During the consecration ceremony of Aaron and his sons, a bull and a ram have already been offered. Today we take a look at the offering of the other ram.
"Take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. Slaughter it, take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then splash blood against the sides of the altar. And take some blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. Then he and his sons and their garments will be consecrated." (Exodus 29:19-21) As we said yesterday, putting their hands on the ram's head signifies that the ram is a stand in for them; its death is a substitutionary death. But why do these priests apply blood to their right ears, right thumbs, and right big toes?
From what I was able to ascertain from my background study, the right side of the body was considered the chief side of the body---the more honorable side, in other words. This is why even in modern times we shake hands with our right hands, not our left hands. This is why we have expressions such as "extending the right hand of fellowship" to our fellow man. This is why in throne rooms and banquet halls the most important guest was seated in the first seat to the right of the king or host, and this is why the Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.
I am not sure how the tradition came about of the right side being the most important and powerful side but I suspect it has something to do with the right hand being the dominant hand in most people. It's estimated that only about 10% of the world's population is left handed, so that means in 90% of the population the right hand is the strongest and most skilled hand. Those of us who are right handed are apt to tend to the right side of our bodies first or take the first step forward with our right foot. Have you ever noticed in what order you put your arms into your sleeves or your legs into your pants or your feet into your shoes? The odds are if you're right handed you're doing all these things right side first. I've noticed I even put my makeup on in this order. So when these priests anoint parts of the right sides of their bodies with the blood of the sacrifice, they are anointing the strongest side of their bodies. They only have to anoint their right sides to vow to submit their entire selves to listening faithfully to the Lord with their ears or to working faithfully for the Lord with their hands and feet.
"Take from this ram the fat, the fat tail, the fat on the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh. (This is the ram for the ordination.) From the basket of bread made without yeast, which is before the Lord, take one round loaf, one thick loaf with olive oil mixed in, and one thin loaf. Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and have them wave them before the Lord as a wave offering. Then take them from their hands and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord, a food offering presented to the Lord." (Exodus 29:22-25) This offering gives thanks to the Lord for the provision of food; it doesn't mean that they place this food before the Lord so He can "eat" it, either literally or symbolically. The Lord doesn't need food for energy. Even if He did, He wouldn't need to rely upon man to provide it to Him, for He says, "I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are Mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me." (Psalm 50:9-15) Sacrifices and offerings are made not on the Lord's behalf, but on man's behalf. The sin offerings, atonement offerings, and thank offerings are made by man because man needs to acknowledge his guilt, seek forgiveness for his sins, and thank the Lord for His provision.
Since Christ came and gave His life for us there is no longer any need for animals to stand in for us, but there is a type of sacrifice we could and still should be making, and that's the sacrifice (or offering) of praise. We are also to do good deeds in the name of the Lord; this is considered a type of sacrifice as well. "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise---the fruit of lips that openly profess His name. And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." (Hebrews 13:15-16) We owe the Lord our praise and thanks. We might not think of praise as a sacrifice, but in order to "continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise" we must take time daily to commune with Him---to talk to Him and listen to Him and to specifically name things we are grateful for.
We tend to be stingy with our time, don't we? During the hours when we're not required to be at work, we like to spend our time doing what we want, and we often jealously guard this free time. If we don't feel compelled to devote any of our free time to the Lord, this should force us to conclude we aren't making Him a priority in our lives. I'm as guilty as anyone of using a free hour of time to read stuff on social media or to zone out in front of the TV instead of using that time to further develop my relationship with the Lord. But what if we set aside a specific portion of each day for Him? I know we all lead busy lives, but if all we can carve out of our day is five or ten minutes, I believe we'd see a great deal of improvement in our spiritual lives. We make time for the things that are important to us, no matter how busy we are. If we have time to read social media multiple times a day or watch Youtube videos or watch our favorite sitcoms or take a nap, we've got time to spend with the Lord. We've got time to commune with Him in prayer and offer up the sacrifice of praise for all His goodness toward us.
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