Exodus 29:20

20 And you will slaughter the ram and take [some] of its blood and put [it] on Aaron's [right] earlobe and on the right earlobe of his sons and on the thumb of their right hand and on {the big toe} of their right foot, and you will sprinkle the blood at the base of the altar all around.

Exodus 29:20 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 29:20

Then shall thou kill the ram
As the other:

and take of his blood,
some part of it being received into a basin:

and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of
the right ear of his sons;
according to Jarchi, this is the middle gristle within the ear; but Saadiah more rightly says it is the tender part which joins to the orb of the ear. The blood was put upon this part to sanctify it, and cleanse from sins that come thereby, and to teach the high priest that he ought attentively to listen to what should be said unto him of the Lord, that he might faithfully report it to the people; and as our great High Priest had his ear opened and awakened, to hear as the learned; and happy are his people who have ears to hear the joyful sound, and take pleasure in it, and who are cleansed from their hearing sins, by his precious blood:

and upon the thumb of their right hand;
on the middle joint of it, as Jarchi:

and upon the great toe of the right foot;
the hands and fingers being the instruments of action, and the feet and toes of walking, show that the life and conversation of the priests of the Lord ought to be pure and holy, and so their antitype perfectly was; and whereas there is imperfection in all the actions, and even in the best righteousness of the saints, and their walk and conversation is not without sin, they have need to have them sprinkled with, and their conversation garments washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb:

and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about;
as was done with the blood of the other ram, ( Exodus 29:16 ) .

Exodus 29:20 In-Context

18 And you will turn into smoke [on] the altar all of the ram; it is a burnt offering for Yahweh; it [is] a smell of appeasement, an offering by fire for Yahweh.
19 "And you will take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the head of the ram.
20 And you will slaughter the ram and take [some] of its blood and put [it] on Aaron's [right] earlobe and on the right earlobe of his sons and on the thumb of their right hand and on {the big toe} of their right foot, and you will sprinkle the blood at the base of the altar all around.
21 And you will take [some] of the blood that is on the altar and [some] of the anointing oil, and you will spatter [it] on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on his sons' garments with him, and he will be sacred, and his garments and his sons and his sons' garments with him.
22 And you will take from the ram the fat and the fat tail and the fat covering the inner parts and the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them and the right thigh, because it [is] the ram of ordination.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "the thumb of"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.