Ordination ceremonies
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:
2 “Take Aaron, his sons with him, and the vestments, the anointing oil, the bull for the sacrifice for sin, the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread.
3 Then call the whole community together at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.”
4 Moses did as Yahweh commanded; the com munity gathered at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,
5 and Moses said to them, “This is what Yahweh has commanded.”
6 He made Aaron and his sons come forward, and washed them with water.
7 He put the shirt on Aaron, passed the sash around his waist, dressed him in the robe and put the Ephod on him. Then he tied around his waist the woven band of the Ephod with which he clothed him.
8 He put the embroidered linen breastpiece on him, and placed the Urim and Thummim in it.
9 He put the turban on his head, with the golden ornament on the front; this is the sacred sign of dedication as Yahweh com manded Moses to do.
10 Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the Holy Tent and everything in it, to consecrate them.
11 He sprinkled the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and its furnishings, the basin and its stand, to dedicate them all to Yahweh.
12 Then he ordained Aaron by pouring the anointing oil on his head.
13 Then Moses made Aaron’s sons come forward; he put the shirts on them, tied the sashes around their waists and put on their headdresses, as Yahweh had commanded him to do.
14 Then he had the bull for the sacrifice for sin brought forward. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the bull’s head
15 and Moses slaughtered it. Then he took the blood and with his finger put some of it on the corners around the altar, to take away its sin. Then he poured out the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar, which he dedicated to Yahweh by performing the atonement over it.
16 Then he took all the fat that covers the internal organs, the best part of the liver, the two kidneys and their fat; and he burned them all on the altar.
17 After that he burned outside the camp the bull’s skin, its flesh and its intestines as Yahweh had commanded him to do.
18 Then he had the ram for the burnt offering brought forward. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head
19 and Moses slaughtered it. He poured its blood out on the sides of the altar.
20 Then he quartered the ram and burned the head, the pieces and the fat.
21 He washed the internal organs and legs, and burned the whole ram on the altar. This was a burnt offering, a sweet-smelling offering to Yah weh, a burnt offer ing by fire for Yahweh, as Yahweh had com manded Moses.
22 Then he had the other ram brought forward, for the sacrifice of ordination of priests. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the ram’s head
23 and Moses slaughtered it. He took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot.
24 Then he made the sons of Aaron come forward and he put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, the thumbs of their right hands and the big toes of their right feet. Next Moses poured the rest of the blood on the sides of the altar.
25 Then he took the fat: the tail, all the fat that is on the internal organs, the best part of the liver, the two kidneys and their fat, and the right hind leg.
26 From the basket of unleavened bread placed before Yahweh, he took an unleavened cake, a loaf of bread made with oil, and a wafer; he placed these on the fat and the right hind leg,
27 put it all into Aaron’s hands and those of his sons, who waved them before Yahweh.
28 Then Moses took them back and burned them on the altar in addition to the burnt offering. This was the sacrifice for ordination of priests, a sweet-smelling offering to Yah weh, an offering by fire to Yahweh.
29 Then Moses took the breast and made the gesture of offering before Yahweh. This was the share of the ram of ordination for Moses, as Yahweh had commanded.
30 Then Moses took the anointing oil and the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled Aaron and his vestments with it, and his sons and their vestments. In this way he consecrated Aaron and his vestments, and his sons and their vestments to Yahweh.
31 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Cook the meat at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and eat it there, and also the bread for the sacrifice of priestly ordination that is in the basket, as I commanded, when I said: Aaron and his sons are to eat it.
32 What remains of the meat and bread you will burn.
33 For seven days you must not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, until the time of your ordination is over, for your hands will be consecrated for seven days.
34 All that we have done today is the rite of atonement for you as Yahweh has commanded us to do
35 and for seven days, day and night, you must remain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, doing what Yahweh has commanded, lest you die. For this is the commandment I received.”
36 And Aaron and his sons did everything that Yahweh had commanded through Moses.
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Comments Leviticus, Chapter 8
• 8.1 With the detailed description of Aaron’s consecration by his brother Moses, Leviticus wants to teach the ceremony for consecration of the High Priest.
Vestments, ornaments and purifications ex-press the sacred character of the man “taken from among men to be their representative before God and to offer sacrifices for them” (Heb 5:1).
These rituals did not come down from heaven; rather, they reflect the religious mentality of the times. For those people, there were two kinds of people and things in the world: those belonging to God, that is, sacred and others not belonging to God, that is, profane. Some were considered clean, others unclean; some were said to be “holy,” and others to “carry a sin,” which simply meant they could not be used in worship.
God took into account the primitive men tality of the people of those times and educated them little by little. With time, they would discover that sin is not some external blemish, or defect, but human faults. The prophets first, and then the Gospels, would state that sin is what comes from the person.
Priests were consecrated through an anointing with oil. Kings would also be consecrated by an anointing. Priests and kings would thus be the anointed of God, expressed by the word Messiah in Hebrew, and Christ in Greek. The High Priest was called the Christ of God: this prefigured Jesus, priest of the New Covenant, as the Letter to the Hebrews will explain (5–8).