Exodus 29:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is the law about consecrating Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. It was done with great ceremony and seriousness, so they would feel the weight of their calling. The people also were meant to see how great the priest’s office was, and no one would dare take it for himself.

The ceremonies were described in full because nothing like this had been done before. It was also meant to become a lasting rule for the high priest’s installation. The work was to consecrate the men God had chosen as priests, which means setting them apart for his service and showing that he accepted them. The people were to know that these men did not honor themselves by taking the office, but were called by God (Hebrews 5:4-5).

This setting apart made them different from ordinary men. They were no longer to live for common tasks, but for God and his immediate service. That is a reminder that everyone who serves God must first be made holy for him. The person must be accepted before the work can be accepted.

The Hebrew phrase for consecration means “filling the hand” (Exodus 29:9). The ram used in this ceremony is even called the “ram of fillings” (Exodus 29:22, 26). This likely comes from putting the sacrifice into their hands to present before the Lord (Exodus 29:24). It suggests two things. Ministers have their hands full, because their work is great, constant, and demanding. It also means their hands must be filled by God, since they cannot provide what they need from themselves.

Moses was the one appointed to do this, by God’s command. Even though Moses was serving others, the people were not to consecrate him. As the Lord’s servant and messenger, he carried out this special work. Because of that, he even performed the priest’s role in part of the sacrifice (Exodus 29:26).

The ceremony took place at the door of the tabernacle, the meeting place where God dwelled among his people (Exodus 29:4). That was the best place for those who would stand between God and man. They were being set apart at the entrance, because they were to serve as those who guarded and ministered at God’s house.

Several ceremonies were included. First, they were washed (Exodus 29:4), which showed that those who carry the Lord’s holy things must be clean (Isaiah 52:11). Those who want real holiness must wash away sin from both body and heart (2 Corinthians 7:1; Isaiah 1:16-18). At this first washing, they were washed all over. Later, when they entered to minister, they washed only their hands and feet (Exodus 30:19), because one who has already been washed needs only that part to be cleaned again (John 13:10).

Second, they were clothed with the holy garments (Exodus 29:5-9). This showed that it was not enough to turn away from sin. They also had to be clothed with God’s grace, and with righteousness (Psalm 132:9). They were girded, meaning prepared and strengthened for work. They were also robed and crowned, showing that they were to count their office as their true honor.

Third, the high priest was anointed with holy oil (Exodus 29:7). This showed that God would give sweet blessing and joy through his ministry, as ointment and perfume gladden the heart. It also pointed to the pouring out of the Spirit on him, so he would be fitted for his work. Brotherly love is compared to this same anointing oil (Psalm 133:2). The lower priests were also anointed (Exodus 30:30), though not on the head like the high priest (Leviticus 21:10). Their oil was mixed with the blood that was sprinkled on their garments.

Fourth, sacrifices had to be offered for them. The covenant of the priesthood, like every covenant, had to be sealed with sacrifice. First came the sin offering, to make atonement for them (Exodus 29:10-14). The law made priests who still had weakness, so they had to offer for their own sin before they could make atonement for the people (Hebrews 7:27-28). They were to lay their hand on the head of the sacrifice (Exodus 29:10), confessing that they deserved death for their own sin and asking that the death of the animal would cover their guilt as a substitute. This offering was handled like other sin offerings, except for one important difference. The flesh of other sin offerings was eaten by the priests (Leviticus 10:18), but this one was burned completely outside the camp (Exodus 29:14). That showed the weakness of the old covenant, because even the priests’ own sins could not be fully removed by those sacrifices. They still needed a better high priest and a better sacrifice.

Second came the burnt offering, a ram burned completely for God’s honor (Exodus 29:15-18). This showed that they were giving themselves entirely to God’s service, like living sacrifices, rising in the flame of holy love. The sin offering had to come first, because no acceptable service can be offered while guilt remains (Isaiah 6:7).

Third came the peace offering, called the ram of consecration, because it had a special purpose in this ceremony. In the burnt offering, God received the honor of their priesthood. In the peace offering, they received comfort from it. It showed a mutual covenant between God and them. The blood of the sacrifice was divided between God and them (Exodus 29:20-21). Part of it was sprinkled around the altar, and part was put on them, on their bodies and on their garments (Exodus 29:20-21). This showed that the benefit of the sacrifice was applied to them and assured to them, and that their whole selves were set apart for God’s service.

