And thus shalt thou do to Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded thee seven days shalt thou consecrate them.
Exodus 29 has set out, step by step, how Moses was to wash, clothe and anoint Aaron and his sons, and bring them under the blood of sacrifice. This verse seals it with two demands: do exactly as God said, and take a full week over it — which raises the question of what "consecrate" actually means.
The words "according to all that I have commanded you" put Moses under orders. When he carries out the same ceremony in Leviticus, he keeps pointing the people away from himself to the source:
"This is the thing that the LORD has commanded to be done" (Leviticus 8:5). Let these words sink into our ears. They are priceless words. He did not say, "This is the thing that is convenient, agreeable, or suitable." Nor did He say, "This is what the fathers arranged, what the elders decreed, or what the teachers think." Moses knew nothing of such sources of authority. For him there was one holy, supreme source of authority: the word of the LORD. He would bring every member of the assembly into direct contact with that source.
The principle reaches past the tabernacle. One writer traces every later failure back to it:
Aaron and his sons had not chosen the priesthood, God had called them to it... The cause of all failure, whether in Israel or in the church, is simply departing from what the Lord has commanded.
The Hebrew word behind "consecrate" is a picture drawn from the ceremony itself:
The words most often used for "to consecrate" are mala yad, which mean "to fill the hand"... This points to how they took portions of the ram into their hands and waved them before the LORD. Their hands being filled with offerings suited their character as priests to God.
So consecration does not begin with the priest's own effort:
Here is a point of real interest and importance: the truth behind priestly "consecrating" is the filling of their hand. It is not holiness, and not devotedness either, however necessary and prized those are. It is taking the precious sacrifice of Christ as your own, in all its worth before God. So it is not a spiritual effort by believers, but Christ presented to God, taken hold of by faith.
The week is not padding. Nothing less than perfection would do:
For seven days these ceremonies had to be repeated, and for seven days the altar had to be sanctified. The priests must have a perfect consecration, and the altar where they served must be perfectly sanctified. Both must match the perfect requirements of a holy God.
Each of those days carried its own sacrifice, and the altar itself was included in the work:
This sanctification of the priests continued for seven days (the number of completeness), and every day a bull was offered as a sin offering (vv. 35-37). This involved not only the priests but the altar, so that the altar was called "most holy," and whatever touched the altar was made holy... The altar speaks of the person of Christ, the "most holy." Direct contact with Him makes one holy, but a secondary contact does not. In the same way, one who has personal faith in the Lord Jesus Himself is saved, but no one is saved by contact with a believer.
One commentator reads that week inside the tent as a picture of the present time:
"And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed"... Aaron and his sons were anointed together on the ground of the shed blood. Here we see them shut in within the tabernacle for "seven days." This is a striking figure of where Christ and His members stand now, right through this present age — shut in with God, waiting for the glory to appear... and while waiting, feeding on the riches of divine grace.
The seven days leave no room for part-time priesthood:
It was not only for one day of the week but every day. We must remember that we are always consecrated priests, whether at the meetings on the Lord's Day, or at business, or in the home on the other days. It is not God's thought that we should take up priesthood on Sunday and lay it down on Monday. Aaron and his sons were always priests, and so are we.
The seven days also come to an end:
The seven days are a picture of our life down here, and our consecration continues right through it... and when the seven days end, something new begins. The eighth day which follows marks this new beginning.
- Commanded. The consecration is God's design from start to finish. Failure, in Israel and in the church, begins by departing from what He said.
- Filled. "Consecrate" means "to fill the hand" — not human devotedness, but Christ's sacrifice taken up by faith and offered to God.
- Complete. Seven days, with a sacrifice every day, because a holy God accepts nothing less than a perfect consecration.
- Continuous. The week covers every day, so priesthood is never something picked up on Sunday and put down on Monday.
- Consummated. The seven days close and the eighth begins something new — the waiting shut in with God ends, and the glory they waited for appears.
And thou shalt offer every day a bullock as a sin-offering for atonement; and the altar shalt thou cleanse from sin, by making atonement for it, and shalt anoint it, to hallow it.
God closes the instructions for making Aaron and his sons priests with a surprise: the altar itself needed a daily sin offering to purify it. Why would a piece of furniture need atonement, and what does a whole week of it teach about approaching God?
Blood and oil each did their own work at the altar.
Two things had to happen to the altar before worship could begin. It had to be cleansed by making atonement for it, and anointed to sanctify it. Atonement was necessary because Israel was a sinful people. Blood sprinkled on the altar made that atonement — this was in view of the people; the anointing set it apart to the Lord. The people's worship could then begin on these two grounds. From there it could continue, always identified with the altar. Their worship could not be apart from the altar.
The altar was not sinful in itself. It needed cleansing because of the people it stood for.
Man can come near to the place where God dwells only on the ground of sacrifice, which presents the truth of atonement and purification. So the altar stands related to the people themselves and their place with God. It stands identified with what they are. Because they are sinful, it needs atonement to purify and consecrate it. In what is accomplished for it, the people see, as in an object lesson, what is accomplished for them.
The order matters: blood first, then the anointing. And "sanctify" here does not mean "made morally better."
The consecration of Aaron and his sons had to cover seven days. On each of those days a sin offering had to be killed for atonement. In this way the altar where they would serve was to be cleansed. Once the blood had cleansed it, the altar was to be anointed and so set apart for God. A lifeless thing, such as an altar, could be sanctified, because "to sanctify" simply means "to set apart for God."
God repeats the command every day for a full week. Nothing about the altar or the priests was left half-done.
