And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
The verse gives the order for Moses himself to slay the bullock at the entrance on the east end of the tabernacle as part of the seven-day consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. The victim was brought to the door of the first apartment as a sin offering, with confession over it acknowledging that transgression deserved death, and its blood then carried guilt into the sanctuary. The slaughter was typical and shadowy, one of the rites of the worldly sanctuary pointing to the coming Messiah, the Lamb of God, whose power alone forgave sin and transformed character. That earthly ministration in its two holy places was the pattern and shadow of Christ's more excellent ministry in the true heavenly tabernacle, and it passed away forever when He suffered once for all and the veil was rent at Calvary. It belongs to the law of ordinances concerning sacrifices written out through Moses after the moral law, distinct from the Ten Commandments God spoke and wrote Himself, a system of carnal ordinances imposed until the reformation whose sacrifices could never take away sin.
Context and Wording
The killing of the bullock belongs to the ceremony for consecrating Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, to be studied together with the account of the priestly garments in Exodus 28. Several sacrifices were slain as part of that consecration to service in the sanctuary. It was a seven-day consecration, after which God publicly accepted Aaron's first offering for the people by sending fire. The directions belong to the detailed instructions concerning the tabernacle and its furniture, and concerning the sanctuary and its service, that God gave to Moses during his forty days on the mountain. They were given to Moses alone on the mount after the people stood afar off, not spoken directly to the people from heaven and written on the two tables of stone to which He added no more, but commanded by the hand of Moses and recorded chiefly in Exodus 25-30 and in Leviticus. In order they come after Exodus 19-24 and before the building and setting up of the sanctuary in Exodus 33-40, as the instruction concerning the sanctuary in Exodus 25-31 given to Moses in the mount.
They are part of the very minute description in Exodus 25-40 of the worldly sanctuary built in the days of Moses exactly according to the pattern shown in the mount. That setting forth in Exodus 25-31 describes the tabernacle erected by Moses as a structure of extraordinary magnificence, formed of upright boards overlaid with gold, about thirty cubits long and about ten in width and ten in height, with the entrance at the east end. More fully, it was composed of two apartments separated by a veil, the holy place twenty cubits long, ten cubits wide, and ten cubits high, and the most holy place ten cubits in each of its dimensions, just half as large as the holy place, with sides and west end made of acacia boards overlaid with gold secured below by tenons fitting into silver sockets weighing a talent each and above by bars placed through rings attached to the boards. The directions were given after God redeemed Israel from Egyptian bondage with a mighty hand, when hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted Israel to comprehend His great salvation and the character He required. God asked free-will offerings of the children of Israel to make Him a sanctuary that He might dwell among them, giving a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites comprehending in its teaching the great plan of salvation, in a marvelously beautiful structure whose pattern was divine and for whose building He specially endowed His workmen, and that sanctuary was His dwelling place among the people.
The slaughter is placed before the LORD by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, meaning at its entrance, the appointed center of Israel's worship. That door is identified as the tabernacle's east-end hanging. The building meant is the inner tabernacle erected by Israel at God's command in the wilderness, which is what the word sanctuary generally means, afterward succeeded as the place of worship by Solomon's portable tabernacle giving place to the temple; in both buildings the worship of God upon earth centered, and all earthly worship and service revolved around the holy of holies where the law of God rested with the mercy-seat over it. Moses himself killing the bullock before the LORD by the door was a priestly act, proving he was the first priest under the old covenant. The instructions committed priestly rites to Aaron and his sons, so others were not to perform them unless the Lord specially directed it, and therefore one not ordained for priestly service acted presumptuously in offering sacrifices instead of waiting as instructed, as in Saul's offering instead of waiting for Samuel.
The slaughter at the entrance reflects the sanctuary service in which a sinner who had transgressed brought a victim to the tabernacle door, to the entrance of the first apartment, to be offered. There the sinner confessed sin over it and gave it as a sin offering, acknowledging that sin deserved death, and the victim was slain there because of the transgression. Its blood then carried the sin and guilt into the sanctuary.
Shadow and Substance
The slaughter of the bullock at the door belongs to the instructions for establishing the sanctuary services, which set forth on earth God's plan for governing and dealing with sinners through salvation from sin. That service displays Christ as king and priest, and gives the people a part in cooperating with God in His work.
It was one of the rites and ceremonies of the worldly sanctuary first pitched in the wilderness and afterward succeeded by Solomon's temple at Jerusalem. The killing before the Lord by the door was typical and shadowy, an object lesson pointing to the coming Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The sanctuary services of the tabernacle pointed to a remedy for sin, and the significance and efficacy of the rite lay in Christ and His power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens.