The blood was placed on the farthest parts of the body, showing that the whole person belonged to God, even the tip of the ear and the great toe. We might think blood and oil would stain clothing, but here they were the greatest honor the garments could receive. They pointed to the blood of Christ and the grace of the Spirit, which make up the beauty of holiness and make us pleasing to God. Scripture even speaks of robes made white by the blood of the Lamb.

The flesh of the sacrifice, together with the grain offering attached to it, was also divided between God and the priests. In this way, to speak with reverence, God and they were to share a meal together as a sign of friendship and fellowship. Part of it was first waved before the Lord and then burned on the altar, both the flesh and the bread, since bread and flesh were to go together (Exodus 29:22-25). Aaron first held these offerings in his hands and waved them before God, showing that they were presented to him, who, though unseen, still surrounds us on every side. Then they were burned on the altar, because the altar was to consume God’s portion of the sacrifice.

In this way, God admitted Aaron and his sons to serve him and wait at his table, as if he were giving them the food from his altar. The law about the priests’ share in later peace offerings, the breast and the shoulder, is added here almost as a side note. Moses received the breast, and the shoulder was burned on the altar with God’s portion (Exodus 29:26-28). The other part, both the ram’s flesh and the bread, Aaron and his sons were to eat at the entrance of the tabernacle (Exodus 29:31-33). This showed that God called them not only servants, but friends (John 15:15). He ate with them, and they with him.

Their eating of the things through which atonement was made showed that they were receiving the atonement, that is, accepting the benefit of it with thankfulness (Romans 5:11). It also showed their joyful fellowship with God, which was the true meaning of a feast on a sacrifice. If any of it was left over, it had to be burned, so it would not spoil and to show that this was an unusual peace offering. The whole ceremony taught that God was bringing these priests near to himself in peace.

The time set for this consecration was seven days: “You shall consecrate them for seven days” (Exodus 29:35). Even though all the rites were performed on the first day, the priests were not to think their setting apart was finished until the seven days were complete. This gave the act greater solemnity, marked a clear break from their former life, and made them pause before beginning their work. It gave them time to think carefully about the seriousness of their office. This was also to be kept in later times, since the man who would succeed Aaron as high priest had to wear the holy garments for seven days in a row, showing a slow and deliberate entrance into office, with one Sabbath passing over him during his consecration.

Each of those seven days, during this first consecration, a bull was to be offered as a sin offering (Exodus 29:36). This was meant to teach them two things. First, they needed deeply to seek the forgiveness of their sins, and though atonement was made and they could take comfort in it, they still had to keep a humble sense of sin and often confess it. Second, these repeated sacrifices could never make the worshipers fully perfect, because if they could, the offerings would have stopped, as the apostle says (Hebrews 10:1-2). So they were to look ahead with hope to something better.

This consecration of the priests was also a picture of better things to come. Our Lord Jesus is the great high priest of our faith, called by God to that office, and set apart forever. He was anointed with the Spirit above all others, which is why he is called the Messiah, or the Christ. He was clothed with holy garments, with glory and beauty, and sanctified by his own blood, not the blood of bulls and rams (Hebrews 9:12). He was made perfect, that is, fully fitted and consecrated for his work, through suffering (Hebrews 2:10). In him, this becomes a lasting statute (Exodus 29:9).

All believers are also spiritual priests, called to offer spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5). They are washed in the blood of Christ and made priests to God (Revelation 1:5-6). They, too, are clothed with the beauty of holiness and have received the anointing of the Spirit (1 John 2:27). Their hands are filled with work, and they must keep at it continually. It is through Christ, the great sacrifice, that they are set apart for this service. His blood, when sprinkled on the conscience, cleanses it from dead works so that they may serve the living God as priests. The 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 truly applied to our souls, just as Moses was to put the blood on Aaron with his finger.

This also shows that gospel ministers are to be set apart for ministry with great care and seriousness, both by those who ordain them and by those who are ordained. They are called to a great work and entrusted with a heavy responsibility.

The consecration of the altar seems to have happened at the same time as the consecration of the priests. The sin offerings offered each day for seven days had to do with the altar as well as the priests (Exodus 29:36-37). An atonement was made for the altar. Even though the altar could not sin, and had never yet been used so as to be polluted by human sin, still, since the fall, nothing can be made holy for God unless there is first atonement for sin. Sin leaves us unfit and unworthy to be used in God’s service. The altar was also sanctified, meaning it was set apart for holy use and made so holy that it could sanctify the gifts offered on it (Matthew 23:19). Christ is our altar. For our sake, he sanctified himself, so that we and our service might be made holy and acceptable to God (John 17:19).