Exodus 29:14
But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering. But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.
The bullock's flesh with its skin and dung was to be burned with fire outside the camp as a sin offering in the service for consecrating Aaron and his sons to minister as priests in the earthly sanctuary. It belonged to God's directions for the wilderness tabernacle as an earthly object lesson of His plan for dealing with sin, foreshadowing the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and Christ's ministry there as king and priest to forgive sin and bring sinners into harmony with His law. Such animal offerings in themselves did not take away sin but pointed forward to the offering of Christ's own body once for all, the great Sacrifice and High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary who is able to save to the uttermost. The offering itself became sin in the type, illustrating how Christ who knew no sin was made sin for humanity. Its blood and anointing oil show that sanctification is consecration to holy use through the blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit, a consecration required of even the humblest child of God as fully as of the high priest.
Words and Setting
The bullock's flesh and its skin and its dung were to be burned with fire outside the camp, and this burning is identified as a sin offering. The rite belonged to the sacrificial rites of the ancient sanctuary, whose offerings ceased when Christ died once for all. The Septuagint renders the closing declaration as It is sin, emphasizing that the offering itself became sin in the ritual type and not merely a means of reconciliation for sin, illustrating how Christ who knew no sin was made sin for humanity.
The direction stands in the Lord's directions for the sanctuary and its services given in Exodus 25 to 40. It concerns the inner tabernacle erected by Israel at God's command in the wilderness that He might dwell among them, which was later replaced as the center of earthly worship by Solomon's temple after deliverance from Egyptian bondage. All earthly worship and service revolved around the holy of holies where the law of God rested with the mercy-seat over it. The sanctuary was built from free-will offerings of the children of Israel, including gold, silver, brass, acacia wood, fine linen, goat's hair and other materials, by workmen specially endowed by God according to the pattern divinely given to Moses in the mount. Its structure included the upright gold-covered board framework with silver sockets and bars, the embroidered linen door veil, the fourfold linen and skin coverings, the division by a second veil into the holy place and the most holy place, with dimensions, material, furnishings, furniture and vessels exactly wrought.
The instructions were given to Moses during his time on the mount during the forty days on Sinai. They stand within the record of Exodus 19, Exodus 20, and Exodus 24-34 of the personal descent of God upon Mount Sinai with His angels, coming after the giving of the Sabbath to Israel in Exodus 16 and the taking of Israel as a holy nation unto Himself in Exodus 19, and centering on the giving of His law to Israel in Exodus 20. It was then that God ordained the priesthood and the sanctuary service before committing the written law to Moses, with the purpose of bringing people into harmony with God's holy law.
The verse stands in the account of the ceremony and services for consecrating Aaron and his sons and setting apart the Levitical order of priesthood to minister in the earthly sanctuary with its two holy places before the ark containing the law in the most holy place. The chapter belongs with the description of the priestly garments in Exodus 28, and both chapters should be carefully studied together. The sacrifices in this consecration, together with the blood and anointing oil, marked the priests as set apart for God's service. Those directions committed the priesthood to Aaron and his sons, showing that others were not to perform priestly rites unless the Lord specially directed them.
The regulation belongs to the laws of Moses concerning offerings and sacrifices and to the regulations for Israel's worship, which also revealed types whose substance is found in the new dispensation. Those worship regulations are distinct from the civil laws in Exodus 21-23. They are likewise distinct from the Ten Commandments which God spoke directly to the people from heaven and wrote on the two tables of stone with nothing added, having been commanded by the hand of Moses and recorded chiefly in Exodus 25-30 and Leviticus.
The sin offering belonged to a sanctuary service in which the sinner brought an unblemished victim as substitute, confessed sin over it, and acknowledged guilt and worthiness of death. The victim's blood was carried by the priest into the sanctuary and sprinkled before the veil during the daily service. At the year's close the high priest used the sin offering's blood before the ark and on the mercy seat to make atonement and cleanse the sanctuary, and this bullock's blood was brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering for himself before he made atonement for the people.
Type and Application
The instructions to which the bullock's flesh, skin and dung burned outside the camp belong present God's plan for dealing with sin and saving sinners as an earthly object lesson of His government and His work through Christ as king and priest. Their purpose was to bring people into harmony with His holy law, pointing to the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world with power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens. They were the explicit directions given in the mount in Exodus 25 to 31 for dimensions, material, furnishings and all of the sanctuary, wrought exactly in the wilderness to make a dwelling-place that God might dwell among them. They belong to the directions for building and the description of the marvelously beautiful sanctuary structure in Exodus 25-40, given after deliverance from Egyptian bondage as a great multiple object-lesson comprehending the great plan of salvation, built from free-will offerings of the children of Israel by workmen specially endowed by God with pattern divinely given to Moses in the mount.
The worldly sanctuary so set forth was always typical of and foreshadowed the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, serving unto the shadow of heavenly things. Its ministration was appointed to the Levitical order of priesthood to perform in the earthly sanctuary with its two holy places before the ark in the most holy place through the whole Old Testament period. That ministration with its yearly cleansing is the example and shadow of Christ's more excellent ministry in the true tabernacle.
Such animal offerings of flesh did not actually take away sin, and in themselves could only exhibit guilt and just condemnation and death under the holy law, with no promise of pardon in themselves. They found fulfillment in Christ, whose own body was offered to put away sin, and they ceased when Christ died once for all. They could only point penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice, Christ the life-giving Spirit who died for the human family and now as great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary before the ark of God's testament is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through Him.
The wording rendered in the Septuagint as It is sin emphasizes that the offering itself became sin in the ritual type, not merely a means of reconciliation for sin. This illustrates how Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for humanity. In the sanctuary service the victim's blood was carried by the priest into the sanctuary and sprinkled before the veil in the daily service after the sinner confessed sin over the victim as a sin offering acknowledging worthiness of death. At the year's close the high priest used the sin offering's blood before the ark and on the mercy seat to make atonement and cleanse the sanctuary.
The ordinance stands with the things recorded chiefly in Exodus 25-30 and Leviticus, commanded by the hand of Moses during the forty days on the mount, not the Ten Commandments spoken directly to the people from heaven and written on the two tables of stone with nothing added. It is one of the burdensome ceremonies, diverse washings and carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation, a yoke which neither the fathers nor later believers were able to bear. It is distinct from the holy law of God and forms part of the law of commandments contained in ordinances abolished as enmity.
The ceremony illustrates sanctification as consecration to religious use in the setting apart of priests to sacred service. Its sacrifices, together with the blood and anointing oil, marked Aaron and his sons as set apart for God's service and represented the blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit as what fully qualified them for holy office. It is cited as the pattern for the offerings and consecration required of the cleansed leper, for the same consecration God required of the high priest was required of the leper. This shows that even the humblest child of God must be wholly devoted and consecrated to God, as Christ was.