The verse shows the Levitical order performing the ministration of the earthly sanctuary with its two holy places. That earthly sanctuary is the pattern of the true tabernacle of God in heaven and the example and shadow of Christ's more excellent ministry there. The ancient sanctuary thus typified the heavenly temple where Jesus now ministers.
The tabernacle was made for the ministry of sacrifices and offerings, which ended when Christ suffered and died once for all. With His sacrifice and offering at Calvary the veil of the temple was rent in twain, and this earthly typical service passed away entirely and forever. Those ceremonial ordinances involving sacrifices could not take away sin and found their fulfillment in Christ's sacrifice.
The direction to kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance belongs to the laws given through Moses concerning sacrifices and offerings. It is part of the ceremonial types pointing from the old dispensation to the substance of the new. It belongs to the law of ordinances written out in full immediately after the moral law. It was given to Moses alone on the mount during forty days after the people stood afar off and Moses drew near to the thick darkness, not spoken directly to the people from heaven nor written on the two tables of stone to which He added no more. It is recorded chiefly in Exodus 25-30 and in Leviticus among precepts, statutes, and laws commanded by the hand of Moses, distinct from the Ten Commandments and the holy Sabbath made known directly by God. It stands among the many burdensome ceremonies and carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation, a yoke which neither the fathers nor later believers were able to bear.
It belongs to the setting apart of the Levitical priesthood to minister before the ark containing the law in the most holy place of the typical sanctuary, a ministration continuing through the entire Old Testament period. That ministration brought the holy law to a sinful, rebellious people as condemnation and death, showing guilt before God and exposure to its just penalty and containing in itself no promise of pardon. The priesthood there offered no sacrifice that could take away sin but could only direct penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of men. In contrast stands the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ as great High Priest laid down His life and is able to save to the uttermost.
Doctrine and Duty
Sanctification is setting apart for sacred service, as shown in the consecration of the priests to their religious work. The killing of the bullock belongs to a separate set of laws given to regulate the worship of Israel, distinct from the set of laws given for civil government in Exodus 21 to 23. Religion has for its purpose to bring men back to God, while civil government has for its purpose only to control men and to regulate their relations toward each other in this life during probationary time. The two systems must therefore go side by side in the world with entirely separate lines of operation, because their purposes are essentially different and any commingling produces discordant clashing detrimental to both.
The same offerings and consecration required of the high priest were required of the cleansed leper. No lesser devotion is accepted from the lowliest than from the highest in sacred office. Even the humblest child of God must be as devoted and consecrated as Christ.
The verse gives the order for Moses himself to slay the bullock at the entrance on the east end of the tabernacle as part of the seven-day consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. The victim was brought to the door of the first apartment as a sin offering, with confession over it acknowledging that transgression deserved death, and its blood then carried guilt into the sanctuary. The slaughter was typical and shadowy, one of the rites of the worldly sanctuary pointing to the coming Messiah, the Lamb of God, whose power alone forgave sin and transformed character. That earthly ministration in its two holy places was the pattern and shadow of Christ's more excellent ministry in the true heavenly tabernacle, and it passed away forever when He suffered once for all and the veil was rent at Calvary. It belongs to the law of ordinances concerning sacrifices written out through Moses after the moral law, distinct from the Ten Commandments God spoke and wrote Himself, a system of carnal ordinances imposed until the reformation whose sacrifices could never take away sin.
Context and Wording
The killing of the bullock belongs to the ceremony for consecrating Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, to be studied together with the account of the priestly garments in Exodus 28. Several sacrifices were slain as part of that consecration to service in the sanctuary. It was a seven-day consecration, after which God publicly accepted Aaron's first offering for the people by sending fire. The directions belong to the detailed instructions concerning the tabernacle and its furniture, and concerning the sanctuary and its service, that God gave to Moses during his forty days on the mountain. They were given to Moses alone on the mount after the people stood afar off, not spoken directly to the people from heaven and written on the two tables of stone to which He added no more, but commanded by the hand of Moses and recorded chiefly in Exodus 25-30 and in Leviticus. In order they come after Exodus 19-24 and before the building and setting up of the sanctuary in Exodus 33-40, as the instruction concerning the sanctuary in Exodus 25-31 given to Moses in the mount.
They are part of the very minute description in Exodus 25-40 of the worldly sanctuary built in the days of Moses exactly according to the pattern shown in the mount. That setting forth in Exodus 25-31 describes the tabernacle erected by Moses as a structure of extraordinary magnificence, formed of upright boards overlaid with gold, about thirty cubits long and about ten in width and ten in height, with the entrance at the east end. More fully, it was composed of two apartments separated by a veil, the holy place twenty cubits long, ten cubits wide, and ten cubits high, and the most holy place ten cubits in each of its dimensions, just half as large as the holy place, with sides and west end made of acacia boards overlaid with gold secured below by tenons fitting into silver sockets weighing a talent each and above by bars placed through rings attached to the boards. The directions were given after God redeemed Israel from Egyptian bondage with a mighty hand, when hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted Israel to comprehend His great salvation and the character He required. God asked free-will offerings of the children of Israel to make Him a sanctuary that He might dwell among them, giving a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites comprehending in its teaching the great plan of salvation, in a marvelously beautiful structure whose pattern was divine and for whose building He specially endowed His workmen, and that sanctuary was His dwelling place among the people.
