Exodus 29:13, commentary and pictures

Exodus 29:13 belongs to the consecration of Aaron and his sons for sacred service, directing that the fat covering the inward organs with the lobe above the liver, the two kidneys and the fat upon them be burned upon the altar as portions belonging to God and not to be eaten. It stands among the minute instructions for the tabernacle and its service given to Moses in the mount, which he was to make exactly according to the pattern shown him and which was afterward constructed and set up in the wilderness that God might dwell among His people. Those earthly forms and rites set forth God's plan for salvation from sin and His way of dealing with sinners, bringing worshipers into harmony with His holy law. Like all the sacrifices and offerings of that system, this burning was typical of Christ the Lamb of God, for those victims could not take away sin but directed penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice to be offered for men. With the death of Christ and the rending of the veil that typical earthly sanctuary and its service passed away forever, being only the divinely given pattern of the true sanctuary in heaven where Jesus now ministers.

Setting and Wording

Exodus 29:13 belongs to the ceremony and account of the consecration of the priests, in which sacrifices were offered and the priests were set apart for sacred service to God. Sanctification in this connection means setting someone or something apart for religious use.

The verse belongs to the instructions for the tabernacle and its service given to Moses during his forty days and nights on Mount Sinai after Israel's covenant was ratified. Those ceremonial instructions were given after the people asked Moses to receive God's further instructions for them, and are distinguished from the Ten Commandments spoken directly by God at Sinai. In chronological order they stand after the events of Exodus 19-32 and before the building and setting up of the sanctuary in Exodus 33-40. They show how particular God was about worship and its services, which were meant to bring people into harmony with His holy law.

The verse is part of the very minute description in Exodus 25 to 40, especially Exodus 25-31, of the worldly sanctuary built in the days of Moses. Moses was instructed to make it exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount, and those directions were explicitly carried out. It was constructed by workmen specially endowed by God for the work. Its materials and structure included offerings of gold, silver, brass, acacia wood, fine linen, goat's hair and other materials, with a gold-covered board framework, linen, goat's hair, ram's skin and badger's skin coverings, a linen door and dividing vail forming the holy place and most holy place, and all its furniture and vessels. The sanctuary was later dedicated and filled with God's glory.

The verse specifies that the fat covering the inner organs, the caul or lobe above the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat upon them were to be burned upon the altar. These designated portions belonged to God and were not to be eaten. That prohibition did not extend to the ordinary fat of meat used for food.

The portable inner tabernacle was erected by Israel at God's command in the wilderness after deliverance from Egyptian bondage so He might dwell among them. That portable tabernacle was later replaced by the temple Solomon built. In both buildings all earthly worship centered on and revolved around the holy of holies where the law of God rested with the mercy-seat over it. The priests of the Levitical order were ordained to minister before that ark containing God's law while the typical sanctuary continued. Those priestly rites were committed to Aaron and his sons and were not to be performed by others unless the Lord specially directed. They belong to the laws regulating Israel's worship, distinct from the laws governing civil affairs.

Typology and Teaching

The instructions for the sanctuary and its services set forth on earth God's plan for salvation from sin and His way of dealing with sinners. They were given to Moses during his forty days and nights on the mountain after Israel's covenant was ratified, and they show how particular God was about worship and its services, which were meant to bring people into harmony with His holy law. They commanded Israel after deliverance from Egyptian bondage to make Him a sanctuary that He might dwell among them, a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites comprehending the great plan of salvation, whose pattern was divine and to be built by workmen specially endowed by God for the work.

The verse belongs to the laws Moses received concerning sacrifices and offerings and the handling of sacrificial flesh. It is part of the old dispensation's sacrificial types, whose meaning is traced to their substance in the new dispensation. Like all the rites and ceremonies of ancient Israel its significance and efficacy lay in Christ, as an object lesson pointing to the Lamb of God that takes away sin and to the coming Messiah, typical of His power to forgive sin, transform the character, and deliver from burdens, serving unto the shadow of heavenly things.

Those sacrifices could not take away sin and found their fulfillment in Christ's sacrifice. The Levitical order of priesthood was set apart to minister before the ark of the testament in the Most Holy Place of the typical sanctuary while that sanctuary continued, and offered no sacrifice that could take away sin, only directing penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of men. This ceremonial instruction given to Moses after the people asked him to receive God's further instructions for them is distinguished from the Ten Commandments spoken directly by God at Sinai, and is included among the burdensome ceremonies imposed until the time of reformation.

That ministration in sacrifices and offerings, in its detail having no likeness to modern churches, passed away when Christ came and suffered and died once for all. With His death and the rending of the veil that typical and shadowy earthly sanctuary and its service passed away entirely and forever. The ancient sanctuary, tabernacle, and priesthood were a divinely given earthly pattern and type of the true sanctuary in heaven, the great temple on high where Jesus the Lord now ministers.

The verse concerns an offering burned on the altar within the system in which sin was confessed over a victim and atonement was made through priestly ministry. God required the high priest to offer the same offerings and consecration required of the cleansed leper, which means even the humblest child of God must be as devoted and consecrated as Christ.