Exodus 29:18
And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
The verse commands that the entire ram be consumed by fire on the altar before the entrance as a wholly offered burnt offering acceptable to the Lord, including the regular morning and evening offerings.
It stands within the minute pattern for the sanctuary built by Moses exactly as shown in the mount, in the account of the sacrifices and rites for consecrating Aaron and his sons to the priesthood and reserving burnt-offering service to them.
It belongs not to the Ten Commandments spoken by God and written on stone, but to the ceremonial laws of offerings and ordinances that set forth types in addition to the moral law.
The sanctuary and its sacrifices were an earthly object lesson of Christ's work as priest and of His ministry in the true heavenly tabernacle, and the whole sacrificial system ended forever when He died once for all at Calvary.
Those offerings in themselves could not take away sin but could only point penitent sinners forward to the Lamb of God, while the consecration they accompanied illustrates sanctification as total devotion of ear, hand, foot and heart under the Holy Spirit.
Words and Sanctuary Setting
Exodus 29:18 stands in Exodus 25 to 40, which gives a very minute description of the sanctuary built in the days of Moses, made exactly according to the pattern shown to Moses in the mount, specified as Exodus 25-31 giving the minute description of the tabernacle as erected by Moses. That larger section Exodus 25-30 gives the complete description of the sanctuary Israel was to make from offerings of gold, silver, brass, acacia wood, fine linen, goat's hair and other materials, that God might dwell among them, including its framework, coverings, divisions, furniture and vessels.
The verse directs that the whole ram be burned upon the altar as a burnt offering unto the Lord, a sweet savour and pleasing offering made by fire, offered on the altar before the entrance as commanded in tabernacle worship. This offering is identified with the burnt offering Moses made at the entrance of the tabernacle when it was set up. It belongs to the daily service in the holy place of the two holy places of the earthly sanctuary, which included the regular morning and evening burnt offering and the other burnt offerings presented for individuals through the year.
The verse belongs to the account in Exodus 29 of the services and sacrifices slain for consecrating the priests and sanctuary as Aaron and his sons were set apart for the priesthood, to be carefully studied together with the description of the priestly garments in Exodus 28. Its blood and anointing oil typified Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit, which alone qualified them for holy office. It gives the burnt-offering rites within the priestly service committed to Aaron and his sons and reserved to the appointed priesthood, so Saul's offering was not authorized merely because others outside the priesthood had offered sacrifices.
Those sanctuary instructions were given after Israel's covenant with God was ratified, showing the care required in worship whose services are directed toward bringing people into harmony with God's law. They were given to Moses during his forty days on Mount Sinai, when God ordained the sanctuary and the priesthood that would serve before the ark containing the law. They belong to the record in Exodus 19, 20, and 24-34 of the personal descent of God upon Mount Sinai with His angels, coming after God gave Israel the Sabbath in Exodus 16 and gave Himself to Israel as a holy nation in Exodus 19, and centering on God giving Israel His law in Exodus 20. The sanctuary was made as God's dwelling place among His people, a marvelously beautiful structure and great multiple object-lesson given after deliverance from Egyptian bondage to teach the great plan of salvation and the character God required, built from free-will offerings of the children of Israel so God might dwell among them, constructed by workmen specially endowed by God according to a divine pattern given to Moses in the mount.
The word sanctuary generally means the inner tabernacle building erected by Israel at the command of God in the wilderness, described in Exodus 25 to 40, afterward succeeded when Solomon's temple took the place of the portable tabernacle. In both buildings the worship of God upon the earth centered, with all earthly worship and service revolving around the holy of holies where the law of God rested with the mercy-seat over it.
The verse is part of the laws given through Moses concerning offerings and sacrifices, belonging to the ceremonial laws that set out offerings and revealed types, whose substance is found in the new dispensation. It belongs to the law of ordinances, which was written out in full after the moral law when the record reaches Moses' time. It stands not among the Ten Commandments God spoke directly to the people at Sinai and wrote on the two tables of stone with nothing added, but among the precepts, statutes and ceremonial requirements recorded chiefly in Exodus 25-30 and in Leviticus, and like the other rites of that system it was a burdensome ceremony, part of the diverse washings and carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation, a yoke which neither the fathers nor their children were able to bear. It belongs to the laws regulating Israel's worship, which were distinct from the laws for civil government.
Type Fulfillment and Application
The sanctuary and its sacrifices each teach in type about the work of Jesus Christ. The sanctuary service was an earthly object lesson of God's government and of Christ's work as priest and king, setting forth God's plan for dealing with sin and saving sinners. That provision was devised for salvation from sin, with God's people cooperating in the work. All its rites and ceremonies were object lessons pointing to the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, to the coming Messiah, and to His power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens.
The blood and anointing oil of the consecration ceremony typified Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit, which alone qualified Aaron and his sons for holy office. The earthly sanctuary with its two holy places and Levitical priesthood was the example and shadow of Christ's more excellent ministry in the true tabernacle in heaven which the Lord pitched and not man, where Jesus now ministers. The ancient tabernacle was built for sacrifices and offerings, including the whole ram burned on the altar as a burnt offering, and the worldly sanctuary where true worship centered until Christ typified that heavenly temple. The whole sacrificial system passed away entirely and forever when Christ came and died once for all, at His sacrifice and offering at Calvary and the rending of the veil of the temple.
The offerings of that system could not take away sin and offered no sacrifice that could take away sin. Like the other rites they were burdensome ceremonies, diverse washings and carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation, a yoke which neither the fathers nor their children were able to bear. The ministration of the Levitical priesthood before the ark in the typical sanctuary, while that sanctuary continued, could only exhibit guilt and just condemnation and death to a sinful rebellious people, showing them exposed to the penalty of the law with no promise of pardon in itself. It could only point penitent sinners forward to Christ's sacrifice and the great Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of men, in whom the ceremonies found fulfillment.
The chapter's exact directions offer instructive lessons even when their full reasons and meaning are not understood. Those sanctuary instructions show the care required in worship, whose services are directed toward bringing people into harmony with God's law. The setting apart of the priests illustrates sanctification as consecration to a religious use. The same offerings and consecration required of the high priest are required of the cleansed leper, so the humblest child of God must be as devoted and consecrated as Christ.
Blood touched on the right ear means hearing consecrated to God to know no voice but His. Blood put on the thumb and toe means the service of hands and feet must be only for Him. Oil placed upon the blood means wherever there is cleansing and consecration there is also the presence of the Holy Spirit. The sanctuary's sacrificial service taught that a person who sinned brought a victim, confessed over it, and acknowledged through the sin offering worthiness of death. The victim's blood was carried into the sanctuary, and on the yearly day of atonement the high priest used sin-offering blood to make atonement and cleanse the sanctuary, which does not specifically explain the whole-ram burnt offering of this verse.