and one slaughtered [it]; and Moses took of its blood, and put [it] on the tip of Aaron's right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot;
Aaron and his sons stand at the door of the tent. Moses takes blood from the ram of consecration and marks three points on the body: the right ear, the right thumb, the right big toe. Why those three? And why must blood touch a man before he can serve God at all?
One writer traces the order of the ritual and what the blood settled for good:
Aaron and his sons put their hands on the head of the ram of consecration, and then it was killed. The first thing done with its blood was to put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot. Next the same blood was put on the same parts of each of his sons. Then some was sprinkled on the altar all around. This showed that the ear, the service, and the walk of the priests were all to be consecrated to God, and for that consecration the death of the sacrifice was needed. Once death had come in, the priests could not go back from the position and condition they had been placed in before God.
The three marked spots stand for the three directions a life runs in.
Look back at the consecration of the priests in Leviticus 8. The blood of the ram of consecration set them apart to God, and it anointed the ear, the thumb and the great toe. This signified the devotion of the whole man to Him. The ear was anointed to listen to His word; the hand to do His work; the foot to walk in His ways of pleasantness and peace. Hearing — the receptive life; walking — the subjective; doing — the practical, outward life. The whole life was purchased and redeemed to God.
Blood on the ear, the hand and the foot sets a standard. It measures what a priest hears, what he does and where he walks.
They are qualified by the sacrifice, and priestly service becomes their privilege. Blood is sprinkled on the ear and right hand, and on the great toe as well. So nothing should enter the mind, no act be done, and nothing be found in their walk through the world, that is not according to the precious blood of Jesus.
That same standard was met by One who needed no cleansing of His own:
The blood put on the priestly company means the virtue of Christ's sacrifice consecrating them for all they heard, for all they did, and for all their walk. From then on their whole practical life was to be lived in the virtue of His death to God. Christ needed nothing for Himself. He had not the least flaw to purge. But everything turned for us on His obeying to death — yes, the death of the cross — for God's glory.
Earlier in the chapter Aaron alone is anointed with oil, and no blood is mentioned (v. 12). Writers see a deliberate order in that.
Aaron alone is anointed first, without blood (v. 12). When his sons come into view, he stands with them, and the blood of consecration is put on him and on them (vv. 23, 24). That blood is the righteous ground for their being anointed with him (v. 30). So Jesus alone could be and was anointed — and as man, note — without blood shedding. The Holy One of God, He needed no offering to receive the Holy Spirit in that way. But if He would have us enjoying the fellowship of that anointing from above, blood there must be and was.
The practical weight of that order falls on assurance, not on performance:
At the consecration of the priests, blood was put on ear and hand and foot, marking the whole man as redeemed (Lev. 8:23). After the blood came the oil — a picture of the Spirit… So the Spirit of God seals us because of the blood, the work of Christ. It is not a matter of personal worthiness or of personal faithfulness, but of the value of the work of Christ.
The healed leper of Leviticus 14 received blood on the same three points. The offering behind it differed.
The blood put on the leper's ear, thumb and great toe was the blood of a trespass offering, because the cleansing of a sinner is pictured there. But the blood that consecrated priests for the service of God was the blood of a communion offering.
- Ground — The ram died before its blood was used. That death set the priests apart, and there was no going back from where it placed them before God.
- Ear — The first spot touched. Hearing is consecrated before service is; the ear is anointed to listen to God's word.
- Hand — Blood on the thumb claims the work. Nothing may be done that does not match the value of the blood that marked it.
- Foot — Blood on the toe claims the walk, so the whole man — receiving, doing, going — is purchased and redeemed to God.
- Oil — Aaron was anointed without blood, picturing Christ. Everyone else is sealed with the Spirit only where blood has gone first. Assurance rests on Christ's work, not on personal worthiness.
and he brought Aaron's sons near, and Moses put of the blood on the tip of their right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he took the fat, and the fat tail, and all the fat that was on the inwards, and the net of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, and the right shoulder;
Moses is midway through installing Aaron and his sons as priests. Here he lifts out of the ram the portions that belong to God. Each piece carries meaning, and Moses is about to lay them all on the hands of the new priests.
The Hebrew words behind "consecrate" explain why Moses takes these portions.
The words most often used for 'to consecrate' are mala yad, which mean 'to fill the hand' (as the margin often reads). No doubt this points to the priests taking portions of the ram into their hands and waving them before Jehovah. Hands filled with offerings suited their character as priests to God.
