Shemot 29:20

20 Then shalt thou slaughter (shachat) the ayil, and take of his dahm, and put it upon the lobe of the right ear of Aharon, and upon the lobe of the right ear of his banim, and upon the thumb of their right yad, and upon the bohen of their right foot, and sprinkle the dahm upon the Mizbe’ach, all around.

Shemot 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 ) .

Shemot 29:20 In-Context

18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the Mizbe’ach: it is an olah unto Hashem: it is a re’ach hannichoach [see Pp 4:18 OJBC], an offering made by eish unto Hashem.
19 And thou shalt take the other ayil; and Aharon and his banim shall lay their hands upon the head of the ayil.
20 Then shalt thou slaughter (shachat) the ayil, and take of his dahm, and put it upon the lobe of the right ear of Aharon, and upon the lobe of the right ear of his banim, and upon the thumb of their right yad, and upon the bohen of their right foot, and sprinkle the dahm upon the Mizbe’ach, all around.
21 And thou shalt take of the dahm that is upon the Mizbe’ach, and of the shemen hamishchah, and sprinkle it upon Aharon, upon his garments, upon his banim, upon the garments of his banim with him; he shall be set apart as kodesh, and his garments, his banim, his banim’s garments with him.
22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the chelev and the tail, and the fat that covereth the innards, and the diaphragm with the liver, and the two kidneys, and the chelev that is on them, and the right thigh; for it is an ayil millu’im (ram of ordination);
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.