Exodus 29

"The Consecration of the Priests"

Last week we saw how God established his covenant,

and then how Israel responded with covenant worship.

The rest of the book of Exodus is all about the worship of Israel.

Chapters 25-31 record God's directions to Moses as to how to build the tabernacle.

Chapters 32-34 record the idolatry of Israel and the renewal of the covenant.

And chapters 35-40 record how Israel built the tabernacle according to God's directions.

The first half of Exodus is about how God redeemed his people from Egypt.

The second half is about how God established their worship.

It would be fascinating to work through the whole of the second half of Exodus in detail,

but for now I would like to focus on just a few things.

We saw in chapter 19 that God had called Israel to be a kingdom of priests,

but here in chapter 29 God is establishing a separate priesthood.

What is going on?

Why does God establish the house of Aaron as a priesthood separate from the rest of Israel?

As we saw last week, Israel is a sinful people,

and a sinful people may not enter the presence of a holy God.

God wishes to teach his people that only one who is holy-one who is sanctified-

may enter his presence.

Therefore in 28:3 God says:

The very garments that he wears will sanctify Aaron (they will set him apart),

so that he can represent Israel in the tabernacle.

The High Priests' garments 28:4-39

The ephod 28:9-12

The breastplate 28:15, 21, 29-30

The plate on the turban 28:36-38

The priestly garments 28:40-43

Why does God go into such detail?

Because God cares what you wear in his presence!

The outward is a sign of the inward.

Exodus 28 makes this very clear (v30)

God was training his people to understand that entering his presence

is very serious business.

Israel, the son of God, could not just dash into the Holy of Holies.

No, the high priest himself would come with bells on (v35)-

so that God could hear him coming!

We who are priests in Christ must wear the sanctified clothing of Christ.

For he is the holy priest who entered the presence of God for us!

But how did one become a priest.

In Israel you were born into a priestly family.

But only those males who were free from defect could serve as priests (Lev 21-22)

But as long as a descendent of Aaron was a child he could not serve as a priest.

The ritual for the consecration of Aaron and his sons is given in Exodus 29

(The actual consecration is described in Lev 8).

FIRST, Aaron and his sons were washed with water (v4).

Then they were clad in their priestly garments (v5-9)

and anointed with oil.

Then a bull would be sacrificed as a sin offering for Aaron and his sons (10-14)

They would place their hands on the head of the bull,

signifying the transference of their sins to the bull.

Now the bull would die so that they might live.

The blood of the bull was put on the horns of the altar,

consecrating the altar (since even the dust of the ground is cursed)

But now that the curse of God has come upon the bull,

it may not be burned on the altar-for it is unholy.

It must be taken outside the camp and burned there.

Then a ram would be sacrificed as a burnt offering, consumed by God (15-18)

Aaron and his sons now placed their hands on the head of the ram,

again signifying the transference of life and death.

The sin offering, by being taken outside the camp, removes sin from the camp,

The burnt offering, however, is offered on the altar,

because now that sin has been removed,

we can offer a pleasing sacrifice to God-a sweet aroma to his nostrils.

Then a second ram would be sacrificed as a wave and heave offering (19-28)

Once again Aaron and his sons place their hands on the heads of the second ram,

signifying the transference of life and death.

The blood was put on the right ear, the right thumb and the right big toe,

and then sprinkled on the altar.

Then the blood on the altar was mixed with the anointing oil

and sprinkled on Aaron and his sons,

"And he and his garments shall be hallowed" (v21)

Why is the blood of the third animal used?

Sin is removed.

God is satisfied.

ONLY NOW are we ready to speak of the consecration of the priest.

Then the fat of the ram and a loaf of bread are waved before the LORD,

and then burnt on the altar as a burnt offering

-a sweet aroma before the LORD (again God eats first).

Then the breast of the ram is also waved before the LORD,

but the breast is eaten by the priests-it is a peace offering.

Having had his sins removed, and now that God is satisfied,

he may eat in the presence of God.

V32 says that they must eat the flesh of the ram and the bread from the tabernacle

As a part of their consecration.

This was to be done each day for seven days (v35).

Only on the eighth day could the priest begin his service (Lev 9)

Every time a new priest was consecrated, they were to follow this ritual.

For the priesthood of Aaron,

this was a central event.

But for the rest of Israel,

this was also important.

Because so long as the Aaronic priesthood continued intact,

they had the confidence that their sins were being dealt with.

Leviticus 9 describes then the beginning of the regular ministry of the priests.

Every day now, the priests would offer sacrifices morning and evening.

Every Sabbath and every new moon there would be special sacrifices offered.

Three times a year the great feasts of Israel would draw all the people to the Tabernacle.

And once a year came the great Day of Atonement,

when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies.

Leviticus 16 describes that day.

There are two portions of the NT that refer back to the consecration of the priests.

The first is in Matthew 3 and Luke 3 at the baptism of Jesus.

A priest was born to his task,

yet he had to be consecrated to his task of ministering the sacrifices.

Even so, Jesus was born to his priesthood,

yet he had to be consecrated as well.

The baptism of Jesus by the son of a priest (John) is especially fitting

for the transference of the Aaronic priesthood to the new order.

Jesus is washed with water at his baptism in the Jordan,

and then offers the sin/burnt/peace offering wrapped into one at the cross.

He did not need to offer a sin offering for himself, because he was sinless.

This is what Hebrews says in 7:23-28.

Hebrews goes on to speak of this in detail through chapters 7-10,

but I would call your attention to chapter 10.

Verses 19-22 point out that because this is true of Christ,

it is also true of us who are in Christ.

We have had our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,

and our bodies washed with pure water.

In other words,

we have been consecrated as priests.

Your baptism (water AND Spirit-cleansing power of the blood) is the fulfillment

of the priestly washings of Exodus.

If all we do is connect baptism with circumcision,

then we will miss 90% of the NT teaching concerning baptism.

We have already seen that Paul connects baptism

with the deliverance from Egypt through the Red Sea

Here we see that Hebrews connects baptism

with the consecration of the priests-and more precisely,

with the High Priest's washing and sprinkling on the Day of Atonement.

You have been consecrated,

through the washing of baptism and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ,

as a priest in the heavenly temple.

YOU have access to the Holy of Holies.

But don't start getting all individualistic on me.

Remember what Hebrews uses this to say:

v23-25.

The author recognizes that there may be some temptation for Christians to say,

"Hey if I'm a priest, and I have access to the Holy of Holies,

who needs anyone else?!"

Hebrews 10 indicates that we exercise this priesthood together.

We are a true kingdom of priests; a royal priesthood.

Which means that we live as priests in the body.

A priest does not exist for himself.

A priest exists for others.

What, after all, was a priest to do in the OT?

The Aaronic priesthood had to offer sacrifices for themselves,

but their main task was to offer sacrifices for others,

and to proclaim the blessing of God upon the people.

Jesus, our great High Priest, did not have to offer a sacrifice for himself,

he devotedly himself solely to the service of others.

We who are in Christ have no need of offering sacrifices for ourselves,

-Christ has finished that!

Rather, our priesthood, like that of Jesus, is solely for others.

Hebrews 10:23-25 summarizes nicely how we are to exercise our priesthood.

But 10:26-39 (and all of 11) expands upon this.