Exodus 29

1 "And this is what you shall do to them to hallow them for ministering to Me as priests: Take one young bull and two rams without blemish,

2 and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour).

3 You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams.

4 And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water.

5 Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the intricately woven band of the ephod.

6 You shall put the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban.

7 And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him.

8 Then you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them.

9 And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.

10 "You shall also have the bull brought before the tabernacle of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the bull.

11 Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

12 You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the base of the altar.

13 And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar.

14 But the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.

15 "You shall also take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram;

16 and you shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it all around on the altar.

17 Then you shall cut the ram in pieces, wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and with its head.

18 And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

19 "You shall also take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram.

20 Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar.

21 And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar, and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him; and he and his garments shall be hallowed, and his sons and his sons' garments with him.

22 Also you shall take the fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, the two kidneys and the fat on them, the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration),

23 one loaf of bread, one cake made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord;

24 and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and you shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord.

25 You shall receive them back from their hands and burn them on the altar as a burnt offering, as a sweet aroma before the Lord. It is an offering made by fire to the Lord.

26 Then you shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration and wave it as a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be your portion.

27 And from the ram of the consecration you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering which is waved, and the thigh of the heave offering which is raised, of that which is for Aaron and of that which is for his sons.

28 It shall be from the children of Israel for Aaron and his sons by a statute forever. For it is a heave offering; it shall be a heave offering from the children of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, that is, their heave offering to the Lord.

29 "And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him, to be anointed in them and to be consecrated in them.

30 That son who becomes priest in his place shall put them on for seven days, when he enters the tabernacle of meeting to minister in the holy place.

31 "And you shall take the ram of the consecration and boil its flesh in the holy place.

32 Then Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

33 They shall eat those things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; but an outsider shall not eat them, because they are holy.

34 And if any of the flesh of the consecration offerings, or of the bread, remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 "Thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Seven days you shall consecrate them.

36 And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctify it.

37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy.

38 "Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually.

39 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.

40 With the one lamb shall be one-tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering.

41 And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; and you shall offer with it the grain offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you.

43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory.

44 So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me as priests.

45 I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God.

46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.

Exodus 29 Commentary

Chapter 29

The sacrifice and ceremony for the consecration of the priests. (1-37) The continual burnt-offerings, God's promise to dwell among Israel. (38-46)

Verses 1-37 Aaron and his sons were to be set apart for the priest's office, with ceremony and solemnity. Our Lord Jesus is the great High Priest of our profession, called of God to be so; anointed with the Spirit, whence he is called Messiah, the Christ; clothed with glory and beauty; sanctified by his own blood; made perfect, or consecrated through sufferings, ( Hebrews 2:10 ) . All believers are spiritual priests, to offer spiritual sacrifices, ( 1 Peter. 2:5 ) priests, ( revelation 1:5 revelation 1:6 ) . They also are clothed with the beauty of ( 1 John. 2:27 ) Spirit of God is called the finger of God, ( ( Luke 11:20 ) , compared with ( Matthew 12:28 ) ,) and by him the merit of Christ is applied to our souls. This consecration signifies the admission of a sinner into the spiritual priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Verses 38-46 A lamb was to be offered upon the altar every morning, and a lamb every evening. This typified the continual intercession which Christ ever lives to make for his church. Though he offered himself but once for all, that one offering thus becomes a continual offering. This also teaches us to offer to God the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise every day, morning and evening. Our daily devotions are the most needful of our daily works, and the most pleasant of our daily comforts. Prayer-time must be kept up as duly as meal-time. Those starve their own souls, who keep not up constant attendance on the throne of grace; constancy in religion brings in the comfort of it.

Footnotes

• [a]. Compare Numbers 4:15 and Haggai 2:11-13

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 29

This chapter gives an account of the form and order of the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priestly office; preparatory to which Moses is ordered to take a young bullock, two rams, bread, cakes, and wafers unleavened, and bring them and Aaron and his sons to the door of the congregation, where the ceremony was to be publicly performed, and which began with washing them, Ex 29:1-4 and then proceeded by putting on the priestly garments directed to be made in the preceding chapter, first on Aaron, who also was anointed, Ex 29:5-7 and then upon his sons, Ex 29:8,9 after which the bullock and the two rams were to be slain, and orders are given what was to be done with their blood, and the several parts of them, as well as with the cakes and wafers, Ex 29:10-23 and directions are given to make these wave and heave offerings, Ex 29:24-28 and that the garments of Aaron's should be his son's that succeeded him, Ex 29:29,30, and that the flesh of the ram of consecration with the bread should be eaten by Aaron and his sons and no other, Ex 29:31-35, the altar also where they were to officiate was to be cleansed, sanctified, and an atonement made for it, Ex 29:36,37 after which two lambs every day, morning and evening, were to be offered on it in all succeeding generations, Ex 29:38-42, and the chapter is closed with a promise that the Lord would meet with the children of Israel at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and would sanctify the tabernacle, and dwell among them, and be their God, Ex 29:43-46.