The following is Pastor Nate’s teaching transcription from Calvary Monterey’s 9/7/21 Tuesday Night Service. We apologize for any transcription inaccuracies.
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread. 3 And assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” 4 And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
Leviticus 8:1 says, “The Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Take Aaron and his sons with him and the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering, and the two Rams in the basket of unleavened bread and assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.’ And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. And the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting.”
Now up to this point, in the book of Leviticus, we’ve seen the outline of the sacrificial system, the various types of sacrifices that the people of Israel would offer. And, of course, the priests would be the one to offer the sacrifices directly to God on behalf of the people. The priests would also, in addition to offering sacrifices, pray for the people, offer blessings to the people. They would mediate between God and man. They would represent the people before God every day. They would also teach the people God’s dictates, God’s word, what is clean and unclean. And of course, they would maintain the elements of the sanctuary, whatever needed upkeeping in order to continue on, in the worship of the Lord, the priests were ultimately responsible for.
Leviticus 8
Consecration of Aaron and His Sons
But at this point, in the book of Leviticus, the tabernacle has been built. God has instructed them on each individual sacrifice. The priests and their garments have been set aside. But the priests themselves have not yet gone through their ordination ceremony. Even though in Exodus, their ordination ceremony was described, they’ve not yet gone through it here in the book of Leviticus. And so, in a solemn moment, the congregation, the Lord tells Moses, is meant to gather at the entrance of the tabernacle to watch Aaron and his sons become consecrated. The first generation of priests, for Israel, to be consecrated for the work of the Lord.
Now, as I’ve mentioned previously, both in our study of Exodus and also here in Leviticus, the ordination of the priests and the priestly ministry has a dual significance for us today as Christians. Partly because, of course, Jesus we learn in the book of Hebrews is our great high priest. He fulfills the ministry that these priests began so many thousands of years ago. In other words, he right now is ministering to us. He is the perfect sacrifice. He blesses us. He mediates between us and the father. He makes way for us to get to the father. He teaches us and instructs us where to follow the way that is the life of Jesus. And he maintains our lives so that we can continue to live in worship of him, just as those priests would maintain the tabernacle or the temple.
So Jesus, by his spirit, maintains us so that we can continue bringing glory and honor to God. But not only is Jesus our great high priest, and not only are we to see him in these elements, but we also are called to live here on Earth as a kingdom of priests before the Lord. Jesus is the great high priest. But we ourselves can learn from the Old Testament priesthood, because many of the things that they did, in very outward, obvious and if I could say it, bloody ways, we’re to do in a different kind of way. We’re to point people to the sacrifice that is Jesus. We’re to mediate between God and man. We’re to represent God to the nations that we live in. We’re to teach the world the truth of the gospel and the truth of God’s Word.
And so, we’re meant in many ways to be like these priests were in our era. And before we move on in the text, I do want to also point out to you a theme of the three chapters we’re going to look at today. It says in verse four that Moses did as the Lord commanded him. And that’s a real theme of this whole section. Twenty times Moses doing what the Lord commanded is going to be highlighted in these three brief chapters. This is emblematic of Jesus himself. The writer to the Hebrews makes this connection between Moses and Jesus when he says in Hebrews 3:1, “Therefore holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling consider Jesus the apostle and high priests of our confession who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all of God’s house.”
5 And Moses said to the congregation, “This is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done.” 6 And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. 7 And he put the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band. 8 And he placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim. 9 And he set the turban on his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.
So, Moses is living out, if you will, the Spirit of Christ by being completely allegiant and obedient to the father. That’s what Jesus is all about, total obedience to the father’s will. And so, Moses was faithful in God’s house. And according to Hebrews 3:1 and 2, so was Jesus. Now the congregation gathered together for this ordination ceremony. And it says in verse five, “And Moses said to the congregation, ‘This is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done.” And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and wash them with water and he put the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist, and clothed them with the robe and put the ephod on him inside the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band. And he placed the breast piece on him. And in the breast piece, he put the urim and the thummim. And set the turban on his head. And on the turban in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.”
So, the first thing that’s done in this ordination ceremony is that after the congregation gathers, Moses grabs Aaron and his four sons. And he washes them with water. He washes them with water. Now, in that era, people would have understood readily that the washing of water had symbolic implications. It was restoring a person, cleansing a person, washing away the soiling effect of corruption from a person’s life. And this would have reminded everybody who was there that day that look, God is holy, God is pure, God is righteous, and even his priests need to go through a process of being purified from the corruption that they’re accumulating throughout everyday life.