Seven days these ceremonies were to be repeated, and seven days the altar was to be sanctified. The priests had to have a perfect consecration. The altar where they would serve had to be perfectly sanctified. Both had to match the perfect standard that a holy God requires.
Another writer points to what the repeated week left with the men themselves.
The priests would never forget the lessons of sacrifice and holiness for the rest of their lives.
A daily offering implies a daily possibility of failure — and a daily remedy.
The bullock for a sin offering every day would suggest provision in case of failure. Aaron and his sons might fail at any moment and be defiled in their consecration. But the sin offering was there to deal with the failure and restore them again. For us today, this would be the provision of the Advocate. At any moment we may fail and so become unfit in practice for priestly service. But the provision is there, so that when failure does come in, it can be dealt with. It is not God's thought that failure should remain and so hinder our service to Him. There is no reason why we should sin, but "if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).
The whole consecration ends on one word, and it decides what God will accept.
God will not accept, even from sanctified priests, anything that is unholy... Just as Aaron had, as the crown of all his garments, the headband engraved "Holy to the LORD," so in the order of the consecration the last word is holy.
The writer quoted earlier traces that holiness back to the cross.
By atonement and anointing the altar was made most holy — a "holy of holies" — though it stood out in the court of the tabernacle. There is nothing like the cross, the place where the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up. Nothing on earth or in heaven is so holy... Everything offered to God must match the holiness seen in the cross. That is, it must rest on the ground of evil having been judged there, and of the redemption and sanctification that follow the shedding of blood.
- Ground. The altar needed atonement because Israel was a sinful people. It stood identified with them.
- Gift. Blood cleansed it, then oil set it apart — sanctifying simply means being set apart for God.
- Measure. Seven days say the cleansing had to match God's own standard, not a lesser one.
- Repetition. A sin offering every day answers failure every day; for believers now, the Advocate meets it.
- Result. Worship could only begin from a cleansed altar, and the last word over the whole arrangement is holy.
Seven days shalt thou make atonement for the altar and hallow it; and the altar shall be most holy whatever toucheth the altar shall be holy.
These closing lines turn from the priests to the altar where they will offer sacrifice: it must be cleansed, anointed, and made so holy that whatever touches it becomes holy too. Why would an altar need atonement made for it, and how far does that holiness spread?
Before anyone could worship, two things had to happen to the altar itself.
Two things were required on the altar before the worship could begin. It had to be cleansed by making atonement for it, and anointed in order to sanctify it. Atonement was necessary because Israel was a sinful people. It was made by blood being sprinkled on the altar — this was in view of the people; the anointing set it apart to the Lord. So the worship of the people could begin on these two grounds. From there it could continue in identification with the altar. Their worship could not be apart from the altar. By atonement and anointing the altar was made most holy — a "holy of holies" — though it stood in the court of the tabernacle.
The altar stood for the people, so what happened to it was a lesson about them.
The altar stands identified with what the people are. Because they are sinful, atonement has to be made for it, to purify and consecrate it. In what is accomplished for it, the people see, as in an object lesson, what is accomplished for them.
An altar is a thing without life. So what can it mean to sanctify one?
Having been cleansed by the blood, the altar was then to be anointed and so set apart for God. A thing without life, such as an altar, could be sanctified, since "to sanctify" simply means "to set apart for God."
The same measure applied to the men and to the altar they served at.
Seven days these ceremonies were to be repeated; and seven days the altar was to be sanctified. The priests had to have a perfect consecration. The altar where they were to serve had to be perfectly sanctified. The consecration and the sanctification alike had to match the perfect requirements of a holy God.
Holiness passed from the altar to whatever touched it — but only one step.
Not only the priests were sanctified, but the altar too. So the altar was said to be "most holy," and whatever touched the altar was made "holy." A contrast to this is seen in Haggai 2:12. Holy meat, that which had touched the altar, did not make anything else holy by touching it. The altar speaks of the person of Christ, the "most holy." Direct contact with Him makes one holy, but a secondary contact does not. In just the same way, anyone who has personal faith in the Lord Jesus Himself is saved. No one is saved by contact with a believer.
This verse surfaces again in the Gospels, when the Lord rebukes teachers who ranked the offering above the altar that gave it its standing.
They allowed men to swear by the temple, while forbidding them to swear by the gold of the temple. In the same way, they degraded the basic truth of the altar, while they considered the gift on it too sacred to swear by. Yet the altar speaks of the person of Christ, which sanctifies the gift, which speaks of His sacrifice. Certainly His sacrifice is precious, but He Himself is greater than His sacrifice.
The word this section ends on is not accidental.
God will not accept anything unholy, even from sanctified priests. Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 are a solemn witness to this. It is useless to offer God what is unclean. He will not accept it. The law of His house is HOLY (Ezekiel 43:12). Aaron's garments were crowned by the diadem, inscribed "Holy to the LORD." In the same way, the last word in the order of the consecration is holy.
That last word carries a caution for anyone who handles holy things — including in study and speech.
This is three times holy ground; and in trying to touch such a theme we are conscious of the searching word in Exodus 29, "whatever touches the altar shall be holy."
- Cleansed — blood was sprinkled on the altar because the people it stood for were sinful. What was done to the altar showed them what was done for them.
- Consecrated — after the blood came the anointing oil. "To sanctify" means simply to set apart for God, so even a lifeless altar could be sanctified.
- Complete — seven days for the priests, seven days for the altar. Both had to match what a holy God requires in full.
- Contagious — holiness spread from the altar to whatever touched it, but only one step. Direct contact with Christ makes a person holy; contact with a holy person does not.
- Crowned — the consecration closes on the word holy. The altar speaks of Christ, and He Himself is greater than His sacrifice.