So this verse gathers what will fill those hands. That filling, not the priest's own state, is what makes him a priest:
It matters that the truth behind priestly "consecrating" is the filling of their hand. It is not holiness, nor even devotedness, however necessary and prized these are. It is making the precious sacrifice of Christ our own, in all its worth before God. So it is no spiritual effort of believers, but Christ Godward, held by faith.
No one in Israel ate the fat. It went up in fire to God. Scripture's other uses of the word show why.
The law forbade eating fat and blood alike. The blood was the life, and by its very nature belonged to God; life came from Him in a special way. The fat too was never eaten but burned, and so offered to God. Scripture uses fat as a symbol often enough. "Their heart is fat as grease." "Jeshurun grew fat and kicked." It is the energy and force of the inward will, the inwards of a man's heart.
The verse also names the fat tail.
In the sheep of Syria no part was more prized or more valuable. Its size was one reason, its quality another — fat with the delicacy of marrow. So this part was claimed for Jehovah and given gladly, cut "close by the backbone." In the same way Christ, the One all this pictures, had devoted all His energies to His Father, and not only His life.
The liver's covering, the kidneys, the fat around the entrails — no onlooker could see any of them. That hiddenness is the point:
The fat and the inward parts tell us of the hidden perfections of the Lord. Only God could take account of them when He was here in this world. Since His death they have come within the reach of believers. Taught by the Spirit, we can now understand something of the deep perfections of Christ, which brought such delight to the heart of the Father.
The word for the kidneys carries another sense in Scripture:
The same word, kelayoth, is translated 'reins' (which means 'kidneys') when it stands as a symbol for the inward feelings and affections.
Alongside the inward parts Moses takes an outward one — the right thigh, or shoulder.
The right shoulder only strengthens the thought of our Lord's devotion to the will of God, even to death. The shoulder stands for strength… The right shoulder would point to the atoning sacrifice of the cross. All that He was in life fed into what He was in death — the perfect, willing Sacrifice, bringing such glory to God and blessing to us.
Notice who does the taking in this verse. Aaron does not reach for these portions; Moses lifts them and lays them on him.
We must stress this: all of it was put on their hands before they offered it. Someone else put these parts on their hands; they did not do it themselves. It was their privilege to offer what lay there, but it was given to them first so that they might offer it.
That order overturns the usual idea of consecration:
The common idea is that consecration lies in our giving something to God. So the soul is thrown back on itself, looking for strength to devote itself and all its energies to God's service… Scripture shows a better way. As this chapter shows, it lies in being filled with Christ.
- Filled hands. "Consecrate" means "to fill the hand." What God puts into the priest's hands makes him a priest, not what he works up inside.
- His energy. The fat stands for the energy and force of the inward will. It belongs to God alone — burned, never eaten. Christ devoted all His energies to His Father, not only His life.
- His depths. The kidneys and inward parts picture perfections only God saw then. The Spirit now brings them within our reach.
- His strength. The one outward piece speaks of strength — devotion carried all the way to death.
- Another's gift. Another lays the portions on the hands first. Only then is there something to lift up and offer.
and out of the basket of unleavened bread that was before Jehovah he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat and upon the right shoulder;
The basket before the Lord held three kinds of bread. At this point in Aaron's ordination, Moses takes one of each and lays them on the fat pieces and the right thigh of the ram. Why bread with a sacrifice? Why three kinds? And why lay them on the fat? The answers open up what the whole ceremony meant.
The Hebrew word used through this chapter is not about dedication or zeal. It is about a hand being filled.
The words mostly used for "to consecrate" are mala yad. They mean "to fill the hand" (as the margin often shows). No doubt this points to the priests taking portions of the ram into their hands and waving them before Jehovah. Hands filled with offerings suited their character as priests to God. All of it pictured believers being cleansed by water, sprinkled with blood, and anointed with oil: fully consecrated to God, and made a priestly company for worship in the holiest place.
So the bread in this verse is not decoration. It is part of the load that makes a man a priest.
Unleavened bread is bread made without yeast. The basket held a plain loaf, a loaf with oil worked through it, and a thin wafer with oil brushed on top. One writer reads the two uses of oil — mixed in, and brushed on — as two different moments in the life of Christ.
Mixing with oil speaks of the Spirit of God running all through the humanity of the Lord Jesus from His very birth. This was the very nature of His Manhood. Compare Luke 1:35. Anointing with oil points to the Spirit of God anointing Him at His baptism (Matthew 3:16), to prepare Him for His great public ministry.
The bread went on top of the fat and the right thigh (older translations say "the right shoulder"). One writer sees both Christ's life and Christ's death in that one handful.
Their hands were filled with Christ. They held Christ in the devotedness of His life, shown by the unleavened bread (the meal offering). They held Christ in His devotedness even to death, shown in the burnt offering. So Aaron and his sons had their hands filled, in figure, with Christ — with Him as the only acceptable offering they could bring before Jehovah.
