Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 29:10-14

10 And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock.

11 And thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.

13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar.

14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

After being properly dressed, washed, and anointed, the priests were further prepared by sacrificial ritual. First came the bullock, which we hear in verse 14 was being offered up as a sin offering. This was for the priests to make atonement for all that they had done wrong. Like the rest of us, each of them had violated the ideal at one point or another. They had pursued self over others, they had betrayed their own consciences, they had entered misalignment with truth.

The symbolism of having the priests place their hands on the head of the bullock is clear. This placing of the hands upon the head is repeated with just about every sacrifice and is a clear representation of the animal being made to stand in place of the person. The people are choosing the animal as their representative, and witness as it receives the punishment in their place. That punishment is death, because “the wages of sin is death.”

It is worth noting, the laying on of hands is also a common practice when a disciple is ordained to a particular responsibility in the church. This makes sense, as once again that person is being selected to stand in for the other people, to make a sacrifice of his time to do the responsibilities in place of all the others.

Let us consider the meaning of what is done to the separate parts of the bullock. First, its blood is placed upon the horns of the altar. Later in the Bible we hear how the guilty would cling to these horns when seeking mercy for their wrongs, so perhaps the blood upon them represented coming to the Lord in desperation and moral anguish, casting yourself upon His mercy.

Then, the fat and the kidneys are burned upon the altars. The significance of giving the fat to the altar should be immediately clear. It was giving one’s passions, one’s indulgence, one’s reserve of energy to the Lord. No longer would the repentant give his indulgence to his carnal appetites, but to His maker.

Then, all of the bad parts: the skin and the dung, and also the very flesh of the beast, were burned without the camp. This means exiling the sin and the self, taking it out of the camp that it doesn’t belong in and destroying it. From this point on the sinner is not to be those parts anymore.

And so, atonement for sin is made. The old man of sin is destroyed, his passion and energy are dedicated to the Lord, and he casts himself upon God’s mercy. This is the same offering that we all spend our entire lives making over and over again.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 29:5-9

5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod:

6 And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre.

7 Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.

8 And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them.

9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest’s office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.

We hear how the clothes we heard of last chapter are placed upon the priests, and these verses appear to give the correct order in which articles would be put on. First the coat as the bottom layer, then the robe and the ephod. Next the breastplate would be secured to the front, and all the layers would be fastened by the girdle. The mitre would be placed upon the head, and finally the golden plate inscribed with HOLINESS TO THE LORD would be tied to the mitre as a holy crown.

There was a proper order to getting dressed, just as there would be a proper order to every ritual performed at the tabernacle. The priest would have to dress himself correctly each morning to be ready to conduct himself rightly in his duties. Just as every article of clothing needed to be applied in its proper time and place, so must the affairs of our lives be properly ordered and timed as well.

Verse 7 also mentions the anointing with oil, which is the touch of the divine to complete the adornment of the priests. They would put themselves in order, then God would enrobe them in His spirit to be fully ready.

As I read through the rest of the process, I will treat it as a symbol for all of us in our approach to the Lord. The first step, as we have already seen, is to set ourselves in order and clean up our act as best we can. Just for following our conscience in this way, God will make His spirit rest upon us, like the anointing of oil. So prepared, we will be ready to progress further towards Him.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 29:1-4

1 And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest’s office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish,

2 And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them.

3 And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams.

4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water.

In the last verses of the previous chapter, we were told that Aaron and his sons were to be sanctified, consecrated, and anointed. Today we begin that process. What actions would suffice to cleanse a person and dedicate them to the service of the Lord?

First, they were going to need to bring an offering at the House of the Lord. The sacrificial ritual was complex, with multiple parts to it. One bull, two rams, and a loaf, cakes, and wafers of bread. The manner of how these things would be offered, and what would be accomplished by those offerings, will be covered in the following verses.

In addition to bringing the offerings, the priests needed to be washed. This seems to represent every disciple doing that which is in our own power to make ourselves clean before God. Yes, each of us is stained in ways that requires His grace to be made pure, but there is already some work that we can do ourselves. Washing the priests means doing everything that we can to set ourselves right, and then relying on the touch of divinity which will come through the rest of the ritual.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:41-43

41 And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.

42 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:

43 And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and his seed after him.

In addition the articles of clothing already mentioned, there is also a pair of linen breeches to be worn underneath it all. In an earlier chapter I mentioned how the Lord had previously mandated that there be no stairs ascending to an altar, so that the priest’s nakedness would not be exposed. This suggested that the priests previously wore no layers underneath their robes, which is now amended in these verses.

