Exodus 29

Listen to Exodus 29
1 “This is the ceremony you must follow when you consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams with no defects.
2 Then, using choice wheat flour and no yeast, make loaves of bread, thin cakes mixed with olive oil, and wafers spread with oil.
3 Place them all in a single basket, and present them at the entrance of the Tabernacle, along with the young bull and the two rams.
4 “Present Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and wash them with water.
5 Dress Aaron in his priestly garments—the tunic, the robe worn with the ephod, the ephod itself, and the chestpiece. Then wrap the decorative sash of the ephod around him.
6 Place the turban on his head, and fasten the sacred medallion to the turban.
7 Then anoint him by pouring the anointing oil over his head.
8 Next present his sons, and dress them in their tunics.
9 Wrap the sashes around the waists of Aaron and his sons, and put their special head coverings on them. Then the right to the priesthood will be theirs by law forever. In this way, you will ordain Aaron and his sons.
10 “Bring the young bull to the entrance of the Tabernacle, where Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on its head.
11 Then slaughter the bull in the LORD ’s presence at the entrance of the Tabernacle.
12 Put some of its blood on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest at the base of the altar.
13 Take all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat around them, and burn it all on the altar.
14 Then take the rest of the bull, including its hide, meat, and dung, and burn it outside the camp as a sin offering.
15 “Next Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on the head of one of the rams.
16 Then slaughter the ram, and splatter its blood against all sides of the altar.
17 Cut the ram into pieces, and wash off the internal organs and the legs. Set them alongside the head and the other pieces of the body,
18 then burn the entire animal on the altar. This is a burnt offering to the LORD ; it is a pleasing aroma, a special gift presented to the LORD .
19 “Now take the other ram, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head.
20 Then slaughter it, and apply some of its blood to the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons. Also put it on the thumbs of their right hands and the big toes of their right feet. Splatter the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar.
21 Then take some of the blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his sons and on their garments. In this way, they and their garments will be set apart as holy.
22 “Since this is the ram for the ordination of Aaron and his sons, take the fat of the ram, including the fat of the broad tail, the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat around them, along with the right thigh.
23 Then take one round loaf of bread, one thin cake mixed with olive oil, and one wafer from the basket of bread without yeast that was placed in the LORD ’s presence.
24 Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons to be lifted up as a special offering to the LORD .
25 Afterward take the various breads from their hands, and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering. It is a pleasing aroma to the LORD, a special gift for him.
26 Then take the breast of Aaron’s ordination ram, and lift it up in the LORD ’s presence as a special offering to him. Then keep it as your own portion.
27 “Set aside the portions of the ordination ram that belong to Aaron and his sons. This includes the breast and the thigh that were lifted up before the LORD as a special offering.
28 In the future, whenever the people of Israel lift up a peace offering, a portion of it must be set aside for Aaron and his descendants. This is their permanent right, and it is a sacred offering from the Israelites to the LORD .
29 “Aaron’s sacred garments must be preserved for his descendants who succeed him, and they will wear them when they are anointed and ordained.
30 The descendant who succeeds him as high priest will wear these clothes for seven days as he ministers in the Tabernacle and the Holy Place.
31 “Take the ram used in the ordination ceremony, and boil its meat in a sacred place.
32 Then Aaron and his sons will eat this meat, along with the bread in the basket, at the Tabernacle entrance.
33 They alone may eat the meat and bread used for their purification in the ordination ceremony. No one else may eat them, for these things are set apart and holy.
34 If any of the ordination meat or bread remains until the morning, it must be burned. It may not be eaten, for it is holy.
35 “This is how you will ordain Aaron and his sons to their offices, just as I have commanded you. The ordination ceremony will go on for seven days.
36 Each day you must sacrifice a young bull as a sin offering to purify them, making them right with the LORD . Afterward, cleanse the altar by purifying it ; make it holy by anointing it with oil.
37 Purify the altar, and consecrate it every day for seven days. After that, the altar will be absolutely holy, and whatever touches it will become holy.
38 “These are the sacrifices you are to offer regularly on the altar. Each day, offer two lambs that are a year old,
39 one in the morning and the other in the evening.
40 With one of them, offer two quarts of choice flour mixed with one quart of pure oil of pressed olives; also, offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering.
41 Offer the other lamb in the evening, along with the same offerings of flour and wine as in the morning. It will be a pleasing aroma, a special gift presented to the LORD .
42 “These burnt offerings are to be made each day from generation to generation. Offer them in the LORD ’s presence at the Tabernacle entrance; there I will meet with you and speak with you.
43 I will meet the people of Israel there, in the place made holy by my glorious presence.
44 Yes, I will consecrate the Tabernacle and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests.
45 Then I will live among the people of Israel and be their God,
46 and they will know that I am the LORD their God. I am the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could live 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 5

  • [a]. Hebrew Tent of Meeting; also in 29:10, 11, 30, 32, 42, 44 .
  • [b]. Or their atonement.
  • [c]. Or to make atonement.
  • [d]. Or by making atonement for it; similarly in 29:37 .
  • [e]. Hebrew [of an ephah] [2.2 liters] of choice flour . . . of a hin [1 liter] of pure oil . . . of a hin of wine.

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.

Exodus 29 Commentaries

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.