Leviticus 8 - Consecration

 Leviticus 8:14-32 BBE  And he took the ox of the sin-offering: and Aaron and his sons put their hands on the head of the ox,  15  And he put it to death; and Moses took the blood and put it on the horns of the altar and round it with his finger, and made the altar clean, draining out the blood at the base of the altar; so he made it holy, taking away what was unclean.  16  And he took all the fat on the inside parts, and the fat on the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, to be burned on the altar;  17  But the ox, with its skin and its flesh and its waste, was burned with fire outside the tent-circle, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.  18  And he put the male sheep of the burned offering before the Lord, and Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head,  19  And he put it to death; and Moses put some of the blood on and round the altar.  20  And when the sheep had been cut into parts, the head and the parts and the fat were burned by Moses.  21  And the inside parts and the legs were washed with water and all the sheep was burned by Moses on the altar; it was a burned offering for a sweet smell: it was an offering made by fire to the Lord, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.  22  And he put the other sheep before the Lord, the sheep with which they were made priests; and Aaron and his sons put their hands on the head of the sheep,  23  And he put it to death; and Moses took some of the blood and put it on the point of Aaron’s right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the great toe of his right foot.  24  Then he took Aaron’s sons, and Moses put some of the blood on the point of their right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet: and Moses put the blood on and round the altar.  25  And he took the fat, and the fat tail, and the fat on the inside parts, and the fat on the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and the right leg;  26  And out of the basket of unleavened bread which was before the Lord he took one unleavened cake, and one cake of bread with oil on it, and one thin cake, and put them on the fat and on the right leg:  27  And he put them all on the hands of Aaron and on the hands of his sons, waving them for a wave offering before the Lord.  28  And Moses took them from their hands, and they were burned on the altar on the burned offering, as a priest’s offering for a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.  29  And Moses took the breast, waving it for a wave offering before the Lord; it was Moses’ part of the sheep of the priest’s offering, as the Lord gave orders to Moses.  30  And Moses took some of the holy oil and of the blood which was on the altar and put it on Aaron and on his robes, and on his sons and on his sons’ robes; and made Aaron holy, and his robes and his sons and his sons’ robes with him.  31  And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, The flesh is to be cooked in water at the door of the Tent of meeting, and there you are to take it as food, together with the bread in the basket, as I have given orders, saying, It is the food of Aaron and his sons.  32  And that which remains of the flesh and of the bread is to be burned with fire.

Exodus 29:10-34 MKJV  And you shall cause a bull to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bull.  11  And you shall kill the bull before Jehovah, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  12  And you shall take some of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.  13  And you shall take all the fat that covers the inward parts, and the lobe on the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat on them, and burn them upon the altar.  14  But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.  15  And you shall also take one ram. And Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.  16  And you shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle all round upon the altar.  17  And you shall cut the ram in pieces, and you shall wash its inward parts and its legs, and put them with its pieces and with its head.  18  And you shall burn the whole ram upon the altar. It is a burnt offering to Jehovah. It is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Jehovah.  19  And you shall take the other ram. And Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.  20  Then you shall kill the ram, and take of its blood, and put it upon the tip of the ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar all around.  21  And you shall take some of the blood 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 hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him.  22  Also you shall take from the ram the fat and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the inward parts, and the lobe on the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat on them, and the right shoulder, for it is a ram of consecration;  23  and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before Jehovah.  24  And you shall put all in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and shall wave them for a wave offering before Jehovah.  25  And you shall take them from their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savor before Jehovah. It is an offering made by fire to Jehovah.  26  And you shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration and wave it for a wave offering before Jehovah. And it shall be your portion.  27  And you shall sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is lifted from the ram of the consecration, from what is Aaron’s, and from what is for his sons.  28  And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ by a statute forever from the sons of Israel. For it is a heave offering. And it shall be a heave offering from the sons of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their heave offering to Jehovah.  29  And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons’ after him, to be anointed in them and consecrated in them.  30  The one of his sons that is priest in his place shall put them on seven days, when he comes into the tabernacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place.  31  And you shall take the ram of the consecration, and boil its flesh in the holy place.  32  And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  33  And they shall eat those things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them. But a stranger shall not eat because they are holy.  34  And if any of the flesh of the consecrations, or of the bread, remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

To consecrate the priests these sacrifices had to be made:
* The Sin Offering
* The Burned Offering
* The Peace Offering consisting of a “Ram of Consecration” and the
* Sacrificial Meal Offering

