Leviticus 8

Today’s Passage: Leviticus 8

For seven chapters the LORD has been naming the offerings. Now He turns to the men who will handle them. At His command Moses gathers the whole congregation at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and does everything in the open, where all can see. He washes Aaron and his sons with water, dresses them in the priestly garments, and pours oil over the tabernacle, the altar, and Aaron’s own head. He offers the bull of the sin offering, the ram for the burnt offering, and the ram of ordination, and he puts blood on the priests and keeps them at the tent for seven days. Watch who does the acting all the way through. The priests receive. They do not appoint themselves.

As you read, hold this: No one takes the honor of drawing near for himself. God washes, clothes, anoints, and sets apart His own priests.

Leviticus 8:1–5 (BSB)

¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, ² “Take Aaron and his sons, their garments, the anointing oil, the bull of the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread, ³ and assemble the whole congregation at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.”

⁴ So Moses did as the LORD had commanded him, and the assembly gathered at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁵ And Moses said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded to be done.”

The chapter opens with a voice from above, not a plan from below. The LORD lists what to bring and where to stand, and Moses does exactly that. Then he tells the watching people plainly where all of this comes from: this is what the LORD has commanded. The priesthood does not rise out of Israel’s wishing. It is handed down, and Moses is only the one who carries out the order.

Leviticus 8:6–9 (BSB)

⁶ Then Moses presented Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. ⁷ He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him. He tied the woven band of the ephod around him and fastened it to him. ⁸ Then he put the breastpiece on him and placed the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece.

⁹ Moses also put the turban on Aaron’s head and set the gold plate, the holy diadem, on the front of the turban, as the LORD had commanded him.

Notice the verbs. Moses washed him, put the tunic on him, tied the sash, clothed him, fastened it, put the breastpiece on him, set the diadem in place. Aaron stands still and is dressed. He does not wash himself clean and he does not reach for his own robes. He is bathed and clothed by another, piece by piece, until even a gold plate reading holiness to the LORD rests on his forehead. The man who will represent the people before God is first made ready by grace, from the skin outward.

Leviticus 8:10–13 (BSB)

¹⁰ Next, Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it; and so he consecrated them. ¹¹ He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them. ¹² He also poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him.

¹³ Then Moses presented Aaron’s sons, put tunics on them, wrapped sashes around them, and tied headbands on them, just as the LORD had commanded him.

The oil moves from the tent to the altar to Aaron’s own head, and everywhere it touches it makes a thing holy for God’s use. The tabernacle is consecrated (קָדַשׁ) qādash, pronounced kah-DASH. Strong's H6942, to set apart, consecrate, make holy. To make holy, to set a thing apart from common use and hand it wholly to God. It is what happens to the tent, the altar, and the priest alike. A consecrated thing is no longer available for ordinary purposes. It has been lifted out of the everyday and given over. Aaron did not consecrate himself. He was consecrated, moved by God’s own act into God’s own keeping. . The altar is set apart, sprinkled seven times over. Then the same oil is poured on Aaron, and the man is anointed (מָשַׁח) mashach, pronounced mah-SHAKH. Strong's H4886, to anoint, smear or pour oil upon, consecrate. To smear or pour oil over someone, marking him as chosen and equipped for a holy office. The oil is not decoration. It says God has claimed this man for a work. From this same word comes mashiach, Messiah, the Anointed One. Every drop poured on Aaron’s head was pointing forward to a greater Priest who would not be smeared with oil but filled with the Spirit without measure. , set apart along with the furniture, marked out for the LORD. His sons are dressed in turn, tunics and sashes and headbands, just as the LORD had commanded. What set the tent apart is what sets the priest apart. He belongs to God now, as surely as the altar does.

Leviticus 8:14–17 (BSB)

¹⁴ Moses then brought the bull near for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. ¹⁵ Moses slaughtered the bull, took some of the blood, and applied it with his finger to all four horns of the altar, purifying the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it so that atonement could be made on it.

