God Dwelling Among His People

Exodus 29

We have been reading about God’s designing plan of the tabernacle. He has given Moses the blue prints to how it should look and how it should be made. He even gave detail on where the furniture should go. God then told Moses what the priests will need to wear.  Today we read about the consecration of the priests. This means how they will become holy so they can go before the Lord in the tabernacle.

A Big Deal

One of the biggest events involving the tabernacle was the consecration of the priests. This would take 7 days to do the different sacrifices. This event was nothing to be overlooked. They needed to stick to the details because the priests were the only ones that could offer the sacrifices for the people. If they were not right before the Lord then the people could not offer their sacrifices and they could not be right before the Lord. In this particular chapter, Moses will be the one running the different sacrifices for the consecration of the priests. The priests are Aaron, who will serve as the high priest, and his two sons who will be under him.

They will need to take different steps for this process to be complete. First, they will need to be washed at the entrance with water. Then they will need to make a couple of different sacrifices. They will have to sacrifice a bull that will serve as the sin offering. Then a ram that will serve as a burnt offering, and another ram that will serve as the consecration of the priests and their outfits. The last one was a special meat offering with unleavened cakes and oil. Immediately after this event the priests started with the sacrifices for the people.

An interesting point is in verse 20 where Moses was to take some of the blood from the ram and place it on the right ear, right thumb and right big toe of Aaron and his sons. This was to show that the ear would be sanctified to hear the word of God. The right thumb was to show that the hands needed to be set apart for their performance of offering the sacrifices for the people. The right toe was to sanctify the walk of the priest; so they would walk pure.

The Big Picture

It is easy to get caught up in the details with the consecration of the priests. The point God wanted to make was what was mentioned at the end of the chapter. The whole reason why he brought Israel out of Egypt was so he could dwell among his people. He did this for the redemption of mankind. What else is even cooler about this is that God still had a bigger plan than what even the Israelites could grasp, that was Christ. He would come as our High Priest, who is perfect and was able to be the sacrifice for mankind. Aaron and the priesthood to follow would only shadow the greatness of Christ and the completeness of Christ. When I read about how many animals had to be killed because of sin, and still that did not fulfill the debt with God, I am relieved because Christ was it. There is no need for any more sacrifices for sin, there is no need for anymore bloodshed. Thank You Jesus.