Exodus 29:1 And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest’s office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish,
2 And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them.
3 And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams.
4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water.
5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod:
6 And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre.
7 Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.
8 And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them.
9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest’s office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.
In our time, we are being trained to have things in a hurry. We go to the store to buy a loaf of bread rather than baking it at home. We want products we can put into the microwave and have it ready to eat in five minutes. We do not sew our own clothes, we run to the store and buy that jacket or that shirt. On and on it goes.
Thus when we look at the Word of God, there are certain chapters or even certain books that people do not want to read. For some, God has added far too much detail on certain things. The fact is that God did not put one idle word into the Bible.
Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
In Exodus 28 God gave Moses commandments regarding the priests’ garments. Now in chapter 29, God is still giving further instruction regarding the priests. We need to remember that the Tabernacle and all the vessels in that place and the priesthood were a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not a mere man. He is the eternal Son of God. He left heaven’s glory to come to this earth. He needed to become a man in order to fulfil God’s promise in Genesis 3:15.
Jesus Christ is that “seed of the woman” that would bruise the head of the serpent. God required a sinless sacrifice that would be willing to lay down His life and shed His blood for our sins. That “seed” had to be without sin. There is no human being that is without sin. Adam sinned. Noah sinned. Moses sinned, etc. It required someone that was human, but also someone that was God. No one born through the God-designed process of child bearing would fit that need. Thus God had planned the sending of His only begotten Son to lay down His life for mankind. This plan was in place before God even started to created the heaven and the earth.
In chapter 29, God began by teaching Moses how the priests would be prepared to be able to minister on behalf of the people. They needed to be hallowed. We already noted in the last chapter that the priests needed to be sanctified for the ministry of being a priest. They were the “go-between” between God and man.
In order to hallow them, Moses needed to take one young bullock and two rams without blemish. The animals used for all sacrifices needed to be the best that the people had. They could not take their scruffy, sickly animals and sacrifice them. They might look at that bullock and see how fat it was and they might calculate how much money they could make with that animal. God comes first. He would provide all their needs if they would put Him first.
Besides the animals in verse 1, we read that Moses needed to take unleavened bread and unleavened cakes that were mixed with oil. The oil used here was olive oil. This would have been a different quality of oil than that which the priests needed to use for the lamps in the Tabernacle. Moses needed to make wafers made with flour and olive oil. These would have been thin, flat pieces of bread and they were called wafers. The items mentioned here were not designed to be tasty and adjusted to each priest’s taste buds. They were simple and specific because they were to depict the importance of keeping sin out of the ceremonies. Even these wafers and the bread and cakes, depicted the sinless nature of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In verses 3-4 we see that these items needed to be put into one basket and brought with the bullock and the two rams, to the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. Moses needed to bring Aaron and his sons there and they needed to be washed with water. This washing was symbolic of the cleansing of sin that we all need.
In salvation, God washes us clean of our sin, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. After being washed, the priests needed to put on their priestly garments. They needed to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The garments we learned of in chapter 28 were a type of that righteousness. This was a solemn event and the priests needed to see this for what it was from God’s perspective. Moses needed to see the soberness of this event as he would be instructing Aaron and his sons in it.
Moses also needed to take the mitre and put it on the head of Aaron. On that mitre there was a holy crown. Everything about this attire was to point to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the King of kings. He is the LORD of Lords. He is the Saviour of mankind.
Moses also needed to take the anointing oil and pour it on Aaron’s head, to anoint him. This was symbolic of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament we read that the Holy Spirit could come upon a person and He could also be removed from the person by God. In the New Testament dispensation, after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells the true child of God and He can never be removed.
In verses 8-9 Aaron’s sons also needed to be prepared for the service of the Lord. This office was God’s design. Aaron and his sons were chosen by God for this special work. The priesthood was to be a constant office filled by the descendants of Aaron. This was the case until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament system was replaced by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is so much more than all of creation.
It is a privilege to be able to trust in Him for our salvation. It is a blessing to have Him as the Mediator of a new covenant. Be sure you are building your life on the truth. There is a great hunger for religion today, but not for truth. Most people are closed to the truth. The Word of God is Truth. It does not just contain the Truth, It IS TRUTH. The devil has been busy since Genesis 3 trying to destroy the Word of God. His introduction is of him casting doubt upon the Word of God. The multitude of perversions we have today is a dangerous thing. Most pastors have no idea of the danger of this. You, the reader, need to seek this out. If you are a true born again Christian, this will be important to you. You will need to be settled on the King James Bible for the English speaking world. If you are truly born again, but not settled on that yet, you will be directed by the Holy Spirit to find a good church and a good pastor who can guide you to see that the King James Bible is God’s Word. You cannot know God unless you have His Word to direct you.
Our study of the book of Exodus exalts God and His Word. God gave the Law here. He showed the need to worship Him and how we can do that. He shows the greatness of the “seed of the woman” as we have been studying the instructions for the Tabernacle and the vessels in that tent. We have also been looking at the importance of the priesthood. All of that is finished since the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ did not do away with the Old Testament teaching. He fulfilled It and He is the only Saviour for all of mankind. God makes much of His Son. He is the ONLY hope of mankind. Be sure you know Him and serve Him faithfully.
Pastor Bartel
