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 18:10-12

10 And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.

12 And Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father in law before God.

When we first were introduced Jethro we were told he was a priest in Midian, and I had wondered whether he was priest of the Lord. Today’s verses suggest that this was, indeed, the case. He praises God, making exclamations such as “blessed be the Lord,” and “now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods.”

Another reason to assume that Jethro was a priest of the Lord is the priestly function he then serves in verse 12, making sacrifices that were apparently acceptable before the Lord. It is interesting to note the foreshadowing of this verse. Jethro performs the ritual offering with Aaron present, and of course Aaron and his sons will soon be called to function in the same office. I see in these verses a sort of passing of the torch. Jethro had maintained the faith in Midian while Israel was held captive, and now that they were free he came to show them the rituals and formalities of worshipping God.

Jethro and his flock in Midian must have had a story of their own, but they would fade, while the Israelite story would continue for thousands of years. This reminds me of John the Baptist diminishing so that his cousin Jesus might increase. Jethro and John seem to have been righteous men that magnified their callings and fulfilled their purposes, yet they were willing to make way for the chosen ones that came to take the center stage.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 2:18-20

18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

Moses had saved the sheep of Reuel, but the daughters did not invite him back to meet their father. Perhaps they were nervous inviting a stranger to their home? Reuel soon sets the matter right, upbraiding them for their lacking manners he speaks of hospitality as a matter of common sense.

It was mentioned back in verse 16 that Reuel was a “priest of Midian,” and his name literally means “friend of God.” However, while the “el” at the end of his name might mean the God Elohim, or it could be referring to any pagan god as well. Thus we cannot tell just from his name and station whether he is a priest for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or for some idolatrous being.

Obviously, Reuel isn’t one of the Israelites in Egypt, but that doesn’t mean that he cannot be a believer of the one, true God. King Melchizedek, to whom Abraham paid tithes, was a priest of God, even though he was clearly not part of the Abrahamic lineage. Thus we know that there were other factions who knew about the Lord. Not only this, but Reuel is the priest of Midian, and the land of Midian presumably got its name from its progenitor, Midian, who was the son of Abraham and Keturah. While Midian, Abraham’s son, may not have been part of the covenant, we can assume that he was still raised in the tradition of worshipping the Most High God, and would hopefully have continued those lessons with his descendants. Thus, while we do not explicitly know the background and beliefs of Reuel and his family, there is reason to believe that Moses was being taken into the home of distant kin who still worshipped the one, true God.