Consecration Explanation

Exodus 29

Moses spells out this whole consecration process. They are to take a bull and two rams-good ones- not ones that are defected- and they are to make some cakes and wafers- without any yeast but mixed with oil. They are to put the bread in a basket, and take it and the animals to present at the ceremony.

Aaron and his sons are to get washed at the tent of meeting. Nothing like a public bath to suggest sanctification. They are then to be dressed in this holy garb described in previous chapters. Aaron is to wear the tunic, robe, ephod and breastpiece. The ephod is to be attached by the "skillfully woven waistband." They are to put the turban on his head and attach the "sacred diadem." And then they are to pour annointing oil on his head.

The sons are treated similarly if with a little less pomp. They still get tunics and headbands. And they and Aaron both get fitted with sashes.

Then comes the fun stuff. Nothing says party like animal slaughter. The bull is brought forward and Aaron and sons place their hands on its head. They are to kill it right there at the front of the tent of meeting "in the Lord's presence." They are to put some blood on the horns of the altar with fingers - and the rest gets dumped at the base of the altar. Then they are to take the fatty parts, the liver covering, and kidneys (still covered in fat) and burn them on the altar.

But the flesh, the hide and the inedible parts are to be taken outside the camp because they are a sin offering.

This is all a little much for me and I must confess I wouldn't be signing up for altar duty. While I love eating a good piece of meat, I would be a tad squeamish actually slaughtering it- and dealing with all the details. Picturing this scene seems like a plotless, humorless Tarantino film- and the altars aren't equipped with splatter-guards. But it's interesting that they don't just offer up the good stuff to God as an offering. It's the whole bull. It's the ears, and the bones, and the gristle, and the parts too gross to even mention. It's not like this part of it is a big sacrifice, they weren't going to eat this stuff anyhow- and it saves them having to dispose of it- or at least of having to deal with the decomposition of it all if they didn't dispose of it.

I think though, that maybe what we can see here is how God treats sin- it's burned up- it's totally gone- no trace of it. All the ugly parts, the unenjoyable byproducts, the guilt, the shame, the whole disgusting mess is gone- obliterated. God has consumed it. Now literally for these Israelites it wasn't totally gone- because they had to keep sacrificing over and over- but at least for a period of time- the cloud of shame is vanished, traveling to the heavens in smoke from the altar.

And for us, it's gone too- no matter how we try to cling to the guilt- how unable we are to fully fathom the depths of God's grace and just how much He's willing to forgive.

Alright, back to the mass-a-cree. They're to take one of the rams and Aaron and Aaron-juniors are to put their hands on it's head. Then they slaughter it and sprinkle the blood on all sides of the altar. Then they cut it up and wash the inner parts and the legs- and then putting it back together (in the same place, not reattaching it- that would really be gross) they burn the whole thing on the altar. It's a burnt offering to the Lord, "a pleasing aroma."

The other ram gets the same treatment at first. Hands placed on its head from the Aaron-clan and slaughtered. However with this ram they take blood and put it on their right earlobes, right thumbs and right big toes. Bizarre. More blood gets sprinkled on all sides of the altar. Then blood and oil get sprinkled on Aaron, his sons and their garments. At this point they are officially consecrated...and I'm guessing fairly rank.

This second ram is the ram of ordination. I guess this just means its the ram that was used for the actual consecration. From this ram they are supposed to take "the fat, the fat tail, the fat around the inner parts, the covering of the liver, both kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh". This stuff is soon to be fired up.

Meanwhile they are to take some bread out of the basket- a loaf, a cake and a wafer. They are to place them in the Aaron-clan's hands and they are to wave them to the Lord. They are a wave offering. I don't even understand the motivation of the wave at a baseball game, so I find this really puzzling. Why wave it to God? Are they demonstrating its durability? Doesn't break or bend when I wave it- now that's unleavened!

Whatever the reason for the wave-a-thon, after its waved they take it back and put it on the altar with the ram. The breast of this ram they can take and wave and it becomes their share of the sacrifice.

I'm not sure exactly what this means. Is this meat for the Israelites to eat? The rest is God's, but this little bit is for them? The section that follows seems to suggest that this meat is actually intended for Aaron and his son's- and this may be the Israelite's share of their responsibility for Aaron's family's food.

The garments belong to Aaron and get handed down. Once his offspring takes over as priest he is to wear the garments for seven days. He'll be smelling real good at the end of this period. Hope the oil is strong.

So after the meat is taken off somewhere sacred to be cooked, Aaron and his boys eat this meat and all the bread they want at the entrance to the tent of meeting. But only them, no one else gets any food- and whatever isn't eaten that night gets burned up because it is sacred.

