Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.
Thou shalt also take one ram belongs to the solemn seven-day ceremony in Exodus 29 for consecrating Aaron and his sons and setting them apart for service as priests in the wilderness sanctuary, following the directions for the sanctuary and the priestly garments given to Moses in the mount. Aaron and his sons were to lay their hands upon the head of the ram to set it apart as the victim identified with themselves, an indispensable part of the sacrificial ritual signifying confession and the transfer in figure of sin and guilt to the animal accepted as a substitute deserving death. It belongs to the ceremonial laws of sacrifices and worship given through Moses, distinct from the Ten Commandments spoken by God from Sinai and from the civil laws in Exodus 21-23, worship belonging to persuasion and return to God while civil government belongs to temporary force for this life. Like all the rites of the earthly sanctuary, it was a shadow and object-lesson of the heavenly sanctuary and of the Lamb of God that takes away sin, pointing to Christ in whom alone its significance and efficacy lay. Those flesh-and-blood offerings of bulls and goats could not really take away sins, and passed away forever when Christ suffered and died once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, while their requirement of whole consecration from high priest and humblest cleansed leper alike shows that divine and human work together and that every child of God must be wholly devoted as Christ was.
Setting and Consecration Rite
Exodus 29:15 stands within the very minute description of the sanctuary built in the days of Moses, exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount. It belongs to the full instructions concerning the sanctuary and its sacred vessels and service, minutely set forth in Exodus 25-31 regarding the tabernacle as erected by Moses. Those directions were shown to Moses during his forty days and forty nights with God on the mount after Israel came to the wilderness of Sinai in the third month after departing Egypt. It comes in chronological order after the events of Exodus 19-32 and before the building and setting up of the sanctuary recorded in Exodus 25-40 and 33-40.
The sanctuary was the portable inner tabernacle erected by Israel at the command of God in the wilderness for sacrifices and offerings, which is what the word sanctuary generally means. It was to be built from the free-will offerings of the children of Israel so God could dwell among them, according to the divine pattern given to Moses in the mount. It was given after deliverance from Egyptian bondage, when hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted Israel to comprehend God's great salvation and the character He required, to provide a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites comprehending the plan of salvation. That portable tabernacle was later replaced by the temple built by Solomon, and in both buildings the worship of God upon the earth centered, with all earthly worship and service revolving around the holy of holies where the law of God rested with the mercy-seat over it.
Exodus 29:15 belongs to the account in Exodus 29 of the services connected with the solemn ceremony consecrating Aaron and his sons as priests and setting them apart for sacred service in the Levitical priesthood and earthly sanctuary. That account follows the description of the priestly garments in Exodus 28 and should be carefully studied, and it belongs to the instructions for Israel's worship and priestly service in which a ram is offered as part of the ceremony. The consecration lasted seven days and is also described in Leviticus 8, and after their consecration God publicly accepted their ministry by sending fire to consume Aaron's first offering for the people as high priest. The blood of the consecration ram was applied to their right ears, hands, and feet, signifying that these were devoted to God's service.
The passage belongs to the Sinai narrative in which God personally came to Mount Sinai with His angels, with the sanctuary and priesthood instructions given to Moses during his forty days on Sinai. Those instructions were part of the preparation for placing God's written law in the sanctuary. By them Moses set apart the Levitical order of priesthood to minister before the ark containing the tables of the law in the Most Holy Place of the typical sanctuary while that sanctuary continued, carrying forward through the entire Old Testament period the ministration Moses commenced when he brought the law down to sinful Israel. They reserved priestly rites to Aaron and his sons, so that an unauthorized man such as Saul was not authorized to offer sacrifices himself but was required to wait for Samuel as instructed.
During the consecration Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram's head, setting it apart through that act as the victim identified with the offerers. This act of identification was an indispensable part of the sacrificial ritual, linking the offerers with the victim, and the same ceremony was used for other offerings and on the Day of Atonement. The hand-laying rite described for offerings signifies confession and, in figure, the transfer of sin and guilt to the animal accepted as a substitute. The sinner confessed his sin over the victim, transferring guilt to it and acknowledging that he deserved death. The victim was then slain, and its blood, bearing the sin and guilt, was carried into the sanctuary, and through the year this service transferred the people's sins to the sanctuary.