“The victim for the sin offering is the costliest ever employed: a bullock, as ordered for the sin of the anointed priest. But the blood is not brought into the Holy Place, as in the ritual for the offering for the high priest, because Aaron is not yet fully inducted into his office. Nor do Aaron and his sons eat of the flesh of the sin offering, as ordered in the case of other sin offerings whose blood is not brought within the Holy Place; obviously, because of the principle which rules throughout the law, that he for whose sin the sin offering is offered, must not himself eat of the flesh; it is therefore burnt with fire, without the camp, that it may not see corruption. By this sin offering, not only Aaron and his son were cleansed, but we read that hereby atonement was also made ‘for the altar’… Hebrews 9:23, where it is expressly said that even as the tabernacle and the things in it were cleansed with the blood of the bullock, so was necessary that, not merely man, but ‘the heavenly things themselves,’ of which the tabernacle and its belongings were the ‘copies,’ should be cleansed with better sacrifices than these, even the offering of Christ’s own blood.” – Expositor’s Bible Commentary

“The offering described here differed from the rest of the peace-offerings, first of all, in the ceremony performed with the blood (Leviticus 8:23-24, cf. Exodus 29:20-21). Before sprinkling the blood upon the altar, Moses put some of it upon the tip of the right ear, upon the right thumb, and upon the great toe of the right foot of Aaron and his sons. Thus he touched the extreme points, which represented the whole, of the ear, hand, and foot on the right, or more important and principal side: the ear, because the priest was always to hearken to the word and commandment of God; the hand, because he was to discharge the priestly functions properly; and the foot, because he was to walk correctly in the sanctuary… The ceremony performed with the flesh of this sacrifice was also peculiarly significant (Leviticus 8:25-29). Moses took the fat portions, which were separated from the flesh in the case of the ordinary peace-offerings and burned upon the altar, and the right leg, which was usually assigned to the officiating priest, and then laid by the pieces of flesh (or upon them) another cake of each of the three kinds of pastry, which fell to the portion of the priest in other cases, as a heave-offering for Jehovah, and put all this into the hands of Aaron and his sons, and waved it as a wave-offering for Jehovah, after which he took it from their hands and burned it upon the altar, ‘as a filling (מִלֻּאִים) for a savour of satisfaction, as a firing for Jehovah.’ These last words, which are attached to the preceding without a conjunction, and, as the הֵם and הוּא show, form independent clauses (lit., ‘filling are they…a firing is it for Jehovah’), contain the reason for this unusual proceeding, so that Luther’s explanation is quite correct, ‘for it is a fill-offering,’ etc. The ceremony of handing the portions mentioned to Aaron and his sons denoted the filling of their hands with the sacrificial gifts, which they were afterwards to offer to the Lord in the case of the peace-offerings, viz., the fat portions as a firing upon the altar, the right leg along with the bread-cake as a wave-offering, which the Lord then relinquished to them as His own servants. The filling of their hands with these sacrificial gifts, from which the offering received the name of fill-offering, signified on the one hand the communication of the right belonging to the priest to offer the fat portions to the Lord upon the altar, and on the other hand the enfeoffment of the priests with gifts, which they were to receive in future for their service. This symbolical signification of the act in question serves to explain the circumstance, that both the fat portions, which were to be burned upon the altar, and also the right leg with the bread-cakes which formed the priests’ share of the peace-offerings, were merely placed in the priests’s hands in this instance, and presented symbolically to the Lord by waving, and then burned by Moses upon the altar. For Aaron and his sons were not only to be enfeoffed with what they were to burn unto the Lord, but also with what they would receive for their service. And as even the latter was a prerogative bestowed upon them by the Lord, it was right that at their consecration they should offer it symbolically to the Lord by waving, and actually by burning upon the altar. But as the right leg was devoted to another purpose in this case, Moses received the breast-piece, which was presented to the Lord by waving (Leviticus 8:29), and which afterwards fell to the lot of the priests, as his portion for the sacrificial meal, which formed the conclusion of this dedicatory offering, as it did of all the peace-offerings. In Exodus 29:27-28, we also find the command, that the wave-breast of the ram of the fill-offering, and the heave-leg which had been lifted off, should afterwards belong to Aaron and his sons on the part of the children of Israel, as a perpetual statute, i.e., as a law for all time; and the following reason is assigned: ‘for it is a heave-offering (terumah, a lifting off), and shall be a heave-offering on the part of the children of Israel of their peace-offerings, their heave-offering for Jehovah,’ i.e., which they were to give to the Lord from their peace-offerings for the good of His servants. The application of the word terumah to both kinds of offering, the wave-breast and the heave-shoulder, may be explained on the simple ground, that the gift to be waved had to be lifted off from the sacrificial animal before the waving could be performed. For the sacrificial meal, the priests were to boil the flesh in front of the door of the tabernacle, or, according to Exodus 29:31, “at the holy place,” i.e., in the court, and eat it with the bread in the fill-offering basket; and no stranger (i.e., layman or non-priest) was to take part in the meal, because the flesh and bread were holy (Exodus 29:33), that is to say, had served to make atonement for the priests, to fill their hands and sanctify them.” – Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, was consecrated by the sacrifice of Himself.

