Outline
The consecration of Aaron and his sons. (Verse 1-13.)
The offerings of consecration. (Verse 14-36.)
Name Portion Burnt Other Portions Animals Occasion or Reason Reference Burnt male without payment for general sin; Offering all none blemish; animal demonstrates one’s Lev. 1 according to wealth dedication Meal or unleavened cakes general Meat token portion eaten by priest or grain must be thankfulness for Lev. 2 Offering salted firstfruits Peace shared in a male or female Offerings: fellowship meal without blemish 1) unexpected blessings; Lev. 3 & 1) Thanks fat portions by the priest acc. to wealth 2) fulfilled vows; or for 22:18-30 2) Vows and the freewill may have 3) general thankfulness 3) Freewill offerer blemishes bull – priest and applies basically to Sin fat portions eaten by congregation any situation where Lev. 4 Offering the priest he-goat – rulers purification was she-goat – people necessary applies to situation where Trespass fat portions eaten by ram without desecration of something Lev. Offering the priest blemish holy as occurred or where 5:1-6:7 there is guilt
This chapter discusses the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests. Man has no direct access to God and therefore the priesthood was very necessary if anyone was to worship God properly.
Study Question
Since the death of Christ on the cross, who is now our priest according to Heb. 4:14-15?
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread;
3 And gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
“congregation” – this would include the two million or more Jews who left Egypt and are now in the wilderness.
4 And Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
5 And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the LORD commanded to be done.
6 And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.
Here we see a cleansing of the Priests with water. If you will remember in the gospels John the Baptist baptized with the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins and he used water to do that as he was commanded to by God.
Jesus was preparing Israel be a nation (kingdom) of priests and to enter into their kingdom if they would repent and accept him as their king and so his disciples like John baptized all who believed that Jesus was the Son of God. See Exodus 19:5-6
7 And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith.
8 And he put the breastplate upon him: also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim.
The breastplate was worn on the outside of his garments and it had twelve precious stones on it representing the twelve tribes of Israel and it served as a reminder that the priest was to serve the LORD and also the children of the LORD and not himself.
The Urim and the Thummim were devices used by the high priest to determine the will of the LORD in a matter that they didn’t have any scriptures concerning.
For example: If the people wanted to know if the LORD would give them victory if they went into battle, they could seek the LORD’s advice through the Urim and the Thummim.
9 And he put the mitre upon his head; also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown; as the LORD commanded Moses.
10 And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them.
11 And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them.
12 And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.
compare with Exodus 30:25-32
13 And Moses brought Aaron’s sons, and put coats upon them, and girded them with girdles, and put bonnets upon them; as the LORD commanded Moses.
14 And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering.
15 And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it.
remember that “sanctify” means to “set apart” or to “make holy”
16 And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar.
17 But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the LORD commanded Moses.
18 And he brought the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.
19 And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.
20 And he cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat.
21 And he washed the inwards and the legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.
A lot could be said about the preceding verses, but I left off the commentary as they are self-explanatory. I wanted you to see how the children of Israel were to worship in their Tabernacle and later their Temple and to compare that to what God expects from us today in the Body of Christ.
We do not have a headquarters anywhere but in heaven, no Tabernacle, no Temple. We do not offer a multitude of sacrifices for a multitude of reasons and sins. We have no priests only Israel is a nation of priests not us.
Peter speaks to Jews not the body of Christ who were a part of the remnant of kingdom believers who fled everywhere at the persecution of Stephen.
They were saved under the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom and not under the preaching of this present dispensation.
Israel had rituals and special clothing all of which is to be absent from the body of Christ because we are an entirely different entity than Israel. Israel is a nation and we are the body of Christ.
Israel was given their faith to them by the LORD as the only God ordained religion ever established, we are not Israel and we are not to act like them.
They were under the Law and all these things were required of them, we are under Grace and all of these ordinances were nailed to Christ’s cross.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t heed the healthy practices found in this book, but it does mean we will not lose our salvation for doing so. Grace, Grace, God’s Grace!
