Tag Archives: Leviticus 8

Daily Bible Study

February 3, 2024 Bible Study — Encourage People to Immediately Put Into Practice Whatever You Have Taught Them

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 8-9.

At the end of Exodus, God told Moses to setup and consecrate the tabernacle, then to consecrate Aaron and his sons.  Exodus goes on to say that once Moses had consecrated the tabernacle, the glory of God entered it in the form of a cloud and that cloud was so dense that Moses could not enter it.  Then Leviticus begins with God giving Moses instructions regarding the various sacrifices which were to be offered: how they were to be offered and what the priests’ share would be.  Finally, in this chapter God once again tells Moses to consecrate Aaron and his sons before the assembly of the people.  Actually, I don’t think  God told this to Moses for a second time.  I think this was a different recounting, with more details, of what God told Moses at the end of Exodus.  Once Moses had completed and consecrated the tabernacle, God gave him the instructions for the sacrifices which needed to be made there and for consecrating Aaron and his sons.  Moses immediately consecrated Aaron and his sons and had them begin the practices of offering the sacrifices.  It occurs to me that this gives us a great model for teaching people.  Give people instructions and immediately encourage them to put them into practice.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

February 3, 2023 Bible Study — The Ordination Of Aaron And His Sons

Today, I am reading and commenting on   Leviticus 8-9.

The Book of Exodus contains a detailed description of the commands God had given for consecrating the Tabernacle, and Aaron and his sons.  Then the end of Exodus contains a description of the setup and consecration of the Tabernacle, with a passing reference to the ordination of Aaron and his sons.  Here in the Book of Leviticus, we have description of the consecration and ordination of Aaron and his sons, with a passing reference to the consecration of the Tabernacle.  In the instructions for ordaining Aaron and his sons, the Book of Exodus calls for the offering of sacrifices every day for seven days, then for Aaron to offer sacrifices for the people of Israel on the eighth day.  In today’s passage where it actually describes the ordination of Aaron and his sons it does not mention the daily sacrifices.  However, it does say that Aaron and his sons remained in the Tabernacle for seven days, eating of the sacrifice(s) for those seven days, then offering sacrifices for the people of Israel on the eighth day.  In the Exodus account of the setup and consecration of the Tabernacle it says that God’s presence filled the Tabernacle at the conclusion of the sacrifices.  Here it says that the glory of the Lord appeared before the people in the Tabernacle at the conclusion of the sacrifices offered by Aaron for the people in order to conclude his ordination.  I believe these two accounts record the same event from different perspectives.  Both accounts contain areas where they gloss over details which do not relate to their primary focus: the Exodus account glosses over the ordination of Aaron, while this account glosses over the consecration of the Tabernacle.  While the accounts are different enough that the ordination of Aaron and his sons may have taken place some days or weeks after the consecration of the Tabernacle, it seems to me more likely that Aaron’s ordination took place as part of the consecration of the Tabernacle, or immediately following it.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Bible Study

February 3, 2022 Bible Study — The Symbolism of Anointing With Oil

Today, I am reading and commenting on   Leviticus 8-9.

Reading today’s passage about the ordination of Aaron as high priest when I came to Moses anointing Aaron it brought to mind the stories in the Gospels about a woman anointing Jesus.  One of the questions I have always had regarding those accounts was why all four Gospel writers thought it was so important.  Reading this today it struck me that the woman’s (women? the differences between the way the Gospels tell the story suggests that it may have happened more than once) anointing of Jesus represented His ordination as High Priest, which was completed by His offering of Himself as a sacrifice on the cross.  So, the Gospel writers were invoking the symbolism of the anointment portion of the priestly ordination when they wrote about the woman anointing Jesus.  So, while I see a connection, it is a connection of symbolism, not of ceremony.   Anointing someone represents setting them apart to serve God in a special way.  Here Moses anointed Aaron to set him aside to serve as high priest.  The woman who anointed Jesus was symbolically setting Him aside to serve God in ways which were probably unclear to her.  She may not have even been aware that she was doing so.  Perhaps I will explore that connection a little further when I get to those passages later in the year.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

February 3, 2021 Bible Study Old Testament Sacrifices

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 8-9.

Over the last few years I have had a growing awareness that the times of offering sacrifices was also a time of feasting.  With a few notable exceptions, each offering was divided into three portions.  One portion was burned on the altar, one portion went to the priests (this portion was where most of the food for the priests came from), and one portion was eaten by those who offered it (and their households).  In this passage today, the offering for their ordination was only to be eaten by the priests.  However, for the seven days of the ordination the priests being ordained were to remain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, where the people could come and meet with them.  It seems to me that the intention was for the people to be able to interact with those who were about to become priests so that these newly ordained priests would understand the people to whom they would minister.  At the end of the seven days on the eighth day, the newly ordained priests would offer sacrifices for all of the people…sacrifices which would be the basis for a feast and celebration for the people.  So, the sacrifices formed a bond between the people who offered the sacrifice, the priests who performed the sacrifice, and God.

Daily Bible Study

February 3, 2019 Bible Study — The Ordination Of Aaron

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 8-9.

Today’s passage describes Moses ordaining Aaron and Aaorn’s sons as priests.  There were two parts to the ordination.  Moses dressed Aaron and his sons in the garments which had been made for them as priests.  Once they were dressed in their priestly garments, Moses annointed the Tabernacle, its furnishings, and each of them. Then Moses offered a sin offering for Aaron and his sons, a burnt offering, and an ordination offering.  Once Moses was done offering these sacrifices he had Aaron and his sons sit vigil at the entrance to the Tabernacle for seven days and nights.  On the eighth day they began to serve as priests, offering sacrifices on behalf of the rest of the people of Israel.

The passage seems to imply that the sacrifices Moses offered were all done on one day, but I wonder.  First of all, looking at what was involved in those sacrifices seems challenging for one man to perform in one day.  Second, since it appears that Aaron and his sons only ate their portion of the sacrifices, what did they eat from the 3rd through 7th day of their vigil (earlier, God commanded that those portions not be eaten after the second day)?  It is possible that Moses spread the sacrifices out over the seven days of the vigil, or that other sacrifices were offered over that time period. 

I really wanted to focus on the vigil which Aaron and his sons sat.  They spent seven days thinking about what it meant to be called out to represent the people before God.  Each of us would benefit from sitting such vigils to meditate on what it means to serve God as followers of Christ.  Not necessarily for seven days, but a weekend now and again would serve us well (and I will not argue against spending seven days on such an endeavor).  I will note that Aaron went from making a gold calf for the people to worship to the High Priest before God in a relatively short period of time.

Daily Bible Study

February 3, 2018 Bible Study — The Ordination of Aaron

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 8-9.

    Having finished setting up the Tabernacle, Moses began the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests. When this passage speaks of Moses performing all of the sacrifices of ordination and dedication of the Tabernacle by himself it seems rather challenging but doable. Still, it would have been a long day for Moses. One of things I find interesting is that a fair amount of blood was sprinkled on Aaron, his sons, and their clothes, yet they spent 7 days in the entrance to the Tabernacle wearing those same clothes. It seems unlikely from the description that any of them or their clothes were washed at any time during those 7 days. Furthermore, on the eighth day, Aaron set right to work making the sacrifices himself with no opportunity to clean up first.