Now, this was an initial washing that these priests would endure that consecrated them for the work, as opposed to a repeated washing that was necessary from day to day. So, this is kind of the first big washing, which would be followed by smaller washings in the future. Very similar to our relationship to the Lord, we’re put into Christ, when we believe in him. We are washed by the Lord. But then we have to be cleansed continually, sanctified continually, because we walk through this world. Like Jesus said to his disciples on the night that he was betrayed. When he went around and he washed all of the feet of the disciples and Peter, of course, objected and said, “Lord, you will not wash my feet, you’re too good for doing something that’s so menial.” But Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”
And so Peter said, “Then Lord, wash all of me.” And Jesus said, “But you’re already clean, but it’s your feet that need to be washed.” That’s kind of the idea in our Christian lives. We are clean before Christ the moment that we believe in him. But after that regeneration occurs, we still need to be cleansed, because we’re walking through this world. And we just pick up the negative effects all around us. Now, after washing these priests, Moses then put on the garments. And not a lot of detail is given to us about the garments here in Leviticus, especially if you went through the book of Exodus with us, you’ll remember the details about these garments were given in the book of Exodus, their specifications, what they were to look like, and all of that.
But he had a coat that he would wear. Over the coat would be an ephod. On the ephod would be a breast piece that had 12 individual stones in it representing the 12 tribes of Israel. Also, on that breast piece was the urim and thummim, slightly mysterious, we’re not exactly sure what it was. But that means lights and perfections. And in some way, they were able to determine God’s will, it seems, through the usage of the urim and thummim. And then a turban on their head that had a plate on it that said, holy to the Lord.
And rather than break down each one of these individual garments, if you would like to think about that, I’d encourage you to go back into our study of Exodus chapter 28 and also chapter 39, but especially chapter 28. But here, the thing I want you to see is just the majesty of this outfit. It would just be an impressive garment or an impressive uniform that these priests would wear that would communicate both to the priest and to the worshiper, the seriousness of the office that this priest held, which would likely draw their attention to the seriousness, the holiness, of the God that they were approaching for worship in that precinct.
“Then Moses,” verse 10, “took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle, and all that was in it and consecrated them. And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand to consecrate them. And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him.” So, this next step, after washing, then clothing the priest is to anoint the priests. And when we went through the book of Exodus, we saw the description, in chapter 30, of how this anointing oil was made. It was a very special mixture. It was actually forbidden for the people of Israel to make this mixture for everyday usage.
10 Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. 11 And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils and the basin and its stand, to consecrate them. 12 And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him.
And at the beginning of their ministry, they were anointed with this special anointing oil. They’d anoint the priests, but then also here in verse 10, it says they anointed the tabernacle, the altar, the utensils, the basin, along with Aaron, the high priest, his head. Now, anointing speaks of a few different things. One thing that it speaks of is that it’s a sign of acceptance. In those times, and in that place, when a person came from a long journey or from far away and came into your home, if you anointed them with oil, it was a symbol that you were embracing them. You were accepting them.
So now here, you have God’s house and these priests are anointed for and by God, it is symbolic of God’s acceptance of them. You are accepted in my house. Additionally, the oil is also a sign of empowerment. The oil often is a symbol of the spirit throughout scripture. And here, the oil upon the priest spoke of the empowering or the enabling effect of God upon their lives. That he would enable them for the work that they were called to do. And of course, for us, we need that enabling as well.
And then additionally, it was also a sign, this oil was of consecration. All the instruments in the tabernacle were anointed. That means they were set apart for this work. Aaron was also like all the instruments that were inanimate, he also was set apart for the work. And the Spirit of God, his presence in our lives is emblematic of all of those things today. That we are accepted by God. It tells us in Ephesians chapter one that one of the evidences that we have the inheritance of Christ is that we’ve received the down payment for that inheritance from God, the Holy Spirit living within.
So, the spirit’s presence inside of us helps us understand that we are accepted by God. But we also need the enabling, the empowering, the gifting of God’s spirit as well. Paul said in I Corinthians 12:11, “That the Spirit gives gifts individually as he wills.” Did you know that he has plans for your life? He has a gift to bestow upon you to enable you to be more effective for Jesus. And the spirit is also there to help us be consecrated people whispering into our ear, choose the good, reject the evil, walk with me, do not neglect your relationship with the Lord.
13 And Moses brought Aaron’s sons and clothed them with coats and tied sashes around their waists and bound caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses. 14 Then he brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering. 15 And he killed it, and Moses took the blood, and with his finger put it on the horns of the altar around it and purified the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it. 16 And he took all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and Moses burned them on the altar. 17 But the bull and its skin and its flesh and its dung he burned up with fire outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.
He is there to consecrate us and set us apart for God. Now, after being washed and clothed and anointed, it says in verse 13, “And Moses brought Aaron’s sons and clothed them with coats and tide sashes around their waists and bound caps on them as the Lord commanded Moses. Then he brought the bull of the sin offering and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering. and he killed it. And Moses took the blood and with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar around it and purified the air and poured out the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it. And he took all the fat that was on the end trails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat and Moses burned them on the altar. But the bull and its skin and its flesh and it’s dung, he burned up with fire outside the camp as the Lord commanded Moses.”
