Today we'll begin our study of the consecration of the priests, who at this time are Aaron and his sons. There is a lot of material in Chapter 29 to cover and it will take us two to three days to get through it.
The Lord says to Moses, "This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve Me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without defect. And from the finest wheat flour make round loaves without yeast, thick loaves without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, and thin loaves without yeast and brushed with olive oil. Put them in a basket and present them along with the bull and the two rams." (Exodus 29:1-3) We won't see this ceremony taking place until Leviticus 8 but the Lord provides the instructions to Moses while Moses is on the mountain with Him for forty days and forty nights.
"Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water." (Exodus 29:4) Moses is to perform this ritual for his brother and nephews. No details are given so we don't know whether Moses fixed up a bathtub for them in which they took a literal bath with soap and water or whether it was more of a ceremonial ritual like baptism. I tend to think it was a literal bath because afterwards the priests are to dress in the garments the Lord described for us in Exodus 28. The first time these men serve at the tabernacle they will be required to do the full bath before donning their priestly garments and going inside, but from then on they will only be required to wash their hands and feet each time they show up to perform their duties. Bathing from head to toe symbolizes their consecration to the Lord---which must only be done once---and thereafter they need only be concerned with washing the dirt from their hands and feet when they arrive at the tabernacle.
"Take the garments and dress Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself and the breastpiece. Fasten the ephod on him by its skillfully woven waistband. Put the turban on his head and attach the sacred emblem to the turban. Take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics and fasten caps on them. Then tie sashes on Aaron and his sons. The priesthood is theirs by a lasting ordinance. Then you shall ordain Aaron and his sons." (Exodus 29:5-9) The oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. We will find priests, kings, and prophets being anointed by oil in the Bible and this was done to signify they were ordained by the will of God to do the work of God. In a similar fashion, you and I are anointed by the Holy Spirit when we come to salvation in Christ. Without this anointing we are not fit to do the work of God, so the Lord sends the Holy Spirit to indwell each of us.
We could compare the bath the priests take to our consecration into the Christian life. Just as the priests had to be cleaned up by someone else (Moses, who is the mediator of the old covenant), we had to be cleaned up by someone else (Christ, the mediator of the new covenant). Just as the priests only had to undergo this specific ritual once at the entrance to the tabernacle, Christ only needed to consecrate us once. He doesn't have to save our souls over and over again. He saves us once and keeps us saved. But while we walk through this fallen world our hands and feet will get dirty, symbolically speaking, because we will make mistakes. The priests could take a bath at home, put on their garments, and head toward the tabernacle in the desert, but by the time they arrived at the tabernacle the dust and sand of the desert would be clinging to any exposed skin. This is why they took their sandals off and then washed their hands and feet in the bronze basin before performing their work. We are going to need to wash our hands and feet, so to speak, when we fall short by going to the Lord and admitting we've messed up. This doesn't mean we've become unsaved. If we became unsaved every time we sinned or accidentally said or did the wrong thing then we'd have to re-accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior every day of our lives. But like the priests, we were consecrated once and we remain consecrated. We just need a little touch up here and there to get the dirt of this world off our hands and feet. We just need to go to the Lord when we realize we've made a mistake and say, "Forgive me, Lord. I didn't handle this in a way that honors who I am in You. My reaction to these circumstances is not the reaction a child of God should have. My attitude was not Christlike. Help me to do a better job of showing the love of Christ to others in my actions and words."
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