The slaughter is placed before the LORD by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, meaning at its entrance, the appointed center of Israel's worship. That door is identified as the tabernacle's east-end hanging. The building meant is the inner tabernacle erected by Israel at God's command in the wilderness, which is what the word sanctuary generally means, afterward succeeded as the place of worship by Solomon's portable tabernacle giving place to the temple; in both buildings the worship of God upon earth centered, and all earthly worship and service revolved around the holy of holies where the law of God rested with the mercy-seat over it. Moses himself killing the bullock before the LORD by the door was a priestly act, proving he was the first priest under the old covenant. The instructions committed priestly rites to Aaron and his sons, so others were not to perform them unless the Lord specially directed it, and therefore one not ordained for priestly service acted presumptuously in offering sacrifices instead of waiting as instructed, as in Saul's offering instead of waiting for Samuel.
The slaughter at the entrance reflects the sanctuary service in which a sinner who had transgressed brought a victim to the tabernacle door, to the entrance of the first apartment, to be offered. There the sinner confessed sin over it and gave it as a sin offering, acknowledging that sin deserved death, and the victim was slain there because of the transgression. Its blood then carried the sin and guilt into the sanctuary.
Shadow and Substance
The slaughter of the bullock at the door belongs to the instructions for establishing the sanctuary services, which set forth on earth God's plan for governing and dealing with sinners through salvation from sin. That service displays Christ as king and priest, and gives the people a part in cooperating with God in His work.
It was one of the rites and ceremonies of the worldly sanctuary first pitched in the wilderness and afterward succeeded by Solomon's temple at Jerusalem. The killing before the Lord by the door was typical and shadowy, an object lesson pointing to the coming Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The sanctuary services of the tabernacle pointed to a remedy for sin, and the significance and efficacy of the rite lay in Christ and His power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens.
The verse shows the Levitical order performing the ministration of the earthly sanctuary with its two holy places. That earthly sanctuary is the pattern of the true tabernacle of God in heaven and the example and shadow of Christ's more excellent ministry there. The ancient sanctuary thus typified the heavenly temple where Jesus now ministers.
The tabernacle was made for the ministry of sacrifices and offerings, which ended when Christ suffered and died once for all. With His sacrifice and offering at Calvary the veil of the temple was rent in twain, and this earthly typical service passed away entirely and forever. Those ceremonial ordinances involving sacrifices could not take away sin and found their fulfillment in Christ's sacrifice.
The direction to kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance belongs to the laws given through Moses concerning sacrifices and offerings. It is part of the ceremonial types pointing from the old dispensation to the substance of the new. It belongs to the law of ordinances written out in full immediately after the moral law. It was given to Moses alone on the mount during forty days after the people stood afar off and Moses drew near to the thick darkness, not spoken directly to the people from heaven nor written on the two tables of stone to which He added no more. It is recorded chiefly in Exodus 25-30 and in Leviticus among precepts, statutes, and laws commanded by the hand of Moses, distinct from the Ten Commandments and the holy Sabbath made known directly by God. It stands among the many burdensome ceremonies and carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation, a yoke which neither the fathers nor later believers were able to bear.
It belongs to the setting apart of the Levitical priesthood to minister before the ark containing the law in the most holy place of the typical sanctuary, a ministration continuing through the entire Old Testament period. That ministration brought the holy law to a sinful, rebellious people as condemnation and death, showing guilt before God and exposure to its just penalty and containing in itself no promise of pardon. The priesthood there offered no sacrifice that could take away sin but could only direct penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of men. In contrast stands the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ as great High Priest laid down His life and is able to save to the uttermost.
Doctrine and Duty
Sanctification is setting apart for sacred service, as shown in the consecration of the priests to their religious work. The killing of the bullock belongs to a separate set of laws given to regulate the worship of Israel, distinct from the set of laws given for civil government in Exodus 21 to 23. Religion has for its purpose to bring men back to God, while civil government has for its purpose only to control men and to regulate their relations toward each other in this life during probationary time. The two systems must therefore go side by side in the world with entirely separate lines of operation, because their purposes are essentially different and any commingling produces discordant clashing detrimental to both.
The same offerings and consecration required of the high priest were required of the cleansed leper. No lesser devotion is accepted from the lowliest than from the highest in sacred office. Even the humblest child of God must be as devoted and consecrated as Christ.