Now up to this point in the chapter, we’ve seen the ordination of Aaron as the high priest. But here, we see the other priests who at this stage are Aaron’s sons, also installed into their priestly ministry. They weren’t high priests, but they were going to serve and operate as priests in the tabernacle area. And so, they also would be consecrated or ordained at this moment. And we’re going to learn throughout this passage that their names were named Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And one of the first things they do is they offer this bull of the sin offering. And we’ve already studied what the sin offering looks like, and the way that this offering would look.
And they did all the usual things that you would find in the sin offering, including taking everything that was left and burning it outside the camp. But it was all committed to God, this sin offering. Now, this is a great way for their ministry to begin, because a sin offering that they would give to the Lord, not on behalf of the nation, but for themselves and their own sin. I think it was designed to foster a humble priesthood. A priesthood that understood that though they had been purified and set apart for this honorable task, they were still sinners in need of the grace of God.
Jesus, of course, did not need to offer a sacrifice for himself. He offered sacrifices for us, a sacrifice for us, but did not need to offer up a sacrifice for his own sin, personally. And he’s the only one that that is true of. The rest of us need the gospel, the rest of us need the blood of Christ. Unfortunately, at times when people begin to be used by God, and this can happen in professional church ministry. It can happen in lay non-professional ministry. It can happen when someone is just used by God in their home. It can happen to a father or a mother who is in a position of leadership in their house.
It’s unfortunate, but oftentimes, as God is working and using a person’s life, they begin to forget that they also need the gospel, not just the people that they’re ministering to. But they also are in need of the grace of God, the blood of Christ, that his death and burial and resurrection is for them as well. That’s part of the reason why communion is so important. It reminds us at all times of our great need for that primary message of Christ’s substitutionary death. But it’s another reason why we’ve got to just stay close and conscious of our own personal weakness. And I find it’s far better to minister out of an understanding of our desperate need for the gospel than with any air of superiority.
And this sin offering that these priests gave at the beginning would help them remember, I need God’s grace as well. I need God’s grace as well. It’s troublesome to see believers talking down to society, talking down to culture, talking down to people who are battling with sin or embracing sin in their lives, as if they have never been that or never could be that themselves. That’s a negligent perspective. You’re forgetting your absolute need for the grace of God. We’ve all fallen short of the glory of God and have needed the blood of Jesus.
18 Then he presented the ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. 19 And he killed it, and Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar. 20 He cut the ram into pieces, and Moses burned the head and the pieces and the fat. 21 He washed the entrails and the legs with water, and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering for the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Now after the sin offering, it says in verse 18, “Then he,” being Moses, “presented the ram of the burnt offering. And Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the head of the ram, and he killed it and Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar, he cut the ram into pieces, and Moses burned the head and the pieces and the fat. He watched the end trails and the legs with water and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering, with a pleasing aroma, a food offering for the Lord as the Lord commanded Moses.” So, as with the sin offering, being a carbon copy of the original sin offering that we’ve already read about, the same thing with the burnt offering.
The laying on of hands, the sprinkling of the blood, cutting up the sacrifice, washing the parts, eating the animal or the complete consumption of the animal on the altar, I should say. All of this was meant to indicate that not only did they have sin that needed to be dealt with graciously by God, but that they were consecrated. They were offering themselves completely to God. None of this would be enjoyed by the priest. It would all be consumed by God, a food offering for the Lord. It says in verse 21, God is the one that’s ingesting this sacrifice. And it was meant to give these priests the idea, this is what my life is going to be like, I have to just give all of myself to the Lord and hold nothing back.
22 Then he presented the other ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram. 23 And he killed it, and Moses took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 24 Then he presented Aaron’s sons, and Moses put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. And Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar. 25 Then he took the fat and the fat tail and all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat and the right thigh, 26 and out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord he took one unleavened loaf and one loaf of bread with oil and one wafer and placed them on the pieces of fat and on the right thigh. 27 And he put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons and waved them as a wave offering before the Lord. 28 Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar with the burnt offering. This was an ordination offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. 29 And Moses took the breast and waved it for a wave offering before the Lord. It was Moses’ portion of the ram of ordination, as the Lord commanded Moses.
And, of course, all of us as believers should want to have this in our lives, a complete devotion to the Lord, where we are completely laying ourselves down before him. And we’re holding nothing back from him for ourselves. We’re laying ourselves completely down before him. Then verse 22, “He presented the other ram, the ram of ordination. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, and he killed it. And Moses took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. Then he presented Aaron’s sons and Moses put some blood on the lobes of their right ears, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet.