Kelly names what those items stand for, and what they qualify a person to do.
Next came the wave offering of all the ram's fat, with one unleavened cake, one cake of oiled bread and one wafer. These stood for the inward energy of Christ's sacrifice, and for His unblemished living excellence in the Spirit's power... What a blessed qualification for drawing near to God, and for offering the praise sacrifice continually to God — that is, the fruit of lips confessing His name!
Aaron did not reach into the basket. Moses took the bread and put it there. That one detail shapes what consecration means.
The point to stress is this: someone else placed it all on their hands before they offered it. They did not do this themselves. They had the privilege of offering what lay there, but they received it first so that they could offer it.
So consecration is not something a person works up.
Here is something interesting and important. The truth under priestly "consecrating" is the filling of their hand. It is not holiness, nor even devotedness, however necessary and valued those are. It is taking hold of the precious sacrifice of Christ in its own excellence before God. So it is not a spiritual effort by saints. It is Christ, as He stands before God, held by faith.
What filled their hands did not stay there. They waved it before the Lord, and then it went on the altar.
Their hands can now hold the excellency and value of the offering — the fat and the right shoulder. They hold too what pictured the perfections of Christ as man: pure, sinless, holy, anointed by the Spirit. Notice that his sons share fully with Aaron in this worship. As priests we worship in the company of Christ. All that filled their hands then goes on the altar as a sweet aroma to the Lord. We enter into the delight God has in the perfections of Christ, and He accepts our worship as He accepts Christ.
- Filled — "Consecrate" means "to fill the hand." The ceremony shows what the word means.
- Given — Moses put the bread and the fat into their hands. Consecration starts as a gift received, not a thing achieved.
- Christ — The bread pictures Christ as man: oil mixed in for the Spirit in His humanity from birth, oil brushed on for His anointing at His baptism.
- Joined — Bread laid on the fat holds His life and His death in one handful.
- Offered — They waved it, then laid it on the altar. Hands filled with Christ are hands ready to worship, and God accepts that worship as He accepts Christ.
and he gave all into Aaron's hands, and into his sons' hands, and waved them as a wave-offering before Jehovah.
In Leviticus 8, Moses consecrates Aaron and his sons as priests, step by step. Here he fills their open hands with parts of the ram and with bread, and waves the whole load before the LORD. Commentators treat this one action as the key to what "consecration" means.
The English word hides a picture. Writers point to the literal Hebrew phrase, and to this ceremony as its origin:
The words mostly used for "to consecrate" are mala yad. They mean "to fill the hand," as many Bibles note in the margin. This no doubt points to the priests taking portions of the ram into their hands and waving them before Jehovah. Hands filled with offerings suited their character as priests to God.
That definition cuts against the usual idea of consecration as a burst of personal effort:
It is interesting and important that 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 making the precious sacrifice of Christ your own, in all its own excellency before God. So it is not a spiritual effort by believers. It is Christ, presented to God, and taken hold of by faith.
Each item on their palms pictures Christ — His life and His death:
Different parts of the ram, along with oiled bread and a wafer of unleavened bread, were put in the hands of Aaron and his sons. They were then waved as a wave offering before the Lord. Their hands were filled with Christ. There was Christ in the devotedness of His life, shown by the unleavened bread (the grain offering). And there was Christ in His devotedness to death, witnessed to by the burnt offering. The meaning of "to consecrate" is to "fill the hand." So Aaron and his sons were consecrated by having their hands filled, in picture, with Christ — with Him as the only acceptable offering they could bring before Jehovah.
The priests do nothing at first. Moses loads their hands; only then do they lift what they hold.
The point to stress is this: it was all placed on their hands before they offered it. Someone else put these parts on their hands; they did not do it themselves. It was their privilege to offer what was placed there, but it was given to them first so that they could offer it. This Scripture makes it clear that consecration is what was first given to the priests, so that it could then be used in God's service.
The gesture is not decoration. It displays the offering in God's presence, and its movement differs from the heave offering:
The rabbis explain that the heave shoulder was moved up and down, and the wave breast waved from side to side. These actions were done "before the Lord." They seem to picture the people who moved the offerings as really standing in His presence, with their hands filled with Christ.
