In our study of Exodus chapter twenty nine, we see that the purpose of worship is to bear witness to the glory of God.
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"Here is what you are to do to consecrate them for ministry to me in the office of cohen. Take one young bull and two rams without defect, also matzah, matzah cakes mixed with olive oil, and matzah wafers spread with oil - all made from fine wheat flour; put them together in a basket, and present them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams.
Here, we see the offering that was to be prepared for the consecration of the priests and we see that there are three types of unleavened bread mentioned. These three breads were to be put into a single basket and this speaks of unity which is the outcome of our worship. The basket and a young bull and two perfect rams were to be presented on their behalf.
"Bring Aharon and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water. Take the garments, and put on Aharon the tunic, the robe for the ritual vest, the vest itself, and the breastplate. Fasten the vest on him with its belt. Put the turban on his head and attach the holy ornament to the turban.
The washing described here is not a scrubbing but more of an immersion in a mikvah and this immersion represents a change of status from common to set apart. Then, Aharon was to be clothed in all of the priestly garments and, in the Hebrew text, we see that the holy ornament on the turban is called a netzer. The word netzer is related to Nazarene and it speaks of the work of Yeshua Messiah. In the last chapter, we saw that this netzer was to sanctify the offerings that the people brought to the Lord which is what Yeshua does for us.
Then take the anointing oil, and anoint him by pouring it on his head.
Finally, Aharon was to have the anointing oil poured on his head.
Bring his sons; put tunics on them; wrap sashes around them, Aharon and his sons; and put the headgear on their heads. The office of cohen is to be theirs by a permanent regulation. Thus you will consecrate Aharon and his sons.
The sons of Aharon were to be dressed in their priestly garments which were different than the garments of the high priest that Aharon wore. We see that Moshe was to give them authority as the priests and this was to be a kingdom regulation.
"Bring the young bull to the front of the tent of meeting. Aharon and his sons are to lay their hands on the bull's head, and you are to slaughter the bull in the presence of ADONAI at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Take some of the bull's blood, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; pour out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. Take all the fat that covers the inner organs, the covering of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and offer them up in smoke on the altar. But the bull's flesh, skin and dung you are to destroy by fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
Now, we see the offering of the young bull with Aharon and his sons placing their hands on its head which was a transfer of their sin to the bull. Then, the bull was to be ritually slaughtered with the blood and certain inner parts used at the altar but the rest of the animal was to be burned outside the camp and we are told that it was a sin offering. This was a picture of the fact that Yeshua would be killed outside of the city of Jerusalem in payment for our sins.
"Take one of the rams: Aharon and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram's head; and you are to slaughter the ram, take its blood, and splash it on all sides of the altar. Quarter the ram, wash the inner organs and the lower parts of the legs, and put them with the quarters and the head. Then offer up the whole ram in smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering for ADONAI, a pleasing aroma, an offering made to ADONAI by fire.
One of the rams is slaughtered and burned up on the altar as a burnt offering which, as we will see in Leviticus 1, is presented by someone desiring access to God. We notice that the blood is dealt with in a different manner in that it is to be thrown all over the altar.
"Take the other ram: Aharon and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram's head; and you are to slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the lobe of Aharon's right ear, on the lobes of his sons' right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Take the rest of the blood and splash it on all sides of the altar.
The second ram was to be slaughtered and some of the blood was to be put on the right ear lobe, right thumb, and the right big toes of Aharon and his sons with the rest of the blood thrown upon the altar. In this, we see that the purpose of this ram is sanctification of the priests.
Then take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aharon and his clothing and on his sons and the clothing of his sons with him; so that he and his clothing will be consecrated, and with him his sons and his sons' clothing.
Some of the blood is taken off the altar and some of the anointing oil and they are to be sprinkled on the clothes of the priests to consecrate the clothes.
Also take the fat from the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the inner organs, the two kidneys, the fat covering them and the right thigh - for it is a ram of consecration - along with one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread and one wafer from the basket of matzah which is before ADONAI - and put it all in the hands of Aharon and his sons. They are to wave them as a wave offering in the presence of ADONAI.
The best parts of this second ram and one of each of the three types of bread are placed in the hands of Aharaon and his sons and we are told that they are a wave offering before the Lord. The wave offering speaks of victory which comes through being in the will of God.
Then take them back; and burn them up in smoke on the altar, on top of the burnt offering, to be a pleasing aroma before ADONAI; it is an offering made to ADONAI by fire.
After the priests wave them, Moshe was to burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering.
"Take the breast of the ram for Aharon's consecration, and wave it as a wave offering before ADONAI; it will be your share. Consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of any contribution that has been waved and raised up, whether from the ram of consecration, or from anything else meant for Aharon or his sons; this will belong to Aharon and his sons as their share perpetually due from the people of Isra'el - it will be a contribution from the people of Isra'el from their peace offerings, their contribution to ADONAI.
We see that the priests are to receive the breast and the thigh from the consecration ram as their portion as well as the breast and thigh from the peace offerings given by the people of Israel.
"The holy garments of Aharon will be used by his sons after him; they will be anointed and consecrated in them. The son who becomes cohen in his place, who comes into the tent of meeting to serve in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days.
This verse speaks of the fact that there will be a continuation of high priests after Aharon dies as well as new priests and they are all to have this same ceremony.
Take the ram of consecration, and boil its meat in a holy place. Aharon and his sons will eat the ram's meat and the bread in the basket at the entrance to the tent of meeting. They are to eat the things with which atonement was made for them, to inaugurate and consecrate them; no one else may eat this food, because it is holy. If any of the meat for the consecration or any of the bread remains until morning, burn up what remains; it is not to be eaten, because it is holy.
The rest of the meat from the consecration ram as well as the rest of the bread was to be eaten by the priests but nothing could be left and eaten the next day.
Carry out all these orders I have given you concerning Aharon and his sons. You are to spend seven days consecrating them. "Each day, offer a young bull as a sin offering, besides the other offerings of atonement; offer the sin offering on the altar as your atonement for it; then anoint it to consecrate it. Seven days you will make atonement on the altar and consecrate it; thus the altar will be especially holy, and whatever touches the altar will become holy.
This inauguration of the priesthood was to take seven days and each day a sin offering was to be made and the altar was to be anointed. We see that this was to make the altar especially holy and anything that touched the altar would become holy.
"Now this is what you are to offer on the altar: two lambs a year old, regularly, every day. The one lamb you are to offer in the morning and the other lamb at dusk. With the one lamb offer two quarts of finely ground flour mixed with one quart of oil from pressed olives; along with one quart of wine as a drink offering. The other lamb you are to offer at dusk; do with it as with the morning grain and drink offerings - it will be a pleasing aroma, an offering made to ADONAI by fire. Through all your generations this is to be the regular burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting before ADONAI. There is where I will meet with you to speak with you.
Now, we see the daily offering that was to be presented to the Lord and it was to be a burnt offering which is presented by someone desiring access to God. God promised to meet them at the doorway to give them revelation.
There I will meet with the people of Isra'el; and the place will be consecrated by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar, likewise I will consecrate Aharon and his sons to serve me in the office of cohen. Then I will live with the people of Isra'el and be their God: they will know that I am ADONAI their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt in order to live with them. I am ADONAI their God.
We see that the purpose of all of this is to consecrate the people of Israel so that they might serve Him and so that His glory might be manifested. Israel was and is to be a light unto the nations.
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