Exodus 29:23, commentary and pictures

Exodus 29:23 directs that one loaf, one oiled cake, and one wafer be taken from the basket of unleavened bread before the Lord as part of consecrating Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. The bread was placed in their hands with the right shoulder of the sacrifice to set them apart for sacred service, and its unleavenedness represented sincerity and truth in consecration to holy use. As part of the earthly sanctuary and its offerings, it served as a type and shadow pointing to Christ the Lamb of God and his power to forgive sin and deliver from its burden. That tabernacle ministration was a pattern of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, fulfilled in his body and sacrifice when he suffered and died once for all. Those priestly ceremonies were burdensome ritual requirements imposed until the time of reformation, distinct from the Ten Commandments spoken directly by God and written on stone.

Setting and Wording

Exodus 29:23 was given to Moses during his forty days' stay in the mountain on Sinai, belonging to the legislative division of Exodus in which the ransomed people were bound to Jehovah by solemn covenant and provided with a system of legal ordinances for their guidance. It belongs to the very minute and complete description of the sanctuary tabernacle built by Moses in Exodus 25 to 30 and Exodus 25 to 40, made exactly according to the pattern shown to Moses in the mount from offerings of gold, silver, brass, acacia wood, fine linen, goat's hair and other materials, so that God might dwell among the people. The directions were given after Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage, when God redeemed them with a mighty hand and commanded free-will offerings to make Him a marvelously beautiful sanctuary that He might dwell among them. Centuries of slavery had unfitted them to comprehend His great salvation and required character, so by various forms and rites the sanctuary would be a great multiple object-lesson comprehending the great plan of salvation, built by workmen specially endowed by God and made according to the divine pattern given to Moses in the mount.

The inner tabernacle erected by Israel at God's command in the wilderness is what the word sanctuary generally means, and Solomon's temple afterward took the place of that portable tabernacle. In both buildings the worship of God on 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 in the ark, and the explicit instructions for building and equipping the sanctuary were centered on that holy of holies and the ark containing God's law. The verse specifies three items to be taken from the basket of unleavened bread set before the Lord: one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer. It is part of the detailed instructions for the tabernacle service and the consecration of Aaron and his sons, illustrating the minute care given to the tabernacle's worship and priestly service.

It belongs to the account of the services connected with the priests' consecration and the directions establishing the priesthood for Aaron and his sons, which rites were not to be performed by others unless the Lord specially directed it. Exodus 29 shows the setting apart of the Levitical order of priesthood to minister before the ark in the Most Holy Place of the typical sanctuary while that sanctuary should continue, carrying forward the ministration commenced when Moses brought the tables of law down to the people. It belongs to the instructions for Israel's sanctuary service, whose holy place included a table bearing the presence bread.

Typology and Teaching

The loaf, the oiled cake, and the wafer from the basket before the Lord belong to the Mosaic laws of offerings and sacrifices, which reveal types and shadows whose substance is found in the new dispensation. They belong to the directions for the earthly sanctuary and its services, which were object lessons pointing to Christ the Lamb of God and to His power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from sin's burdens. The earthly sanctuary was a figure of the heavenly sanctuary and its service, and its significance lay in Christ.

The ancient tabernacle and its ministration in sacrifices and offerings served as a pattern of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Those services, including the Levitical priesthood and earthly sanctuary service, passed away when Christ suffered and died once for all. The sanctuary typified the heavenly temple where Jesus now ministers. The offerings and priestly ceremonies given through Moses were fulfilled in Christ's body and sacrifice. Those ceremonies were burdensome ritual requirements imposed until the time of reformation, distinguished from the Ten Commandments spoken directly by God and written on stone.

The bread belongs to the laws God gave to regulate Israel's worship, distinct from the laws in Exodus 21 to 23 given for their civil government. Civil government is a temporary arrangement of force made necessary by sin to control men and regulate their relations toward each other in this life only, while true Gospel religion persuades men to be reconciled to God and brings them back to Him. The two systems must go side by side without commingling, since any mixing produces discordant clashing detrimental to both. In the consecration ceremony the unleavened bread was placed in Aaron's and his sons' hands with the sacrifice's right shoulder to set them apart for God's sacred service. The unleavened bread represented sincerity and truth, and sanctification in this sense means consecration to a holy use.

The same offerings and consecration required of the high priest were required of the cleansed leper, showing that the humblest child of God must be as devoted and consecrated as Christ. Blood on the right ear means hearing consecrated to know no voice but God's, and blood on the thumb and toe means the service of hands and feet for Him alone. Oil placed upon the blood shows the presence of the Holy Spirit wherever there is cleansing and consecration.