Shadow and Lasting Teaching
Exodus 29:15 belongs to the laws of Moses concerning sacrifices and offerings and to the ceremonial instructions given through Moses, rather than to the Ten Commandments spoken by God from Sinai. Such laws revealed sacrificial types that were shadows of the substance of the new dispensation. It belongs to the separate set of laws God gave to regulate worship, distinct from the set in Exodus 21 to 23 given for civil government. Civil government and worship have essentially different purposes and entirely separate lines of operation, for civil government is a temporary arrangement of force made necessary by sin to control men and regulate their relations toward each other in this life only, while worship and true Gospel religion are designed to persuade men and bring them back to God.
Like all the rites of the worldly sanctuary where true worship centered until Christ's sacrifice, the verse presents God's plan for dealing with sin and salvation. The earthly priestly services were types and examples of the true sanctuary in heaven. It was an object-lesson pointing to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, pointing to the coming Messiah and typical of His power to forgive sin, transform the character, and deliver from burdens, with its significance and efficacy lying in Christ.
The ancient tabernacle was built for sacrifices and offerings, which ended when Christ suffered and died once for all, and the sanctuary they typified is in heaven, where Jesus now ministers. With the death of Christ and the rending of the veil, that typical and shadowy earthly service passed away entirely and forever. The instruction given through Moses in Exodus 25-30 had reference to flesh-and-blood offerings of bulls and goats, which could not really take away sins. Only Jesus, the Lamb of God, really takes away the sin of the world, appearing once to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and bearing sins in His own body on the tree, and eternal life requires eating the flesh of the Son of man and drinking His blood. Those sacrifices were not to be continued after Christ suffered, but were abolished in His flesh, finding their fulfillment in the body of Christ.
The people's participation in the sanctuary service shows that divine and human work together in God's work through Christ. The same offerings and consecration required of the high priest were required of the cleansed leper, teaching that even the humblest child of God must be wholly devoted and consecrated, as Christ was.
Thou shalt also take one ram belongs to the solemn seven-day ceremony in Exodus 29 for consecrating Aaron and his sons and setting them apart for service as priests in the wilderness sanctuary, following the directions for the sanctuary and the priestly garments given to Moses in the mount. Aaron and his sons were to lay their hands upon the head of the ram to set it apart as the victim identified with themselves, an indispensable part of the sacrificial ritual signifying confession and the transfer in figure of sin and guilt to the animal accepted as a substitute deserving death. It belongs to the ceremonial laws of sacrifices and worship given through Moses, distinct from the Ten Commandments spoken by God from Sinai and from the civil laws in Exodus 21-23, worship belonging to persuasion and return to God while civil government belongs to temporary force for this life. Like all the rites of the earthly sanctuary, it was a shadow and object-lesson of the heavenly sanctuary and of the Lamb of God that takes away sin, pointing to Christ in whom alone its significance and efficacy lay. Those flesh-and-blood offerings of bulls and goats could not really take away sins, and passed away forever when Christ suffered and died once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, while their requirement of whole consecration from high priest and humblest cleansed leper alike shows that divine and human work together and that every child of God must be wholly devoted as Christ was.
Setting and Consecration Rite
Exodus 29:15 stands within the very minute description of the sanctuary built in the days of Moses, exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount. It belongs to the full instructions concerning the sanctuary and its sacred vessels and service, minutely set forth in Exodus 25-31 regarding the tabernacle as erected by Moses. Those directions were shown to Moses during his forty days and forty nights with God on the mount after Israel came to the wilderness of Sinai in the third month after departing Egypt. It comes in chronological order after the events of Exodus 19-32 and before the building and setting up of the sanctuary recorded in Exodus 25-40 and 33-40.
The sanctuary was the portable inner tabernacle erected by Israel at the command of God in the wilderness for sacrifices and offerings, which is what the word sanctuary generally means. It was to be built from the free-will offerings of the children of Israel so God could dwell among them, according to the divine pattern given to Moses in the mount. It was given after deliverance from Egyptian bondage, when hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted Israel to comprehend God's great salvation and the character He required, to provide a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites comprehending the plan of salvation. That portable tabernacle was later replaced by the temple built by Solomon, and in both buildings the worship of God upon the earth centered, with all earthly worship and service revolving around the holy of holies where the law of God rested with the mercy-seat over it.
