Aaron and Sons Consecrated

Aaron and Sons Consecrated

Exodus 29: “And this is what you shall do to them to hallow them for ministering to Me as priests: Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, ² and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour). ³ You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams.

 

⁴ “And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water. ⁵ Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the intricately woven band of the ephod. ⁶ You shall put the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. ⁷ And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him. ⁸ Then you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. ⁹ And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.

 

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GOD told Moses to consecrate or make Aaron and his sons holy.

 

My Observations:

• Aaron and his sons were declared holy by GOD, not because of their actions.
• Moses was given the authority to declare Aaron and his sons as holy.
• The consecration was a one-time event; however, the dressing and preparation of the priests would happen perpetually.

 

Following GOD took the admission of sin. The priests were about to enter into activity that would require thousands of animals to be offered each year. GOD would provide the animals and Aaron and his sons would provide the holy ritual of sacrificing the animals to GOD.

 

After Adam and Eve disobeyed GOD, HE sacrificed animals to cover their nakedness. HE may have used rams to cover their nakedness, but the Bible does not say. Abraham was provided a ram as a substitute for sacrificing Isaac. A ram is a male sheep. Young sheep are called lambs. JESUS is the sacrificial lamb that would end the need for sacrificing animals for the atonement of sin.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about consecrating Aaron and his sons?
• What is GOD preparing you for?
• Has GOD made you holy for a purpose HE has not revealed to you?

Altar of the Tabernacle

Altar of the Tabernacle

Exodus 27: “You shall make an altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide—the altar shall be square—and its height shall be three cubits. ² You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with bronze. ³ Also you shall make its pans to receive its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. ⁴ You shall make a grate for it, a network of bronze; and on the network you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. ⁵ You shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath, that the network may be midway up the altar. ⁶ And you shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. ⁷ The poles shall be put in the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar to bear it. ⁸ You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.

 

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GOD gave Moses specific instruction on how to make an altar to sacrifice animals to HIM.

 

My Observations:

• GOD expected specific animals to be sacrificed at specific times for specific reasons.
• GOD chose bronze as the metal which could withstand heat and maintain integrity.
• GOD knew the sacrifice would be messy, so HE had Moses build a way to clean it.

 

Sacrifices would be a reminder of Adam and Eve’s sin and for the need of bloodshed to atone for sin. GOD killed an animal to cover Adam and Eve. But HE also died for our sins, showing humans that HIS blood was needed to save humanity.

 

The altar would be able to transfer ashes and blood away from the top. Cleaning the altar was thought of in the design. Bronze is made of copper and tin. Neither metal is mentioned in the revelation of heaven, only gold. GOD also knew the children of Israel would need to cary the altar around, so HE designed a way to carry it. GOD was pointing to the sacrifice of JESUS.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about the details of the altar?
• Has GOD ever given you specific instructions?
• How often do you remember the sacrifice JESUS made for you?

Addressing Celebration of Deliverance

 

Addressing Celebration of Deliverance

Exodus 23: ¹⁴ “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: ¹⁵ You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); ¹⁶ and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.

 

¹⁷ “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

¹⁸ “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My ^[d]sacrifice remain until morning. ¹⁹ The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

 

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GOD continued speaking to Moses. This time HE addressed celebrations.

 

My Observations:

• GOD knew people would forget how HE delivered them out of Egypt so HE instituted celebrating unleavened bread.
• GOD foreshadowed the Pentecost, where JESUS appeared to many people after HIS resurrection, by instituting a feast to remember spring, or new life.
• GOD desired to end the year with a celebration of the best of the harvest.

 

Remembering GOD seems to be very important to HIM. HE knows our sin nature will make us forget what HE does and our relationship with HIM will be viewed as secondary. Unleavened bread is symbolic for no sin. A sinless human could open the scroll. No sin, or no yeast was to be celebrated.

 

The next celebration was symbolic of the resurrection of JESUS. Spring shows new life and GOD made it easy for us to remember HIS SON’s resurrection and appearance to people afterwards.

 

The final celebration was a harvest feast that required the best of the harvest to be brought into the places of worship and sacrificed to GOD and given to people. These harvests were all about food and togetherness while remembering GOD.

 

Stopping work to intentionally remember GOD is a sign of surrender that the people needed to learn. Pharaoh had the people working seven days a week and had created a mindset that rest would cause problems with productivity. This mindset still lingers today as people try to overwork and under trust GOD. Food is needed to sustain life. GOD wanted to show HE is in control of sustaining life.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about the celebrations HE instituted?
• How do you intentionally remember GOD?
• Is there an annual celebration that you can follow or institute to remember GOD’s greatness in your life?