“And Moses threw the blood against the sides of the altar. Then, he took the fat and the fat tail and all the fat that was on the end trails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat in the right thigh. And out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord, he took one unleavened loaf and one loaf of bread with oil and one wafer and placed them on the fat pieces, and on the right thigh. And he put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons and waved them as a wave offering before the Lord. Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar with the burnt offering. This was an ordination offering with a pleasing aroma of food offering to the Lord.
“And Moses took the breast and waved it for a wave offering before the Lord. It was Moses’s portion of the ram of ordination, as the Lord commanded Moses.” Now, this portion of the ordination, we read about this in the book of Exodus, but now they’re actually living it out. It’s very similar to the fellowship offering, except with this added portion, where some of the blood is placed on the right ear lobe, the right thumb and the right big toe, or the ear, hand and foot of Aaron, of the high priest and also his sons. And the idea here, of course, is that these men as they’re being ordained, the idea is that their bodies are set apart for God.
Blood on the ear would have symbolized that they were dedicating their ears to receiving, hearing, listening to the word of God. And I think this is such an important attitude for a believer to have. Sometimes we can have closed ears to the things of God. We might technically hear or read the word of God. But are we open to what God has to say? Are we open to learning? Are we open to being instructed? I think a lot of times, what we’re open to is learning about God’s word, but are we open to God’s word directing our lives and changing fundamental aspects of who we are, our priorities, the things that we focus upon. This blood was meant to say that these priests were game. They wanted God to say whatever he needed to say to them.
Blood on the thumb of their right hand might have pictured the need for holiness in doing God’s work, the things that they would do with their lives. And blood on the toe may have spoken of the need to walk in a consecrated way, before and with God. I love to think about this ordination, this blood on the ear and hand and foot, as a way for us as modern believers to say, “I want the things that I consume, the material that I ingest, not just through my ears, but eyes and mouth as well even, I want the things that I ingest to be covered by the blood and holy before God. And I want the things that I do with my hands to bring honor to the Lord. And I want his grace and mercy when my hands do things that are out of bounds that I should not be engaging in. And I want where I go to be directed by God. I don’t want to go anywhere that is not befitting the blood of Jesus.”
30 Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and also on his sons and his sons’ garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him. 31 And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of ordination offerings, as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it.’ 32 And what remains of the flesh and the bread you shall burn up with fire. 33 And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for it will take seven days to ordain you. 34 As has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. 35 At the entrance of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged, so that you do not die, for so I have been commanded.” 36 And Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord commanded by Moses.
And so they offered this sacrifice, this ram of ordination. Then have this wave offering where they would go back and forth between the Lord and themselves, and then receive it back from the Lord. They offered this to God. “Then Moses,” verse 30, “took some of the anointing oil and of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments and also on his sons and his sons’ garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and his sons’ garments with him. And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, ‘Boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent of meeting and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of ordination offerings, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.
“And what remains of the flesh and the bread, you shall burn up with fire. And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent meeting for seven days until the days of your ordination are completed, for it will take seven days to ordain you. As has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. At the entrance of the tent of meeting, you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged, so that you do not die for so I have been commanded.’ And Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord commanded by Moses.”
So again, Aaron, his sons, their garments, they are ordained, set apart. They belong wholly and completely to God. But then Moses tells them, interestingly enough, that they have to actually stay there at the tabernacle at the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days. And you can only imagine what those seven days would have been like. I’m sure they were days of consideration, where they allowed the spirit to cause the seriousness of what they were entering into, to sink into their hearts. I’m sure they were days of contrition, their face-to-face with sacrifices and blood that were offered on behalf of and because of their own sin. There was likely an inspection of the heart with each sacrifice that was offered.
They were likely days of worship, there the presence of the Lord, the sense of God’s glory and righteousness and holiness in his faithfulness, and bringing them to that point and establishing them as his people. They were likely days of fellowship and friendship as they prayed to God as they interacted with one another. And I think they were likely days of consecration, that there was something turning in the hearts of these men, to help them come to the conclusion and the realization, in many ways, this is how I will spend the rest of my life. It was a new day in the lives of these men. And so these seven days were crucial to allow it to settle within their heart. And it was a sober moment, because Moses warned, if you leave, you will die. So, there was a heaviness, to all of this. It was a grave moment with harsh consequences.
And the calling to serve the Lord is something that, of course, every Christian, in a sense, must give themselves to us. But for those who are called into, in our modern time, pastoral work or apostolic or prophetic work or evangelistic work or the like. These are works that, at times, they require just a season to let it sink into the heart before entering into it fully. And that’s what these men were doing. Now, in chapter nine, the Lord will accept Aaron’s offerings.
Leviticus 9
The Lord Accepts Aaron’s Offerings
1 On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, 2 and he
