The Consecration of the Priests
1 “This is the thing that you shall do to them to make them holy, to minister to me in the priest’s office: take one young bull and two rams without defect, 2 unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour. 3 You shall put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams. 4 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water. 5 You shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and clothe him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod. 6 You shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him. 8 You shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them. 9 You shall clothe them with belts, Aaron and his sons, and bind headbands on them. They shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. You shall consecrate Aaron and his sons. 10 “You shall bring the bull before the Tent of Meeting; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 You shall kill the bull before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 12 You shall take of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. 13 You shall take all the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the meat of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside of the camp. It is a sin offering. 15 “You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 16 You shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood, and sprinkle it around on the altar. 17 You shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its innards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head. 18 You shall burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt offering to Yahweh; it is a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 19 “You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay 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, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot; and sprinkle the blood around on the altar. 21 You shall take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be made holy, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him.
Priests are washed, dressed, and marked with blood on the ear, the thumb and the toe before they may serve.
“This is the thing that you shall do to them to make them holy, to minister to me in the priest’s office: take one young bull and two rams without defect,
The garments have been specified; now the men are prepared to wear them, and the order of the ceremony is the order of the whole book's logic.
You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water.
Washing first, and it is done to them. A man cannot install himself in this office, and the first act performed on the candidates is a cleaning they receive passively.
Then the clothing Exodus 29:5–6, then the anointing: take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head Exodus 29:7. Poured, not dabbed. The verb elsewhere describes a quantity running down onto the beard and the collar Psalms 133:2.
10 “You shall bring the bull before the Tent of Meeting; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. 11 You shall kill the bull before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
The gesture is the heart of the sacrificial system and it appears here for the first time in the book. Hands are pressed on the animal's head, and then the animal dies. Nothing is said about transfer, and nothing needs to be; the sequence says it. What follows makes it plainer still — the carcass is burned outside of the camp. It is a sin offering Exodus 29:14, which is where the letter to the Hebrews locates a crucifixion outside a city gate Hebrews 13:11–12.
Three animals, three offerings, and each says something different. The bull is for sin and is disposed of outside. The first ram is a burnt offering, the whole ram on the altar Exodus 29:18, entirely consumed — nothing kept back. The second is the ram of consecration, and it is the strangest of the three.
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, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot; and sprinkle the blood around on the altar.
Ear, thumb, toe. What a man hears, what he does, where he goes. The three points are chosen as a summary of a working life, and each is touched with blood before he is permitted to serve. The consecration is not of the office but of the faculties, and it is applied to the parts of a person most likely to be spent on something else.
You shall take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be made holy, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him.
Blood and oil together, on the men and on the clothing. Nothing in the arrangement is left ordinary, down to the fabric, and the sanctification runs outward from the person to what he wears rather than the reverse.
settled What this mark means