Exodus 29:15 belongs to the account in Exodus 29 of the services connected with the solemn ceremony consecrating Aaron and his sons as priests and setting them apart for sacred service in the Levitical priesthood and earthly sanctuary. That account follows the description of the priestly garments in Exodus 28 and should be carefully studied, and it belongs to the instructions for Israel's worship and priestly service in which a ram is offered as part of the ceremony. The consecration lasted seven days and is also described in Leviticus 8, and after their consecration God publicly accepted their ministry by sending fire to consume Aaron's first offering for the people as high priest. The blood of the consecration ram was applied to their right ears, hands, and feet, signifying that these were devoted to God's service.
The passage belongs to the Sinai narrative in which God personally came to Mount Sinai with His angels, with the sanctuary and priesthood instructions given to Moses during his forty days on Sinai. Those instructions were part of the preparation for placing God's written law in the sanctuary. By them Moses set apart the Levitical order of priesthood to minister before the ark containing the tables of the law in the Most Holy Place of the typical sanctuary while that sanctuary continued, carrying forward through the entire Old Testament period the ministration Moses commenced when he brought the law down to sinful Israel. They reserved priestly rites to Aaron and his sons, so that an unauthorized man such as Saul was not authorized to offer sacrifices himself but was required to wait for Samuel as instructed.
During the consecration Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram's head, setting it apart through that act as the victim identified with the offerers. This act of identification was an indispensable part of the sacrificial ritual, linking the offerers with the victim, and the same ceremony was used for other offerings and on the Day of Atonement. The hand-laying rite described for offerings signifies confession and, in figure, the transfer of sin and guilt to the animal accepted as a substitute. The sinner confessed his sin over the victim, transferring guilt to it and acknowledging that he deserved death. The victim was then slain, and its blood, bearing the sin and guilt, was carried into the sanctuary, and through the year this service transferred the people's sins to the sanctuary.
Shadow and Lasting Teaching
Exodus 29:15 belongs to the laws of Moses concerning sacrifices and offerings and to the ceremonial instructions given through Moses, rather than to the Ten Commandments spoken by God from Sinai. Such laws revealed sacrificial types that were shadows of the substance of the new dispensation. It belongs to the separate set of laws God gave to regulate worship, distinct from the set in Exodus 21 to 23 given for civil government. Civil government and worship have essentially different purposes and entirely separate lines of operation, for civil government is a temporary arrangement of force made necessary by sin to control men and regulate their relations toward each other in this life only, while worship and true Gospel religion are designed to persuade men and bring them back to God.
Like all the rites of the worldly sanctuary where true worship centered until Christ's sacrifice, the verse presents God's plan for dealing with sin and salvation. The earthly priestly services were types and examples of the true sanctuary in heaven. It was an object-lesson pointing to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, pointing to the coming Messiah and typical of His power to forgive sin, transform the character, and deliver from burdens, with its significance and efficacy lying in Christ.
The ancient tabernacle was built for sacrifices and offerings, which ended when Christ suffered and died once for all, and the sanctuary they typified is in heaven, where Jesus now ministers. With the death of Christ and the rending of the veil, that typical and shadowy earthly service passed away entirely and forever. The instruction given through Moses in Exodus 25-30 had reference to flesh-and-blood offerings of bulls and goats, which could not really take away sins. Only Jesus, the Lamb of God, really takes away the sin of the world, appearing once to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself and bearing sins in His own body on the tree, and eternal life requires eating the flesh of the Son of man and drinking His blood. Those sacrifices were not to be continued after Christ suffered, but were abolished in His flesh, finding their fulfillment in the body of Christ.
The people's participation in the sanctuary service shows that divine and human work together in God's work through Christ. The same offerings and consecration required of the high priest were required of the cleansed leper, teaching that even the humblest child of God must be wholly devoted and consecrated, as Christ was.