Not Taken Lightly

Not Taken Lightly

Exodus 20: ²² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. ²³ You shall not make anything to be with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. ²⁴ An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I ^[d]record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. ²⁵ And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it. ²⁶ Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’

 

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After GOD spoke to Moses and the children of Israel, the people became terrified of GOD. They asked that GOD speak to Moses and he would speak to them. GOD told Moses to have the children of Israel make an altar of sacrifice to remember HIM.

 

My Observations:

• GOD reiterated that the children of Israel were not supposed to make gold or silver gods.
• GOD gave clear directions for the altar HE wanted.
• GOD promised that if they remembered HIM, HE would come to them and bless them.

 

GOD seemed to be establishing a formal relationship with the children of Israel to address a mindset that was imposed on them by the Egyptians. Gold and silver were precious metals that were remnants of the garden of Eden. GOD did not want HIS gold or silver to be used for manufacturing a god.

 

Another mindset GOD seemed to be addressing was preservation of human life. Some people that the children of Israel would face believed in human sacrifice. GOD wanted an offering of their food source, lamb and their tools, oxen. HE also wanted the sacrifice to remember what HE did for Adam and Eve by covering their nakedness. I believe Abel’s sacrifice acknowledged GOD’s action as righteous, so he mimicked HIM.

 

Burnt offerings and peace offerings would become the norm for the children of Israel for centuries until JESUS would arrive as the ultimate sacrifice for sin. GOD gave this temporary way of confessing sin and worshiping HIM through offering unblemished lambs and strong oxen. GOD was focusing the children of Israel to leave their slave mindset where they would give Pharaoh their best and to remember HIM by sacrificing their best.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about HIS command to provide burnt offerings?
• Has your relationship with GOD gotten a little lackadaisical/?
• What limiting mindset is GOD trying to guide you out of?

 

Where is the Lamb?

 Where is the Lamb?

Genesis 22: ⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

 

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

 

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

 

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Isaac must have seen Abraham sacrificing lambs to GOD his whole life. Abraham may have gotten this desire to share an animal with GOD from his father Terah. Terah may have heard from Shem that Abel sacrificed an animal, following the LORD’s example. Abel may have done this in acknowledgement that GOD was right for throwing Adam and Eve out of the garden.

 

Abraham may have carried on this ritual of sharing an animal with GOD. But Isaac did not see a lamb this time. He was carrying the wood and saw the fire, but no lamb.

 

My Observations:

• Abraham did not know he was saying a prophecy of JESUS being the Lamb for mankind.
• Abraham believed his son would somehow be brought back to life.
• Abraham questioned GOD before, but not this time.

 

Being willing to give up someone he loved dearly because GOD told him to was incredible. GOD only needed one human, Abraham, to do this. During this difficult situation, Abraham still realized that GOD would provide what was needed. Same with you and me.

 

We think the situation is impossible. But we may have to do something that GOD told us to do that seems counter to what the world would say. GOD will provide “for HIMSELF” the lamb. HE did indeed and HIS name is JESUS.

 

Challenge

• Why do you think GOD told Moses about this conversation between Isaac and Abraham?
• Did GOD give you strange instructions that seem counter to HIS plan?
• Is GOD attempting to grow your faith by having you do something counter to the culture?

Second Acceptable Offering

Second Acceptable Offering

Genesis 8: ²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

 

²² “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

 

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Eight generations after Abel, Noah followed in his footsteps. Abel saw the Garden of Eden and heard about the LORD’s grace when HE made clothing to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. Abel took the best, friendliest animal and sacrificed it to the LORD. No one else had sacrificed anything to the LORD until Noah.

 

Erecting an altar, Noah took some of the precious few animals and sacrificed them to the LORD. HE smelled the “soothing aroma” and made a covenant with humans because of Noah.

 

My Observations:

• GOD’s relationship with Noah changed when HE closed the door of the ark.
• GOD would speak to Noah, but would no longer show up and walk with him.
• Noah wanted to continue his relationship with GOD, so he sacrificed his best animals, burning them up in hopes that at least the smoke would reach GOD.

 

Abel and Noah voluntarily sacrificed to the LORD. Nowhere in this section of the Bible was there a command from GOD to provide a sacrifice. They simply wanted to give something to GOD that had meaning. Abel may have wanted to mimic GOD by sacrificing an animal. Perhaps Noah wanted to show thanks, so he sacrificed animals of prey that could have been eaten.

 

This second sacrifice was acceptable. GOD made a promise that even though humans continued in their evil thoughts, HE would not curse the ground any more than it was cursed. GOD would not “flood” the earth to destroy mankind.

 

Challenge

• Can you see GOD’s heart as HE explains to Moses how endearing Noah’s actions were?
• Has GOD brought you through a difficult time before?
• Without killing animals or humans, what sacrifice can you do that would be acceptable to GOD today?