Leviticus 8-10

So now, here in Leviticus 8-10, we launch tabernacle worship, and that begins with ordaining Aaron and his sons to be the priests who will conduct the sacrifices and everything else involved in worshiping God at the tabernacle.

And when we say consecrating or ordaining Aaron and his sons, what, what we mean by that is setting them apart as holy.

They're gonna move out of the realm of common, ordinary, profane, and into the realm as holy.

And when they are wearing their priestly garb, they are in that category of holy, and therefore, there are extra precautions and extra responsibilities for them because they are now in a holy place, not a common place.

And we'll see some of that throughout these chapters.

All right, so here we go.

Leviticus chapter 8-10, ordination day, or more properly, really ordination week for the priests at the tabernacle.

So chapter eight begins by saying, "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread, and assemble all the congregation at the doorway of the tent of meeting.'" Now, that can feel real random, like where is all this stuff? What is all this stuff? All the instructions for that were given in the Book of Exodus, Exodus chapters 28 and 29.

And now having made all those, uh, clothing and, or- ordaining oil and all of that, now it's time to employ them in setting Aaron and his sons apart as priests.

"So Moses did just as the Lord commanded.

When the congregation was assembled at the doorway of the tent of meeting, Moses said to the congregation, 'This is the thing which the Lord has commanded us to do.' And so Moses had Aaron and his sons come near to him, and he washed them with water according to the instructions of the Lord.

Then he had Aaron get dressed in all his high priestly garments.

So he put the tunic on Aaron, wrapped his waist with the sash, clothed him with the robe, put the ephod on him, wrapped his waist with the artistic band of the ephod, which was fitted to him.

He put the breastplate, uh, piece on him, and in the breast piece he put the Urim and the Thummim." All these things were explained in Exodus chapter 28.

"And he placed the turban on his head, and on the turban at its front he placed that golden plate that said, 'Holy to the Lord,' uh, the holy crown, just as the Lord commanded." These are all according to God's instructions when he first explained how the priests should be dressed and what the clothing should look like.

Then he used the sacred anointing oil that was prescribed, the formula was given for it in Exodus 29, and he anointed the tabernacle, and then he's going to anoint Aaron.

So chapter 8 verse 10 says, "Moses then took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything that was in it." So he sprinkled it with the special anointing oil and consecrated them.

Consecrated means set apart as holy.

They are now being designated as holy space and holy items set apart specifically for God himself.

And he also sprinkled some of it on the altar, the altar of burnt offering.

Sprinkled it on there seven times, and he anointed the altar and all its utensils, as well as the washbasin and its stand, and he consecrated them, set them apart, designated them now as holy to the Lord.

And he did the same thing with Aaron, verse 12.

"Then he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him." He is now designated as holy.

Next, Moses had Aaron's sons come near, verse 13, clothed them with their tunics, wrapped their waist with their sashes, bound their priestly caps on them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Then the next step in the ordination ceremony were the sacrifices specifically made to make, uh, atonement for Aaron and his sons and to consecrate them for service.