“Take the other ram: Aharon and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head; and you are to slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the lobes of his sons’ right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Take the rest of the blood and splash it on all sides of the altar.”-Exodus 29:19-29
Following the initial “Sacrifice of Consecration” which consisted of sacrificing a bullock and a ram to consecrate the altar, a second ram is sacrificed in the same manner.
But this time there is a distinct difference.
Some of the blood is dabbed onto the right earlobes and right big toes of Aaron and his sons.
Why is this?
Recall what we’ve learned about the directions right and left.
“Right” corresponds to the direction “East” and East is the most holy and important of the four map directions.
If you want to understand more about this, click here.
After the the right ears and right big toes of Aaron and his sons are dabbed with blood, this blood is then sprinkled on the priests and their clothing.
THE WAVE OFFERING.
What happens next is called a Wave Offering.
Some of the fat of this second Ram and some unleavened bread is given to the priests.
They hold these items over their shoulders and heads and move them back and forth in a waving motion.
Hence, the title “wave offering”.
Next, they take the fat and unleavened bread, place it on the brazen altar where it is burned up.
Keep in mind that the bread used in the rituals MUST BE UNLEAVENED because leaven or yeast is symbolic of sin.
MOSES DOES HIS OWN WAVE OFFERING
Finally, Moses takes the breast of the ram and offers it as a wave offering.
Afterwards, a little feast his held at the entrance to the Sanctuary.
Moses eats the ram’s breast that he just did the wave offering with and Aaron and his sons boil up the remaining portion of the ram for their food.
Most of the elements of this consecration ceremony are repeated over a period of 7 days.
Why a period of 7 days?
Because in the Bible, the number 7 is considered to be the number of completion.
This was established at the Creation itself when God completed the work of creating the heavens and the earth over a period of 6 days and then rested on the 7th day, this rest signifying a perfect completion.
There is actually a too-awesome-for-words connection between the Creation story and the establishment of Israel that will become clearer as we move forward.
From verse 38 of Exodus chapter 29, we’re given a general outline of the sacrifices that are to be offered up on a daily basis.
However, we’re not going to examine them now.
Once we get into the Book of Leviticus, we will take the time to study each type of offering and its significance in detail.
And trust me, contrary to popular assumption, this study will be anything but boring or trivial.
If you really want to understand the nature of sin and sacrifice and what Yeshua accomplished for us, Leviticus is the book to go to.
Let’s wrap up by taking a look at the final statement from the Lord in this chapter:
“Then I will live with the people of Isra’el and be their God: they will know that I am Adonai their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt in order to live with them. I am Adonai their God.”-Exodus 29:45-46
The chapter ends with God reminding Israel WHO HE IS and WHO HIS PEOPLE ARE.
The Lord also makes it clear that now that the tabernacle and priesthood has been consecrated, He is finally able to do what He so desires to do, which is to dwell with His People.
The Lord wants to dwell with us!
However, before He can do that that, we must be consecrated, we must be made HOLY!
The spiritual takeaway here is awesome.
According to the cliché, we can certainly come to the Lord as we are.
But this is only half true.
While we can come to the Lord as we are, we certainly CANNOT serve or fellowship with Him as we are.
We must be made Holy.
Look at all of the ritual procedures that needed to be done with Aaron and his sons BEFORE they would be ready to serve the Lord.
If there is any one singular point that is made abundantly clear throughout the Scriptures, it is that there is a huge, impassable gulf separating God and man.
God by His very nature is Pure, Holy and Undefiled.
Man by his nature is NOT.
In order for this gap to be bridged, man must be made holy.
However, he cannot do it by his own power or by his own works.
God Himself must come down and in His Mercy make us Holy.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“But now he has reconciled you by Messiah’s physical body
through death to present you holy in his sight,
without blemish and free from accusation.”
-Colossians 1:22
“Now may the God of peace
make you holy in every way,
and may your whole spirit and soul
and body be kept blameless
until our Lord Yeshua the Messiah comes again.”
-1 Thessalonians
“And by that will,
we have been made holy
through the sacrifice
of the body of Messiah once for all.”
-Hebrews 10:10
NEXT TIME WE WILL BEGIN EXODUS CHAPTER 30
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