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Sunday 9 November 2014

Exodus Chapter 29



EXODUS 

CHAPTER 

29


1. Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, so that they may serve me as priests. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, 2. and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. You shall make them of choice wheat flour. 3. You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, and bring the bull and the two rams.


(Exodus chapter 29 verses 1 to 3)



As in the case of the consecration of Aaron there was himself meaning Aaron and the mentioned offering. In the case of Jesus He was both the self and the offering who was to be consecrated with the blood of His own passion for you and for me. As followers of Jesus we can offer Him each day of our life, our families, our work and even our sinful self, so that God can consecrate us as one whole in order for us to be able to continue His work on earth by giving testimony and worship by both praise, faith and deeds or works which make our offering more complete.



4. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water.

(Exodus chapter 29 verse 4)



On reflecting the washing of the body with water is very similar to the washing of the head during the rite of baptism. May You Oh God was me with Your Holy Spirit so that I can always be an active member of Your Body on earth. May our consecration be updated every day and may we all remain faithful to our consecration forever. There were people who chose to give their life in consecration to God. I invite you to offer your lives to God as a living sacrifice amen.


If you would like to join me in this act of consecrating our lives and selves to God please click on the following link and recite the prayer found in this link


Prayer of consecration to God


5. Then you shall take the vestments , and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the decorated band of th ephod; 6. and you shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy diadem on the turban. 7. You shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head and anoint him.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 5 to 7)

  
When we entered God's universal priesthood that is the Roman Catholic Church during the rite of Baptism the same procedure was applied. On reflecting this is very similar to that mentioned in the book of Exodus chapter 29 verses 5 to 7. First we were immersed in water and then we were anointed with consecrated oil and after the anointing we were dressed with a white tunic or dress.


 8. Then you shall bring his sons, and put tunics on them, 9 and you shall gird them with sashes and the head-dresses on them; and the priesthood shall be theirs by a perpetual ordinance. You shall then ordain Aaron and his sons.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 8 to 9)


Oh God how generous You are. You love us so much that You have personally called us to be an active part of your priesthood. Thanking You for wanting us to be consecrated to You as an offering for ever. You wanted me and my brothers and sisters to be your own. This is special. I pray for all the families in the world, and may we give praise to God when our sons or daughters are called and chosen to serve you in the service of Holy Orders or any other service dedicated to You.


10. You shall bring the bull in front of the tent of meeting. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull, 11 and you shall slaughter the bull before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, 12. and shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and all the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. 13. You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them and turn them into smoke on the altar. 14. But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 10 to 14)


According to our source as found in the following link Aaron is cleansed with the water and then he offers a sin offering for both his sins and that of the people. By laying hands on the bull's head the priest was also placing on the sacrificial offering the sins of those that he was representing including that of himself because like all priests Aaron was also a sinner.

The offering of dedication of priest to God


As in the case of the Eucharistic breaking of bread that we refer to as "mass" the priest celebrates the sacrifice of the blood and body of Christ both on his behalf and on that of us the people.


15. Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 16 and you shall slaughter the ram, and shall take its blood and dash it against all the sides of the altar. 17. Then you shall cut the ram into its parts, and wash its entrails and its legs and put them with its parts and its head, 18. and turn the whole ram into smoke on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD it is a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the LORD.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 15 to 18)


On reflecting the offering of the ram was an offering dedicated to God and therefore it was to be totally offered to God and not to be consumed by humans. On referring to the fact that the blood of the rams was to be dashed against the sides of the altar it comes to mind that before leaving Egypt the people dashed the blood of the lamb against the doorposts so that the angel of death would pass by and not kill any of the Hebrew people. Therefore offering the sacrifice to God was a means of atonement of our sins so that God will forgive us of our sins. During the Eucharistic celebration time and time again the celebrant absolves the congregation of their sins before being ready to receive God in the Eucharist.


19. You shall take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, 20. and you shall slaughter the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear and on the lobes of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet, and dash the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar. 21. Then 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 vestments and on his sons and his son's vestments with him, then he and his vestments shall be holy, as well as his son's vestments.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 19 to 21)


When reading these verses for the first time I thought I was in a film of cowboys and Indians with their face fully coloured and bodies adorned for battle, however on praying on these verses and even doing much reading and browsing on line, God gave me the message behind these verses. In order for Aaron and his sons to remain aware that they are and always be sinners, even though Aaron would become high priest and his sons would also share in this priesthood, they were to be smudged with the blood of the sacrificial offering that was contaminated with the sins of both Aaron his sons and all of the people. This rite would help him and his sons to always remain in a state of humility as sinners and never consider themselves to be better than others due to their improved change or upgrade in status.


As Christians and followers of the ways of God we are also to remain in a state of humility and never adopt an attitude of superiority over others and look down on them as if their belief or traditions is inferior to our own. God is humble and we are to adopt this same attitude. When considering our proud and sinful nature this is no easy task to accomplish, however if we pray for the gift of humility God is not going to ever deny us of this precious gift.


22. You shall also take the fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the appendage of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination). 23. and one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer, out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the LORD; 24. and you shall place all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and raise them as an elevation offering before the LORD. 25. Then you shall take them from their hands, and turn them into smoke on the altar on top of the burnt offering of pleasing odor before the LORD; it is an offering by fire to the LORD.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 22 to 25)


Now that Aaron would have had been consecrated to God he would have been able to make his first offering to God. As High priest he would be the only person to the bread that was placed before God. Once we enter into a higher stage of worship we are ready to give ourselves totally to God. This can only be done with the grace of God because as material human beings with all our drives, urges and fantasies it is almost impossible for us to be total masters over our sinful selves. This I pray Oh God, may You please free me from this body of sin so that I can be a total offering to You. Every day I am in combat with my sinful self that urges me to do things that I do not wan to do, say things that I do not want to say. I give you control over my tongue, my brain and my entire body so that You can consecrate it with the power of Your Holy Spirit so that every part of my body and soul can freely give praise and worship to You.


26. You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination and raise it as an elevation offering before the LORD, and it shall be your portion. 27. You shall consecrate the breast that was raised as an elevation offering and the thigh that was raised as an elevation offering from the ram of ordination, from that which belonged to Aaron and his sons. 28. These things shall be a perpetual ordinance for Aaron and his sons from the Israelites, for this is an offering and it shall be an offering by the Israelites from their sacrifice of offerings of well being, their offering to the LORD.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 26 to 28)


God told Moses that this form of offering could be only be offered to Him by Aaron and his sons to whom the priesthood was given. However in the New Testament that as Christians we are a new priesthood that is also dedicated to God for ever.


29.The sacred vestments of Aaron shall be passed on to his sons after him; they shall be anointed in them and ordained in them. 30. The son who is priest in his place shall wear them seven days, when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 29 to 30)


As already referred to the priesthood was limited to Aaron and his sons, in the case that the family was wiped out the priesthood would have come to an end completely, however in all His wisdom today we have a priesthood that although is in a crisis of quality and quantity of vocations it is also declared by God to last for ever.


31. You shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place; 32 and Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 32. They themselves shall eat the food by which atonement is made, to ordain and consecrate them, but no one else shall eat of them, because it is holy.

( Exodus chapter 29 verses 31 to 32)


In order for us to have an idea of how the sacrificial offering took place please click on the following link:



The sacrificial offering

With reference to the High Priest they were to eat the food by which atonement was made. As ministers of the altar they were to seek their nourishment from the altar. As Christians and or people who are trying to walk according to the ways of God we are also to find our nourishment in the sacraments and in the word of God.


33. They themselves shall eat the food by which atonement is made, to ordain and consecrate them, but no one else shall eat of them, because they are holy. 34. If any of the flesh for the ordination, or of the bread, remains until morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 33 to 34)


As in the sacrament of the Eucharist the celebrant consumes all the sacrifice, so that all is completely consumed, however the left overs from the part of the laity meaning us are stored in the tabernacle. On reflecting on God You become a total offering for us, You hold nothing back from us, You are all giving and completely generous. I pray Oh God today that You may also consume me as one whole offering both mind, body and soul for I am a sinner. May You transform my weaknesses into strengths so that I could be totally yours as a whole offering and not an offering of parts. May Your Holy Spirit fall on me and consume me that I will be all yours and that I be purified of my sinful and negative traits that are constantly weighing me down like gravity. May You be the powerful rocket that frees me from the forces of gravity and liberate me from this body of sin forever.


35. Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, just as I have commanded you; through seven days you shall ordain them, 36. Also every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall offer a sin offering for the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it to consecrate it. 37. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall become holy.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 35 to 37)


On reflecting Oh God you show a great need for us to be spiritually cleansed, in fact it is an emphasis that we do so, as much as we keep our physical body in a state of cleanliness, it is a necessity to also keep our souls in a state of cleanliness. In order to ensure the spiritual well being of Aaron and his sons a bull was to be offered as a sin offering every day for seven consecutive days. Moreover in order to preserve the sanctity of the altar on which the offering was placed, the altar was to be anointed and an offering was to be offered on its behalf.

In order to view the brazen altar on which offerings were made as in the the times mentioned that of Exodus chapter 29 please click on the following link:

Brazen Altar of offering

In order to view the consecration of an altar according to the Roman Catholic rite please click on the following link:

Altar Consecration


38. Now this is what you shall offer on the altar; two lambs a year old regularly each day. 39. One lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer in the evening; 40. and with the first lamb one tenth of a measure of choice flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41. And the other lamb you shall offer in the evening, and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the morning, for a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the LORD. 42. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.   

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 38 to 42)


In order not to do injustice to the Word of God due to error of interpretation I invite you to click on the following link which gives us a detailed account of several forms of sin offerings:


Sin offerings process and selection


43. I will meet with the Israelites there, and it shall be sanctified by my glory: 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. 45. I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God. 46. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.

(Exodus chapter 29 verses 43 to 46)



Above all although the whole process or processes that were explained in detail were all important and of great value God gives us the finishing touches of the whole process of consecration and offerings. Ultimately it is God who will always be present during the sacrifice of the Eucharist, it is God who has the capacity to forgive us of our sins by means of his minsters that He ordained meaning His priests, and above all It is He who is our redeemer and only focus of our life. When we celebrate the sacrifice of the Eucharist this is a replication of the passion of Jesus which was more important than the offerings of rams and bullocks. By sending His son to be offered as a global sin offering for all times God offered the perfect sin offering.


I would like to end this chapter with the following prayer:

Oh God thanks for loving me, and forgiving me of my sins, thank You for taking my place on the altar of the cross and be sacrificed for me and my sins for I am truly a great sinner. This week You showed me how great a sinner I am. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to be reunited with You by means of the sacrifice of reconciliation. 



Thank You God





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