Consecration of the Priests

1“This is what you shall do to consecrate Aaron and his sons so that they may serve Me as priests: take one young bull and two rams, without blemish, 2and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour. 3You shall put them in one basket, and present them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. 4Then bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting [out where the basin is] and wash them with water. 5Then you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece, and wrap him with the skillfully woven sash of the ephod; 6and you shall put the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. 7Then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. 8You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. 9And you shall wrap them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the [ornamental] caps on them; and the priest’s office shall be theirs by a perpetual statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

The Sacrifices

10“Then you shall bring the bull before the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall [a]lay their hands on the bull’s head. 11Then you shall kill the bull before the LORD by the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. 12And you shall take some of the blood of the bull and with your finger put it on the horns of the altar [of burnt offering], and you shall pour out the remainder of the blood at the base of the altar. 13You shall take all the fat that covers the intestines and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and offer them up in smoke on the altar. 14But the meat of the bull, its hide, and the contents of its intestines you shall burn in the fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

15“And you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram; 16then you shall kill the ram and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it around the altar [of burnt offering]. 17Then you shall cut the ram into pieces, and wash its intestines and legs, and place them with its pieces and its head, 18and you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD: it is a sweet and soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.

19“Then you shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ears of Aaron and his sons and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet, and sprinkle the [rest of the] blood around on the altar [of burnt offering]. 21Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. Now Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments shall be consecrated (dedicated, made holy, declared sacred for God’s purpose).

22“You shall also take the fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the intestines, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh; (for it is a ram of ordination), 23and one loaf of bread and one cake of oiled bread and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the LORD; 24and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and wave them as a [b]wave offering before the LORD. 25Then you shall take them from their hands, add them to the burnt offering, and burn them on the altar for a sweet and soothing aroma before the LORD; it is an offering by fire to the LORD.

26“Then you shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s ordination, and wave it as a wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be your (Moses) portion. 27You shall consecrate the waved breast offering [of the ram] used in the ordination and the waved thigh offering of the priests’ portion, since it is [a contribution] for Aaron and for his sons. 28It shall be for Aaron and his sons as their due portion from the Israelites forever, for it is a [c]heave offering. It shall be a heave offering to the LORD from the Israelites from the sacrifices of their peace offerings.

29“The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed and ordained in them. 30That son who is [high] priest in his place shall put them on [each day for] seven days when he comes into the Tent of Meeting to minister in the Holy Place.

Food of the Priests

31“You shall take the ram of the ordination and boil its meat in a holy place. 32Aaron and his sons shall eat the meat of the ram and the bread in the basket, at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. 33They shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy [that is, set apart to the worship of God]. 34And if any of the meat of ordination or the bread remains until morning, you shall burn it in the fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35“So you shall do to Aaron and to his sons in accordance with all I have commanded you; during seven days you are to ordain them. 36You shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar from sin when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it [for God’s sacred purpose]. 37For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar [of burnt offering] and consecrate it; then the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy (set apart for God’s service).

38“Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs shall be offered each day, continuously. 39One lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb [d]at twilight; 40and with the one lamb there shall be one-tenth of a measure of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten [olive] oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering [to be poured out]. 41And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and do with it as with the grain offering of the morning and with the drink offering, for a sweet and soothing aroma [to appease God], an offering by fire to the LORD. 42This will be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. 43There I will meet with the Israelites, and the Tent of Meeting shall be [e]sanctified by My glory [the [f]Shekinah, God’s dwelling presence]. 44I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar [of burnt offering]; also I will sanctify Aaron and his sons to serve as priests to Me. 45I will dwell among the sons of Israel and be their God. 46They shall know [from personal experience] and acknowledge that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God.

[a] 10 By laying his hands on the head of the sacrifice the offerer identified himself with it and through its death it became an atonement or covering for his sin. Because the sacrifice “covered” his sin it placed the offerer in a right relationship with God, just as later under the new covenant the perfection and sacrifice of the Christ would cover (atone for) the imperfection and sin of those who identified with Him and accepted Him as Savior.
[b] 24 The wave (undulation, wavelike) offering and the heave (lifted up, raised) offering were named after their manner of presentation. These were either voluntary gifts or contributions required for a specific religious purpose such as the atonement offering. It was understood that God received these offerings and then designated them for a religious purpose such as the support of the priests and their families, or the preparation and maintenance of the tabernacle.
[c] 28 See note v 24.
[d] 39 See note 12:6.
[e] 43 Only God can sanctify (set apart) something for His divine purpose. Man can consecrate (dedicate) something as sacred, that is, declare it separated from secular use.
[f] 43 This Hebrew word is not found in the Bible, but was used by the rabbis to describe the presence of God. Its basic meaning is “royal residence.” Among other things, the rabbis said that the Shekinah is present where ten people pray together, or where three people are sitting as a court of judges.