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Wednesday, November 15, 2017

The Priestly Ordination of Aaron and His Sons





Leviticus 8:1-35 NIV







The Ordination of Aaron and His Sons






1The LORD Said To Moses,



2“Bring Aaron and his sons, their garments, the anointing oil, the bull for the sin offering, the two rams and the basket containing bread made without yeast, 3and gather the entire assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting.” 4Moses did As The LORD Commanded him, and the assembly gathered at the entrance to the tent of meeting.



5Moses said to the assembly, 



“This Is What The LORD Has Commanded To Be Done.” 




6Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water. 7He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him. He also fastened the ephod with a decorative waistband, which he tied around him. 8He placed the breastpiece on him and put the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece. 9Then he placed the turban on Aaron’s head and set the gold plate, the sacred emblem, on the front of it, As The LORD Commanded Moses.






10Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them. 11He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them. 12He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. 13Then he brought Aaron’s sons forward, put tunics on them, tied sashes around them and fastened caps on them, As The LORD Commanded Moses.







14He then presented the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.15Moses slaughtered the bull and took some of the blood, and with his finger he put it on all the horns of the altar to purify the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. So he consecrated it to make atonement for it. 16Moses also took all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and both kidneys and their fat, and burned it on the altar. 17But the bull with its hide and its flesh and its intestines he burned up outside the camp, As The LORD Commanded Moses.



18He then presented the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.19Then Moses slaughtered the ram and splashed the blood against the sides of the altar. 20He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head, the pieces and the fat. 21He washed the internal organs and the legs with water and burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented To The LORD, As The LORD Commanded Moses.



22He then presented the other ram, the ram for the ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 23Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 24Moses also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he splashed blood against the sides of the altar. 






25After that, he took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, both kidneys and their fat and the right thigh. 26And from the basket of bread made without yeast, which was Before The LORD, he took one thick loaf, one thick loaf with olive oil mixed in, and one thin loaf, and he put these on the fat portions and on the right thigh. 27He put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and they waved them Before The LORD as a wave offering. 28Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as an ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented To The LORD. 29Moses also took the breast, which was his share of the ordination ram, and waved it Before The LORD as a wave offering, As The LORD Commanded Moses.



30Then Moses took some of the anointing oil 






and some of the blood from the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments.



31Moses then said to Aaron and his sons, “Cook the meat at the entrance to the tent of meeting and eat it there with the bread from the basket of ordination offerings, as I was commanded: ‘Aaron and his sons are to eat it.’ 32Then burn up the rest of the meat and the bread. 33Do not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for your ordination will last seven days.34What has been done today was commanded By The LORD to make atonement for you. 35You must stay at the entrance to the tent of meeting day and night for seven days and do what The LORD Requires, so you will not die; for that is what I have been commanded.”








Leviticus 8








The consecration of Aaron and his sons had been ordered long before (Exodus 29:1-46), but it is now described with all the details of the ceremonial, as it was gone through after the Tabernacle was completed and the regulations for the various sacrifices enacted.


It was manifestly expedient for the Israelites to be satisfied that Aaron's appointment to the high dignity of the priesthood was not a personal intrusion, nor a family arrangement between him and Moses; and nothing, therefore, could be a more prudent or necessary measure, for impressing a profound conviction of the Divine Origin and Authority of the priestly institution, than to summon a general assembly of the people, and in their presence perform the solemn ceremonies of inauguration, which had been prescribed by Divine Authority.



At consecration they were subjected to entire ablution, though on ordinary occasions they were required, before entering on their duties, only to wash their hands and feet. This symbolical ablution was designed to teach them the necessity of inward purity, and the imperative obligation on those who bore the vessels and conducted the services of the sanctuary to be holy.



The splendor of the official vestments, together with the gorgeous tiara of the high priest, was intended, doubtless, in the first instance, to produce in the minds of the people a high respect for the ministers of religion; and in the next, from the predominant use of linen, to inculcate upon Aaron and his sons the duty of maintaining unspotted righteousness in their characters and lives.



After the sin offering and burnt offering had been presented on their behalf, this was their peace offering, by which they declared the pleasure which they felt in entering upon the service of GOD and being brought into close communion with HIM as the ministers of His Sanctuary, together with their confident reliance on His Grace to help them in all their sacred duties.



After all these preliminaries, they had still to undergo a week's probation in the court of the Tabernacle before they obtained permission to enter into the interior of the sacred building. During the whole of that period the same sacrificial rites were observed as on the first day, and they were expressly admonished that the smallest breach of any of the appointed observances would lead to the certain forfeiture of their lives.










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