After being dressed, Aaron and his sons were to be anointed, consecrated, and sanctified. All three of these words describe a person being set apart for the work of the Lord, but let us consider their unique features, and how they apply to the work of a priest.

  1. Anointed. To be anointed was to receive a blessing via the application of oil. Anointing oil was representative of the spirit of God, thus a physical symbol of how the spirit of God would rest on the individual and enable him to do his holy work. Anointing is therefore a practice of empowering the priest to do his duties in an acceptable manner.
  2. Consecrated. To consecrate is to take something from the world and dedicate it to the Lord. Whereas a sacrifice consumes the offering to the Lord, consecration leaves it intact. For example, a singer does not have to destroy her beautiful voice in order to consecrate it in songs of praise. For the priests, they would be living offerings to the Lord, replacing the typical labors of life for doing His work.
  3. Sanctified. To sanctify something means to clean and purify it. The priests were mortals, and therefore imperfect, and those flaws would have to be expunged by the grace of God.

Thus, the priests were to be blessed with a portion of the Spirit to guide them, cleaned of their sins, and then set apart to solely do the work of the Lord. Dressed and hallowed, they would be ready for the last stage of their preparation, which we will hear about in the next chapter.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:39-40

39 And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework.

40 And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.

We hear even less of the coat that was worn underneath the robe and ephod. It was made of fine linen, the same as the mitre, the ephod, the girdle, and perhaps the robe. All of this reiterated in verse 40, with the mitre now being called a bonnet. It is also repeated that this clothing is to be made “for glory and for beauty,” the significance of which we discussed earlier.

It is interesting to note that the fashioning of the tabernacle has involved three key talents: woodwork, metalwork, and needlework. Woodwork to build all the structure and shape of the tabernacle and its vessels. Metalwork to overlay bronze and gold upon those structures. Needlework to provide the walls, curtains, and clothing that adorned and completed the structures. Structure, finish, and detail. The Israelites would consecrate these very different and advanced skillsets to make the tabernacle a reality. They, like the wise men greeting the Christ child thousands of years later, would bring to the Lord three gifts.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:36-38

36 And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, Holiness to the Lord.

37 And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be.

38 And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.

Now we hear a detail of the mitre, which was a hat or turban worn on the head. We do not hear much of the design of the mitre itself, only that it bore a golden plate with the words “Holiness to the Lord” engraved upon it.

Previously, we heard how the Israelite tribes’ names carved into stones on the priest’s shoulders and chest, now a remined of the Lord is carved upon the head. So, once again we see the role of the priest being representative and mediator for both God and the Israelites at the same time. He has both etched into him, the considerations of each are borne in the carrying out of his duties.

I think it is interesting to note the possibly symbolism of the names of the Israelite tribes being upon the shoulders and the heart, but God upon the head. Assuming that the ancient Israelites viewed the meaning these body parts somewhat similar to how we do today, then the tribes are connected to what you carry and care for, while God is what you are mindful of.

That symbolism might explain what is said in verse 38 that the plate is to cause Aaron to bear “the iniquity of the holy things.” He loves and carries the Israelites, but because his mind is on the holiness of the Lord, he cannot help but perceive the people’s imperfections and iniquity. He thinks on the Lord’s holiness and sees how far the people are from it and he is the one that is responsible to account for that gap.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:33-35

33 And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about:

34 A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about.

35 And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not.

The only decoration mentioned for the robe is that it would have a hem of pomegranates and golden bells.

The pomegranates were to be of the same scarlet, purple, and blue that was used on the ephod, and also on the walls and gate of the tabernacle. This would suggest that the pomegranates were balls of linen thread as well. Historically, the pomegranate has been seen as a symbol of progeny and prosperity, given its multitude of juicy seeds. This is not the first time that the fruit of the branch was depicted in the tabernacle either. A few chapters back we heard how the candlestick would incorporate the image of almonds in its design.

As for the bells, this would create a constant jingling wherever the priest went. Many scholars have noted that this would allow the common Israelite to witness with their ears the rituals that they were not allowed to witness with their eyes. When the priest passed into the holy place the people could still follow the performance of his duties by the jingling of his bells.

There is also the question of why verse 35 states that the priest would die if he did not wear the bells. Some have said this simply means he would be struck down if he dared to approach the holy places without his proper adornment, and that the ringing of the bells was a representation of all the proper clothes being worn.