22 And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.
23 And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.
24 And he brought Aaron’s sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.
The tip of their right ear was consecrated signifying that a priest should be careful what he hears. What kind of things do you listen to? Would God enjoy hearing the things that you hear? Do you listen to Gossip?
A gossiper has to have someone to gossip to. Don’t be that someone. Do you listen to dirty jokes? How about vulgarity? A priest should be separate from such things so as not to encourage them.
The thumb was consecrated which signifies the works of a man’s hands should be consecrated to God. What do your hands do for the LORD? Is something you are doing with your hands not something that God would approve of? If so then stop! Consecrate your hands to the LORD.
Lastly the tip of the big toe is consecrated which signifies where you go in your life. Where does your feet take you? Is it to places that the LORD would be pleased going with you? If not, change.
25 And he took the fat, and the rump, and all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right shoulder:
26 And out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat, and upon the right shoulder:
27 And he put all upon Aaron’s hands, and upon his sons’ hands, and waved them for a wave offering before the LORD.
28 And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering: they were consecrations for a sweet savour: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
29 And Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before the LORD: for of the ram of consecration it was Moses’ part; as the LORD commanded Moses.
30 And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons’ garments with him; and sanctified Aaron, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him.
Moses took the anointing oil (a type of the Holy Spirit) along with the blood from the altar and sprinkled it upon Aaron, his garments, his sons and their garments to sanctify them (set them apart for service).
31 And Moses said unto Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and there eat it with the bread that is in the basket of consecrations, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.
[Exod 29:32, Lev 24:9, Matt 12:4]
32 And that which remaineth of the flesh and of the bread shall ye burn with fire.
Here Aaron and his sons are told to eat boiled flesh at the door of the tabernacle along with bread (this is the bread that David and his men ate when they were running from Saul).
Once they could eat no more it was not to be left for the worms to eat because it was consecrated for use in the service of the Tabernacle. If it wasn’t consumed by the priests themselves then they were to put all the rest into the fire to consume it.
33 And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven days shall he consecrate you.
34 As he hath done this day, so the LORD hath commanded to do, to make an atonement for you.
35 Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the LORD, that ye die not: for so I am commanded.
“that ye die not” – disobedience has a high price as God considers obeying him to be the most important thing we can do.
Study Question
What was happening to the NT believers in Corinth who were improperly taking the Lord’s Supper according to I Cor. 11:27-30?
36 So Aaron and his sons did all things which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.
I think the thing that sticks out the most here is the fact that the priest had to stay at the Tabernacle for seven days straight without going to their homes.
Of course, it was for seven days which signifies completion and after seven days they had completed their task of purifying the Tabernacle which was made by man’s hand which was only a shadow of the heavenly Tabernacle made without hands.
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.
Verse 1-13 – The consecration of Aaron and his sons had been delayed until the tabernacle had been prepared, and the laws of the sacrifices given. Aaron and his sons were washed with water, to signify that they ought to purify themselves from all sinful dispositions, and ever after to keep themselves pure. Christ washes those from their sins in his own blood whom he makes kings and priests to our God, Revelation 1:5,6. and those that draw near to God must be washed in pure water, Hebrews 10:22. The anointing of Aaron was to typify the anointing of Christ with the Spirit, which was not given by measure to him. All believers have received the anointing.
Verse 14-36 – In these types we see our great High Priest, even Christ Jesus, solemnly appointed, anointed, and invested with his sacred office, by his own blood, and the influences of his Holy Spirit. He sanctifies the ordinances of religion, to the benefit of his people and the honour of God the Father; who for his sake accepts our worship, though it is polluted with sin. We may also rejoice, that he is a merciful and faithful High Priest, full of compassion to the feeble-minded and tempest-tossed soul. All true Christians are consecrated to be spiritual priests. We should seriously ask ourselves, whether in our daily walk we study to maintain this character? and abound in spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Christ? If so, still there is no cause for boasting. Let us not despise our fellow-sinners; but remembering what we have done, and how we are saved, let us seek and pray for their salvation