Filling the hand is not the first step in the chapter. It follows the blood and the oil, and Aaron's sons stand in it with him:
Consecration, or filling the hand, follows Aaron and his sons being sanctified by the blood and the oil — that is, by the blood of Jesus, who in the power of the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, and by the Spirit in whose power He offered Himself in death. Their hands can now be filled with the excellency and value of the offering — the fat and the right shoulder — and with what pictured the perfections of Christ as man: pure, sinless, holy, anointed by the Spirit. We notice here that his sons are fully associated with Aaron in this worship. As priests we worship in the company of Christ. All that filled their hands is then put on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. We enter into the delight God has in the perfections of Christ. He accepts our worship according to Christ's acceptance, for the consecration offerings were burned on the burnt offering.
Commentators apply the scene to us. What Aaron's sons did with their hands, we do with our words:
Is it not our privilege as priests to come before God and wave before Him what speaks of His own dear Son? We can speak in praise to God of Him who was once here on earth to do His will, and who obeyed even to death — the death of the cross.
- Filled, not emptied. "Consecrate" in Hebrew means "to fill the hand"; this verse is the picture the word comes from.
- Filled with Christ. What lay on their hands stood for Christ — the devotion of His life, and His death. He is the only acceptable offering the priests could bring.
- Filled by another. Moses loaded their palms. They did not supply the offering; they only lifted what was given.
- Filled hands lifted. Waving displayed the offering before the LORD, marking out those who held it as truly in His presence.
- Filled hands shared. Aaron's sons held the same portions. We worship in the company of Christ, and God accepts it on His account.
And Moses took them from off their hands, and burned [them] on the altar, over the burnt-offering they were a consecration-offering for a sweet odour it was an offering by fire to Jehovah.
Here the consecration of Aaron and his sons reaches its last act: Moses takes back what he has just laid on their hands and burns it. Why did the priests hold these portions at all, and why did they go up on top of the burnt offering already on the altar?
The Hebrew word behind "ordination" here means to fill the hand. One writer says what that does and does not mean:
It is both interesting and important that the truth behind priestly "consecrating" is the filling of their hand. It is not holiness, nor even devotedness, however necessary and prized those are. It is taking the precious sacrifice of Christ as your own, in its own excellency before God. So it is no spiritual effort of the saints, but Christ before God, held by faith.
Every item laid on their hands pictured something of Christ:
Next came the wave-offering of all the ram's fat, with one unleavened cake, one cake of oiled bread and one wafer. These represented the inward energy of Christ's sacrifice, and His unblemished living excellence in the power of the Spirit. They had been put on the hands of all and waved before Jehovah. Then they were taken off their hands, which they "filled" — the essential idea of consecration — and burned on the altar over the burnt-offering. What a qualification this is for drawing near to God, and for offering the praise sacrifice continually to God — that is, fruit of lips confessing His name!
Another writer adds the right shoulder and sums up the picture:
Then it was all burned on the altar. This tells us what those parts pictured. The right shoulder pictured strength. The fat of the inwards pictured the energy of will. The unleavened bread, the cake and the wafers pictured the whole life. All of this was in Christ wholly for God.
Notice the order. Someone else filled their hands first. Only then did Moses take the load and lay it on the altar. The writer below uses an older translation, which reads "Jehovah" where the ESV reads "the LORD":
Aaron and his sons first have these things put on their hands "as a wave-offering before Jehovah." Not yet as offered, "to Jehovah." … They had nothing to offer "to Jehovah" until they were filled "before Jehovah." And we will have nothing to offer to God until our hearts are filled with Christ before God.
The same writer stresses who did the filling:
The point to stress is this: someone else placed it all on their hands before they offered it. They did not do this themselves. Offering what lay there was their privilege, but it was given to them first so that they could offer it.
The verse also says where the portions burned: on the burnt offering already lying there. One writer links that to why God accepts our worship:
Their hands can now be filled with the excellency and value of the offering — the fat and the right shoulder — and also with what pictured the perfections of Christ as man: pure, sinless, holy, anointed by the Spirit. Notice here that his sons are fully joined with Aaron in this worship. As priests we worship in the company of Christ. All that filled their hands is then put on the altar for a sweet savour to the Lord. We enter into the delight God has in the perfections of Christ. And He accepts our worship according to Christ's acceptance, because the consecrations were burned on the burnt-offering.
One writer asks what such full hands leave room for:
What an occupation. The hands so filled could be busy with nothing else. They can wave what they hold, and that alone engages them. Where are such priests today? They are redeemed souls, so taken up with the beauty of the Lord Jesus that they can only display it and recount it before God, and dwell on what He was in Himself. There God's fire could find nothing but a smell of delight.
- Filled — "Consecration" means a filled hand. It starts with receiving, not with resolving.
- Given — Another loaded those hands; the priests never supplied the offering they presented.
- Held — What was waved before the Lord was then offered to the Lord. Hearts full of Christ come first.
