That I Might Dwell Among Them
22 Also you shall take some of the ram’s fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration), 23 and one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before Yahweh. 24 You shall put all of this in Aaron’s hands, and in his sons’ hands, and shall wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh. 25 You shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar on the burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma before Yahweh: it is an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 26 “You shall take the breast of Aaron’s ram of consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before Yahweh. It shall be your portion. 27 You shall sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the wave offering, which is waved, and which is raised up, of the ram of consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons. 28 It shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the children of Israel; for it is a wave offering. It shall be a wave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their wave offering to Yahweh. 29 “The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them. 30 Seven days shall the son who is priest in his place put them on, when he comes into the Tent of Meeting to minister in the holy place. 31 “You shall take the ram of consecration and boil its meat in a holy place. 32 Aaron and his sons shall eat the meat of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 33 They shall eat those things with which atonement was made, to consecrate and sanctify them; but a stranger shall not eat of it, because they are holy. 34 If anything of the meat of the consecration, or of the bread, remains to the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy. 35 “You shall do so to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. You shall consecrate them seven days. 36 Every day you shall offer the bull of sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it. 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 shall be holy. 38 “Now this is that which you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually. 39 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning; and the other lamb you shall offer at evening; 40 and with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 The other lamb you shall offer at evening, and shall do to it according to the meal offering of the morning and according to its drink offering, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 42 It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tent of Meeting before Yahweh, where I will meet with you, to speak there to you. 43 There I will meet with the children of Israel; and the place shall be sanctified by my glory. 44 I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar. I will also sanctify Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest’s office. 45 I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46 They shall know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am Yahweh their God.
A lamb is offered every morning and every evening without a break, and the purpose of the whole structure is stated in the last two verses.
You shall consecrate them seven days Exodus 29:35.
A full week of the same ceremony, repeated daily, with a sin offering every one of the seven days Exodus 29:36. Nothing about the installation is treated as a single event that takes. The altar itself is included: seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and the altar shall be most holy Exodus 29:37. Even the furniture requires cleansing before it can be used for cleansing.
38 “Now this is that which you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually. 39 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning; and the other lamb you shall offer at evening;
The daily offering, and it is the pulse of the sanctuary. Two lambs a day, with flour, oil and wine, every day, for as long as Israel had an altar — a rhythm that framed each day at both ends and was never once meant to stop. It is a continual burnt offering throughout your generations Exodus 29:42.
What this establishes is that the sanctuary was not a place people visited when something went wrong. Its central act happened at dawn and dusk whether or not anyone had sinned that day, whether or not anyone was watching, and it framed the ordinary hours of a nation who mostly never saw it. The Passover was annual and the Day of Atonement was annual; this was twice daily, and it was the largest standing expense in Israel's religious life.
The stated location of the meeting is the same altar: at the door of the Tent of Meeting before Yahweh, where I will meet with you, to speak there to you Exodus 29:42. Not the ark alone, which is where God said he would speak to Moses Exodus 25:22, but the outer altar, which is where the nation could stand.
There I will meet with the children of Israel; and the place shall be sanctified by my glory.
The order in that sentence should not be reversed. The place is not made holy by construction, by materials, or by the seven days of ritual; it is sanctified by his glory, and everything else has been preparation for its arrival.
45 I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46 They shall know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am Yahweh their God.
The closing sentence names the purpose of the exodus itself, and the clause order is the whole argument of the book. He brought them out of Egypt so that he might live among them. Deliverance was never the goal; it was what had to happen first. The plagues, the sea, the mountain and the sixteen chapters of specification all stand between a nation in slavery and a God who intended, from the beginning, to move in next door.
settled What this mark means