This may be, but my first instinct when reading this verse was that the ringing would announce the priest’s approach before passing through the curtain into the Lord’s presence. Of course, one cannot assume that the omniscient God would be startled by the unheralded arrival of the priest, so it couldn’t be that God was reacting out of shock. Perhaps, though, the ringing of the bells represents the voice of prayer, and the threat given here demonstrates that spiritual acclimation must precede physical presence. If the priest was not already in regular communion with God from without by the ringing of his prayers, then there was no way that he would be worthy to tolerate God’s presence when he approached in the flesh. So, too, we will only survive the encounter with God on judgment day if we have been acclimating to Him all of our earthly lives with our prayers from beyond the veil.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:31-32

31 And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue.

32 And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent.

Underneath the ephod layer would be a blue robe. It sounds as though it would have a single hole in the middle for the head, with the front and back covered and the sides open, just like a poncho. This would explain why there was a girdle around the waist to hold it firmly to the body instead of leaving it to flap freely.

The hole would have a stitching around it, to make sure that none of the loose threads would run or tear. Josephus states that the entire thing was made of a single weave, with no seams, which explains why cutting a hole would be necessary. Thus, it would have been a piece of perfection…with a key flaw then cut into it, but that flaw would be bound to prevent it from growing any worse.

To me that sounds like an excellent description of the human condition. We are made in the image of God, after a pattern of perfection, but we all find a gaping hole within us at some point. That hole will tear and ruin us, unless we establish a relationship with God and have Him hold our frayed edges together. Of course, what we really want is to be healed so that there isn’t any hole left, and in some cases perhaps that really happens, but in my experience, it is more often that God holds the loose ends of our punctured heart, so that we can carry on even with its brokenness. He gives us peace even if the loved one doesn’t come back, or the dream doesn’t materialize, or the sickness really is terminal. The hole remains, but its ability to tear us is halted.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:30

30 And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goeth in before the Lord: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually.

Today we learn that the Urim and Thummim would be placed within the breastplate in the priest’s clothing. This, of course, raises the question, “what on earth is the Urim and Thummim?”

The reason these words sound strange is because they are simply the phonetic representations of the original Hebrew words. There was no attempt made to find a common English counterpart, perhaps because none exists. As far as what these Hebrew words mean in their own language, the closest terms would be “light” and “perfection.” I presume those words were not used in the English translation because they are intangible and conceptual, whereas it seems that the Urim and Thummim were physical objects, given their placement within the breastplate.

There are only a few references to the Urim and Thummim elsewhere in the scriptures, the last reference being in Nehemiah. It is possible that they were lost during the Babylonian captivity, as they are never heard of afterward.

The best clue we have as to the purpose of the Urim and Thummim comes from 1 Samuel 28:6: “And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” It would seem that they were tools somehow used to receive the will of the Lord. This is an interesting idea. Divine artifacts that can impart portions of God’s spirit have certainly been invoked by Christian churches in the past, but I feel that today such things are generally considered idolatrous and likely a scam. Today we tend to view our interactions with God as being purely spiritual, with little or no physical medium to assist in the process.

Whatever they might have been, the Urim and Thummim were apparently held in the breastplate of the priest. Given that the breastplate was likely woven linen, some have suspected that it was woven with the front and a back, like a little bag, and the artifacts were held in there. It specifically says that the Urim and Thummim were in the breastplate of Aaron, which might mean there was only one set, and it was exclusively carried by the High Priest, or Aaron might just be being used as a representative for all priests, and all of them carried a pair.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 28:26-29

26 And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward.

27 And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod.

28 And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.

29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually.

We heard yesterday how the breastplate was secured at each side to the shoulders. This would still allow it to swing from side-to-side, though, so today we hear that there were two more points of attachment on the forepart of the ephod, just above the waist. Thus, the gems and the names inscribed upon them would be held firmly in place.

Also, verse 29 explicitly confirms the symbolism that I mentioned in yesterday’s post: as the priest performs his duties in the tabernacle the names of the breastplate are to bear “upon his heart…for a memorial before the Lord continually.” Specifically, we are told, it is the “judgment of the children of Israel” that is to weigh upon his heart.

Much of the symbolism we have heard about the tabernacle would keep the priest in constant remembrance of God, but this breastplate would also keep him in constant remembrance of the children of Israel. Thus, the priest was a mediator between the two, bringing God and the Israelite into one within his own person, trying to close the gap between them via sacrificial offerings, a type for Christ who would come many years later.