- Burned — The portions went up on the burnt offering. God accepts our worship in the acceptance of Christ.
- Occupied — Hands that full can carry nothing else, and that is the picture of a priest God delights in.
And Moses took the breast, and waved it as a wave-offering before Jehovah; of the ram of consecration it was Moses' part; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood that was on the altar, and sprinkled [it] on Aaron, on his garments, and on his sons, and on his sons' garments with him; and hallowed Aaron, his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.
Leviticus 8 is the day Moses installs Aaron and his sons as priests. Verse 30 is the moment he joins blood from the altar to the holy anointing oil — so why did the oil wait for the blood, and why sprinkle the clothes?
Moses anointed Aaron with oil earlier, at verse 12, but not his sons. One commentator asks why.
Why were Aaron's sons not anointed with him in verse 12? Simply because the blood had not yet been shed. Only when "the blood" and "the oil" could be joined together could Aaron and his sons be "anointed" and "sanctified" together. Some readers brush past such a marked detail, or say it meant nothing. They have yet to learn how to value the types of the Old Testament Scriptures — the shadows of good things to come.
One writer reads the gap between the two anointings as a picture of Christ, and follows it through to the day the Spirit came on His people.
Aaron alone is anointed first without blood (verse 12); when his sons come into question, he is with them, and then the blood of consecration is put on him and them (verses 23, 24), as the righteous ground for their being anointed with him (verse 30). So Jesus alone could be and was anointed — and note, as man — without bloodshedding. The Holy One of God, He needed no offering to receive the Holy Spirit in that way. But if He would have us enjoying the fellowship of that anointing from on high, blood there must be, and blood there was. So He, anointed first, before His death, enters the holiest place for us with the value of His blood. Exalted by the right hand of God, He received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and poured out what was seen and heard at Pentecost and since. What a testimony — first to His holy manhood, then to the value of His blood for us!
The whole ceremony ran in a fixed order. This sprinkling comes last.
Then a second ram was to be killed. Its blood was sprinkled on the altar, and also put on Aaron and his sons. They had identified themselves with this sacrifice by laying their hands on the head of the ram. Only after this was the holy anointing oil to be applied to Aaron, his sons, and their garments. The order was: first the water, second the blood, and third the oil.
The verse keeps repeating one short phrase — "with him". One writer traces what it means for the sons.
The high priest was anointed in a completely different way from the others, without blood. The others had oil and blood mixed put on them. Then, with Aaron, it was put on them and their clothes — with him, not with them. They are brought in almost as an afterthought. But there was no regular anointing for them. So strictly speaking he was the anointed priest, and when they were anointed in their way, it was with him… It identifies them all with him; he already had the anointing. This gives the place of the church with Christ. Looked at strictly, the sons of Aaron represent us.
Not only the men but what they wore was sprinkled. Commentators read the clothing as standing for the outward, visible side of a priest's life.
It is the anointing of the Spirit, as well as the death of Christ in power… as the life of the Spirit is one of deliverance, so is Christ made sin our release from all its evil; and this to the display of the Spirit's power in our ways, which would seem to be portrayed in the garments.
Another writer draws out the same detail with a different emphasis — that what the blood touches is claimed for God's pleasure.
The blood on the garments would suggest that all the moral graces of Christ which have been formed in our souls are to be held in devotion by us for the pleasure of God. Along with this we have the oil, which speaks of the living energy of the Holy Spirit. It is only by the Spirit that the features of Christ can be formed in us, and only by the same Spirit can they be reproduced through us for the present pleasure of God.
One writer counts how often blood ever touched people themselves.
There are only three cases of blood being sprinkled on people: Aaron and his sons on the day of their consecration (Lev. 8:23, 30); the leper on the day of his cleansing (Lev. 14:7); and the people at the giving of the covenant from Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:8). In fact only one sprinkling was needed. Looked at as a whole, the worshippers have been cleansed once, and no longer have any consciousness of sins.
- Blood first. Moses could not anoint the sons at verse 12. No blood had been shed yet. Oil and blood had to meet before the men could be set apart together.
- Christ alone. Moses anointed Aaron first, without blood. That pictures Jesus, the Holy One, who needed no offering to receive the Spirit. Then His blood was shed, and the Spirit came at Pentecost.
- With him. The sons had no anointing of their own. They shared the high priest's — and that is the place of Christ's people with Him.
- Garments included. Moses sprinkled the clothes too. The graces of Christ formed in us are to be held in devotion for God, and the same Spirit reproduces them through us.
- Once is enough. Blood touched people themselves only three times in Scripture. One cleansing is enough: the worshipper has no more consciousness of sins.