¹⁶ Moses also took all the fat that was on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys and their fat, and burned it all on the altar. ¹⁷ But the bull with its hide, flesh, and dung he burned outside the camp, as the LORD had commanded him.

Before these men can serve, sin must be dealt with. Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the bull’s head, leaning their guilt onto it, and it is slaughtered in their place. The blood purifies the very altar they will stand beside, and the body is carried outside the camp and burned. A priest cannot come to God carrying his own uncleanness. The way in has to be opened first, by blood, exactly as the LORD had commanded. Even the men who will offer the sacrifices need a sacrifice offered for them.

Leviticus 8:18–21 (BSB)

¹⁸ Then Moses presented the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. ¹⁹ Moses slaughtered the ram and splattered the blood on all sides of the altar. ²⁰ He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head, the pieces, and the fat.

²¹ He washed the entrails and legs with water and burned the entire ram on the altar as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

After the sin offering comes the burnt offering, the whole animal rising in smoke. Hands go on the head again, and the entire ram is given up on the altar. Nothing is kept back. It is the picture of a life handed over completely to God, and the LORD calls the smoke a pleasing aroma. This is what stands behind a true priesthood: sin removed, then a whole life offered. The order matters. Cleansed first, then wholly given.

Leviticus 8:22–30 (BSB)

²² After that, Moses presented the other ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. ²³ Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴ Moses also presented Aaron’s sons and put some of the blood on their right earlobes, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he splattered the blood on all sides of the altar.

²⁵ And Moses took the fat—the fat tail, all the fat that was on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with their fat—as well as the right thigh. ²⁶ And from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the LORD, he took one cake of unleavened bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer, and he placed them on the fat portions and on the right thigh. ²⁷ He put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and waved them before the LORD as a wave offering.

²⁸ Then Moses took these from their hands and burned them on the altar with the burnt offering. This was an ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. ²⁹ He also took the breast—Moses’ portion of the ram of ordination—and waved it before the LORD as a wave offering, as the LORD had commanded him. ³⁰ Next, Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and their garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments, as well as Aaron’s sons and their garments.

Now comes the ram that ordains (מִלֻּאִים) millu'îm, pronounced mil-loo-EEM. Strong's H4394, fillings; ordination offerings (lit. filling of the hand). The word means fillings, and it comes from the phrase to fill the hand. To ordain a priest was literally to fill his hands, first with the portions of the offering lifted before the LORD. A priest is not someone who grasps at holy things on his own. He is someone whose empty hands are filled by God with what God gives him to hold. The office is a gift placed into open palms. , and the blood is placed with careful aim: the right ear, the right thumb, the right big toe. It is a whole man in miniature. The ear that will hear God’s word, the hand that will do God’s work, the foot that will walk God’s courts, each is touched with blood, as if to say a priest is claimed from head to sole. Then their hands are filled with the offerings and lifted before the LORD, and at the last Moses sprinkles oil and blood together over the priests and their garments. Blood to cleanse and oil to consecrate, mingled on the same men. Every step is done to them. They stand and are made priests.

Leviticus 8:31–36 (BSB)

³¹ And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the meat at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket of ordination offerings, as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons are to eat it.’ ³² Then you must burn up the remainder of the meat and bread. ³³ You must not go outside the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are complete; for it will take seven days to ordain you.

³⁴ What has been done today has been commanded by the LORD in order to make atonement on your behalf. ³⁵ You must remain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days and keep the LORD’s charge so that you will not die, for this is what I have been commanded.”

³⁶ So Aaron and his sons did everything the LORD had commanded through Moses.

The making of a priest ends where it began, at the entrance to the tent, and it is not rushed. Seven days they must stay, eating the holy meal and keeping the LORD’s charge, and Moses tells them plainly why: this was done to make atonement on your behalf, so that you will not die. Even priests live only by mercy. Then the last verse quietly settles the whole matter. Aaron and his sons did everything the LORD had commanded. They received what was given, they stayed where they were told, and they obeyed. The honor was never seized. It was bestowed, and kept by trust.