The first was the Sin Offering. The priests here had to have a sacrifice made on their behalf that they may enter into their office atoned for, cleansed and sins forgiven, guilt removed. They lead others to God and should compassionately offer sacrifices, for those who bring them, as they remember they had had sacrifices offered for them. We should have compassion towards sinners as they come to Jesus because we also came to Jesus the same way. We also were sinners and we also humbled ourselves, repented and asked Him to be Lord of our life. We are no better than they are and they are no worse than we were. Why do we have such a lack of compassion and grace towards sinners when such were we? We should be gently leading them to Jesus, not beating them and herding them with a stick. For those sinners who are recalcitrant and unrepentant, we must show them the Way and then stand back and pray. We cannot force them. The Holy Spirit refuses to force them and we are NOT the Holy Spirit. We are to point to Christ and be a witness of His Love and Grace. Beyond that, it is the work of the Holy Ghost.

“So also we read in Colossians 1:20, before cited, that through Christ, even through the blood of His cross, not merely persons, ‘but all things, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens,’ should be reconciled unto God… Not merely the sinning man must be cleansed with blood before he can be made a priest unto God, but even nature, ‘made subject to vanity,’ (Romans 8:20) for man’s sin, needs the reconciling blood before redeemed man can exercise his priesthood unto God in the heavenly places.” – Expositor’s Bible Commentary

With the Burned Offering they offer a gift of praise for the great honor of being called to the priesthood and they devoted themselves to the honor of God, full consecration, ordination, set apart for God’s uses.

Next the Peace Offering with the Ram of Consecration or “the ram of fillings”. Parts of the ram, and of the Meal Offering, were placed by Moses on the hands of Aaron and his sons (“filling” their hands), waved as a wave offering to the Lord and afterwards burnt wholly on the altar. The Priests should have their hands filled with a gift for God in token of their relationship with Him and the reconciliation and peace between themselves and God.

This reminds me of a birthday party for a dear friend or beloved family member. You go bearing a gift for the honored and you participate in joyous fellowship and a meal together (even if it’s just birthday cake and coffee)! You and the honored celebrate together. If you had a bad relationship with the honored, you wouldn’t be invited; you wouldn’t buy a gift; and, you wouldn’t go to the party. But because you have a good relationship with the honored, you are invited because they want you there. In response, you lovingly purchase a gift and give it to the honored as a token of your love and appreciation for them. You attend the party and present the gift. You participate in the fellowship of friendship or kinship. Then you eat together in a loving manner with smiles and bon homie. It’s a joyous time, a fun time, a time you enjoy and would do again. God has invited us to His banqueting table. He has opened the door and invited us in through Jesus Christ. We are at peace with God and are reconciled to Him through Jesus. We now have a love relationship with God and we are invited as though we were family. We are beloved children of God now. We come to Him with our hands filled with praise, worship, as a gift for our God in Whom we delight!

Something different about this sacrifice was the blood of the consecration ram was put upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot. The same done to his sons. It signified the consecration of the whole body. The ear to hear the Lord God; the thumb to be ready to do His Work and the toe to walk in uprightness and to go where God says to go. Another difference was the thigh of the ram was waved before the Lord, where, afterwards it was the breast as commanded for peace offerings. The breast, after it was waved (or heaved) to the Lord, was given as Moses’ portion as the officiating priest for the initial consecration. Normally the thigh was waved and then given to the officiating priest to be eaten. The priests here were the bringers of the offering and thus the thigh was burnt upon the altar as in the case of the sin offerings as “food of Jehovah”. The rest of the flesh was to be eaten by the priests in communion with God!

“Their ‘sin’, ‘burnt’ and ‘peace’ offerings symbolised death to sin, fulness of consecration, acceptance with God. Every act in connection with sacrifices was calculated to prepare the priests for their holy work, to beget reverence in the people towards them.” – The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary

“As Jehovah chose the family of Aaron out of the tribe of Levi, the Levites out of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the Hebrews out of all the nations, so has He chosen His spiritual seed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Without such election they would have remained, like the rest of mankind, strangers to the covenant, instead of becoming ‘a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices.’ The New Testament writers make this Divine election very prominent, declaring that those who, by receiving Christ became sons of God, were ‘born not of the will of man, but of God’ (John 1:13), were ‘called to be saints’ (Romans 1:17), were ‘chosen before the foundation of the world that they should be holy’ (Ephesians 1:4, were ‘predestinated to the adoption of children’ (Ephesians 1:5), were ‘elect unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 1:2). The priesthood were ELECTED TO HOLINESS. The whole people, as a kingdom of priests, were to be a holy nation; but the family of Aaron were chosen to a still higher ceremonial purity than was required of their brethren.” – The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary

“In these types we see our great High Priest, even Christ Jesus, solemnly appointed, anointed, and invested with his sacred office, by his own blood, and the influences of his Holy Spirit. He sanctifies the ordinances of religion, to the benefit of his people and the honour of God the Father; who for his sake accepts our worship, though it is polluted with sin. We may also rejoice, that he is a merciful and faithful High Priest, full of compassion to the feeble-minded and tempest-tossed soul. All true Christians are consecrated to be spiritual priests.” – Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary