Commentari biblici

XXIX.

THE FORM OF CONSECRATION FOR THE PRIESTS.

(1) This is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them.—The consecration of the priests had been commanded in the preceding chapter (Exodus 28:41). The method of it is now laid down. It consists of five things :—(1) Ablution (Exodus 29:4); (2) Investiture (Exodus 29:5-9); (3) Chrism, or anointing (Exodus 29:7); (4) Sacrifice (Exodus 29:10-23); and (5) Filling the hand (Exodus 29:24). All of these were symbolical acts, typical of things spiritual—ablution, of the putting away of impurity; investiture, of being clothed with holiness; unction, of the giving of Divine grace, &c.; the entire consecration forming an acted parable, very suggestive and full of instruction to such as understood its meaning.

Take one young bullock.—The first thing to be done was to prepare the victims which would be needed, and to have them ready against the time when they would be required for sacrifice.

Without blemish.—Heb., perfect (See Note 1 on Exodus 12:5.)

(2) Unleavened bread.—Unleavened bread seems to have been required as purer than leavened, since fermentation was viewed as a species of corruption.

Cakes . . . tempered with oil.—Rather, cakes that have had oil poured over them. A tolerably thick cake is intended.

Wafers.—These were cakes, or biscuits, extremely thin and unsubstantial, as is implied by the etymology of the term used. Oil is commonly eaten with cakes of both kinds by the Orientals.

(4) Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door . . . —The place of the laver, not yet mentioned, but designed in God’s counsels, was between the brazen altar and the Tabernacle (Exodus 30:18), and consequently near the door of the latter. Rabbinical tradition says that it was not placed exactly opposite the door, but a little towards the south side of the court.

And shalt wash them.—This is the first mention in Scripture of a religious ablution. Water is so natural a symbol of purity, and ablution so apt a representative of the purging from sin, that we can feel surprise neither at the widespread use of the symbolism in religions of very different characters, nor at its adoption into the system at this time imposed by Divine Providence upon the Hebrews. As it was to maintain its place even in the Divinely-appointed ceremonial of Christianity, it must have been à fortiori suitable for the earlier and less spiritual dispensation. The widespread employment of it in other religions—e.g., in Egypt (Herod. ii. 37); in Persia (Zendavesta, 8 p. 271. Spiegel’s translation); in Greece (Döllinger, Jew and Gentile, vol. i., p. 220); in Italy (Dict. of Greek and Rom. Antiq., p. 719), and elsewhere—was no argument against its adoption into the Mosaic ceremonial, since the Divine legislation of Sinai was not intended to annul or supersede natural religion, but only to improve and expand it.

(5) Thou shalt take the garments—i.e., those described in the preceding chapter.

The coat—i.e., the linen tunic (Exodus 28:39). As the inner garment, this had to be put on first. Comp. Leviticus 8:7-9, where the investiture is more fully described, and is seen to have comprised nine acts:—(1) The putting on of the tunic; (2) The girding of the tunic with the under-girdle; (3) The putting on of the robe of the ephod; (4) The putting on of the ephod; (5) Girding with the curious girdle of the ephod; (6) The putting on of the breastplate; (7) The putting of the Urim and Thummim into the bag of the breastplate; (8) The putting on of the mitre; and (9) The attachment of the golden plate to the front of the mitre. These minute directions may well be regarded as justifying those given in our own Ordinal with respect to the vesting of bishops at the time of their consecration.

(6) The holy crown.—The golden plate, inscribed with “Holiness to the Lord,” and attached to the mitre by a lace or riband, resembled the “diadems” worn in the East by monarchs, and regarded as the main emblem of their sovereignty. In Egypt, such a diadem is found first in the reign of Amenôphis IV. (Khuenaten), the ninth king of the eighteenth dynasty. The assignment of a crown to the high priest gave him that quasi-royal dignity which marked him as a type of our Lord in His threefold office of Prophet, Priest, and King.

(7) The anointing oil—i.e., the oil mentioned in Exodus 25:6, and recently glanced at in Exodus 28:41. On its composition see Exodus 30:23-25.

Pour it upon his head.—As the ablution typified cleansing from sin, so the anointing was emblematic of the outpouring of Divine grace upon the person anointed. The pouring of the oil on Aaron’s head was perhaps to indicate the freeness and abundance with which God gives His grace to His servants. (Comp. Psalm 133:2.)

Coats—i.e., tunics. (See Note 1 on Exodus 28:40.)

The bonnets.—Rather, caps. (See Note 3 on Exodus 28:40.)

The priest’s office shall be their’s for a perpetual statute.—That is, not only shall they individually be priests, but the office shall descend to their posterity, and so be theirs perpetually.

Thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.—Heb., Thou shalt fill the hand of Aaron and the hand of his sons. Induction into an office was usually effected in the East by placing its insignia in the hand of the person appointed to it. Aaron and his sons were to be inducted by having a portion of the sacrifices placed in their hands (Exodus 29:24).

(10) Thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought.—Rather, the bullock: i.e., the bullock mentioned in Exodus 29:1, which was to be kept in readiness for the consecration sacrifice.

Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock.—By this symbolical action, which was commanded in the case of every sin offering (Leviticus 4:4; Leviticus 4:15; Leviticus 4:24; Leviticus 4:29; Leviticus 4:33; Leviticus 16:21, &c.), the offerer identified himself with the animal, and transferred to it the guilt of his own sins and imperfections. The animal thereby became accursed, and its death paid the penalty due to the sins laid upon it, and set free those who had committed them. Similarly, Christ, our sin offering, was “made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

(12) Thou shalt take of the blood . . . and put it upon the horns of the altar.—It has been already noticed that the virtue of the altar was considered to reside especially in its horns; hence fugitives clung to them (1Kings 1:50; 1Kings 2:28). In all sin offerings it was required (1) That some of the victim’s blood should be smeared upon the altar’s horns; and (2) That the remainder should be poured at its base (Leviticus 4:7; Leviticus 4:18; Leviticus 4:30; Leviticus 4:34).