The part of me concerned for the hungry and the part of me that loves to fill a plate with meat in a buffet line cringe at the thought of all that meat going to waste. But I'm definitely approaching this scenario from 22nd century American over-consumption. Plus if this bread tastes like the communion bread in most churches it wasn't that much of a treat anyhow. I bet it was a little tastier though. They probably didn't just grab a box of matzos for the ordination service.

This process was to take seven days - one bull per day to make atonement as sin offerings. The offering was to purify the altar and the oil was to consecrate it. After seven days the altar would be holy- and anything that touched it would become holy.

Each day ( I assume this is for the seven days) they are to sacrifice two one-year-old lambs- one in the morning and one at twilight. With the first offering they were to offer a drink offering consisting of a mixture of flour, olive oil, and wine. I don't know if they actually drank it or poured it on the altar or what. The twilight lamb is to be sacrificed the same way with the same grain offering and drink offering- I'm not seeing the earlier grain offering unless the flour and olive oil are mixed as a grain offering and the wine is a drink offering. In either case, there's a bunch of stuff they're offering- and there's a specific amount and substance that's required.

They are to make this sacrifice regularly at the tent of meeting for generations to come. I don't know if regularly means whenever there's a consecration or if these sacrifices continue throughout the year, but when they're made, God will meet and speak with them. God says that the place will be consecrated by His glory.

The chapter closes with this thought:

"So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God."

Even in this context so foreign and separated from how we live and interact with God, His desire is still to be a part of His people. He wanted to be loved by His children and to be known as God.

He wants the same thing today.

Holy Underwear

Exodus 28: 31-43

And now instructions for the priestly evening-wear. The robe of the ephod was to be in blue cloth with a woven collar-like edge to stop tearing from occurring. They are to construct pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe. In between the pomegranates were to be bells. Aaron must wear this when he ministers. The bells will sound when entering and leaving the holy place so he won't die.

So he won't die? One thought I had was that it was for protection from Israelite thugs. The dude with the bells is off limits- no one better mess with him. But later information in this section seems to suggest that he might be in danger from God without the bells.

They are supposed to make a plate of pure gold and engrave "Holy to the Lord" on it. They are to fasten a blue cord to it to attach it to the front of the turban and Aaron is to wear it. When sacred gifts are offered by the Israelites, Aaron will bear the guilt of them on his forehead. Apparently, wearing this plate on his forehead will make the gifts acceptable to God.

This idea of "wearing guilt" is interesting- especially when combined with the pomegranate motif already discussed. Why pomegranates? Why not mangoes, avocadoes, nectarines? Maybe the legendary apple from the garden wasn't an apple at all- but was a pomegranate and this design was another way for Aaron to wear the guilt of his people. Purely speculation, but some fruit for thought.

Then they are supposed to make some fancy duds for Aaron and his sons to "give them dignity and honor." Tunics, sashes and headbands- after they're wearing them they are to be annointed and ordained so they can serve God. I'm not sure exactly what happened in an ordaining- but in this case the ordainees were quite stylish.

I think it's important to notice this part of their assignment. There has been a lot of construction and creation meant directly to honor God. This honoring is more indirect- it's honoring those who are honoring God. With service comes honor...and responsibility. Remember that whole death thing?

The last things in this section they were to create were linen undergarments for Aaron and his sons. They had to wear them whenever they were in the tent of meeting or approached the altar to minister in the holy place. This was so they wouldn't "incur guilt and die."

Membership may have its privileges- but it comes with a pretty steep price too. Without the holy undergarments their service wasn't acceptable. This was a lasting ordinance for Aaron's descendants. Hopefully they made new linens for the offspring.

This is a puzzling section in terms of what to take from it. The main thing for me is how much was expected from those serving in the role that Aaron took on. There's a lot to think about and a lot to get just so. Not just anyone could do it- I wouldn't be cut out for it.

Ooo- that engraved thing is on my dash board...I'll be right back.

The linen underwear is in the dryer- I forgot about it until the last minute.

Jana do you know where I left my holy sash?

And I think the point is not the need for greater pomp from our worship leaders, but instead a greater appreciation of what it took and takes for Jesus to be that high priest for us. Even if these details serve as metaphor- the glory of being the high priest- comes with great responsibility- it wasn't something taken lightly- and it takes someone diligent enough to cross all the t's and make sure all the sashes are in place so that we don't have to.

And that's what Christ has done for us- he's taken the role and removed the responsibility from us placing it on his shoulders- all the while loving us despite our reaction.