְבָּעוֹת migbaoth (H4021). This was not a simple flat skullcap. This cap was not for the ordinary men to wear, these were only for the sons of Aharon who were not yet in the office of High Priest. They wore this cap until they became High Priest.
The first animal Moshe was supposed to kill for offering was a bull. Aharon and the priests laid hands on it, and then Moshe was to take the blood out of the animal with the fat, the liver and kidneys and burn them on the altar, the other parts of the bull, including the meat, the hide, the intestines and the contents of the intestines were burned outside the camp as a sin offering.
We look at the outside of the bull with his beautiful hide, horns and find that beautiful, but God wants that part burnt outside the camp with the feces. What God wants is the inside. The liver and kidneys, of the bull as of other mammals are purifying organs.
The message of this first offering is that God wants us to give him our inside. The inside of the Messiah was pure and true. His outside, his flesh, was sacrificed outside the camp.
The second animal brought were a pair of rams. Each ram had a different purpose. The first ram had Aharon’s hands laid on it, it was slaughtered and the blood was collected and sprinkled around the altar. It was then washed and cut into pieces, including its internals, placed on the altar as a whole offering to God.
The second ram is an unusual ram. At first, it seems to have the same procedure. Aharon and his sons were to place their hands on it. Then it was slaughtered. The blood was collected, but this is where it gets a little odd. Moshe was told to take the blood and place it on the right ear, right thumb and on the right big toe of Aharon and his sons. The rest of the blood was to be placed around the altar.
Life is in the blood and that was the placed on the ear, which symbolizes what he hears, on the right thumb, which represents what he does and on the big toe which represents the walk. We have life in what we hear, what we do and where we walk when we hear, do and walk in the ways of our High Priest.
The first ram was a sin offering, the second ram was a “ram of ordination” or validation. It was offered with unleavened bread and oil. Aharon and his sons are offering their purity and truth to God through those unleavened breads and cakes. That is what Yeshua presents to God.
God ordained Aharon and put him in this position. God put His son in that place and no one will ever take that position away from Yeshua. It’s a fixed high role.
Moshe was not a high priest, yet Moshe was called by God to act as High Priest in this time to ordain Aharon and his son.
There’s nothing here that is written in vain or irrelevant. Every word is relevant. Every word talks about Messiah Yeshua and His life.
There’s a heave offering or peace offering, it’s the last offering given and portions of it are given to the High Priest, which is the contribution. God doesn’t just accept any kind of contributions, He only accepts certain kinds. He tells us what He wants. It doesn’t come from the whole (burnt) offering or the sin offering.
This consecration or ordination process took seven days, and each day included an offering of a bull as a sin offering. There were also two lambs offered daily, one in the morning and one at twilight.
All the bread offerings were made from wheat, not barley, oats, rice or any other grain.
Although Moshe will be doing all of this but it really God will do all the sanctification, not Moshe.
“I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aharon and his sons to minister as priests to Me. I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 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.” (Ex. 29:44–46)
The entire purpose of ordaining Aharon in this laborious process is shown at the end of the chapter. Moshe did all this so God could dwell with His people in the Tabernacle and so Aharon and his sons could perform all the duties of the Tabernacle.
Yeshua did what He did so God can dwell with us.
Reader: Jeff. Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.