Exodus 29:24, commentary and pictures

The verse commands that the appointed parts of the ram of consecration be laid in the hands of Aaron and his sons and waved before the LORD as a wave offering in setting them apart for the priesthood. The tabernacle and its priestly service of sacrifices and offerings were an earthly shadow of the heavenly temple and Christ's work, setting forth the great plan for dealing with sin and saving sinners. The service placed in the priests' hands represented Christ, with the shoulder signifying His bearing of the burdens of the people, and it pointed forward to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, since the blood of bulls and goats could only exhibit guilt and death and could not itself take away sin. The same laying of the offering in the hands with blood touched to ear and thumb and toe taught entire consecration of hearing, hands, and feet to serve God alone, so that even the humblest child of God must be as devoted as was Christ.

Setting and Consecration Rite

The designated portions of the consecration offering were to be put in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons and waved for a wave offering before the LORD, as part of setting them apart for sacred priestly service. This direction belongs to the instructions for consecrating Aaron and his sons as priests, within the legislative portion setting out Israel's covenant and ordinances. It is part of the instructions for the sanctuary as God's dwelling place among Israel.

The consecration of Aaron and his sons described in Exodus 29 and Leviticus 8 lasted seven days. That account of the services connected with the consecration of the priests in Exodus 29 follows the description of the priestly garments in Exodus 28, and both chapters should be carefully studied.

The verse belongs to the sanctuary instructions God gave to Moses on the mount during his forty days and nights there, after Israel's covenant had been ratified. It is part of the instruction concerning the sanctuary in Exodus 25-31, standing in chronological order after the events of Exodus 19-32 and before the building and setting up of the sanctuary recorded in Exodus 33-40. It is included among the instructions for the priesthood ordained during that time on Mount Sinai, when the pattern of the sanctuary and its furnishings was given.

The verse is part of the very minute description in Exodus 25 to 40 of the sanctuary built in the days of Moses, which was to be made exactly according to the divine pattern shown in the mount. That sanctuary structure was marvelously beautiful, given by divine pattern and built by specially endowed workmen from the free-will offerings of Israel. The tabernacle together with all its furniture and vessels is completely described in Exodus 25-30, made from offered gold, silver, brass, acacia wood, fine linen, goat's hair and other materials as a sanctuary for God to dwell among Israel. Its promise was that God would meet Israel there and sanctify the tabernacle with His glory, in connection with the instructions for the Levitical priesthood and its ministration in the earthly sanctuary.

Shadow and Fulfillment in Christ

The ancient tabernacle and its priestly service of sacrifices and offerings were an earthly object lesson and shadow of the heavenly temple and Christ's work, comprehending the great plan of salvation for dealing with sin and saving sinners. This object lesson was needed because hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted redeemed Israel to comprehend God's great salvation and the character He required, so that He might dwell among them. These ceremonial laws concerning offerings and sacrifices were shadows from which the substance of the new dispensation could be traced. They belong to the sanctuary instructions God gave to Moses during his forty days and nights on the mount after Israel's covenant had been ratified. Worship of God on earth there centered on the holy of holies, with God's law beneath the mercy seat, and the sanctuary worship and its services were intended to bring people into harmony with God's holy law.

The unleavened bread and the right shoulder of the consecration sacrifice placed in Aaron's and his sons' hands as part of their consecration represented Christ, and the shoulder signified their bearing the burdens of the people. The Levitical priesthood thus set apart ministered through the whole Old Testament period before the ark containing the law in the Most Holy Place of the typical sanctuary to a sinful, rebellious people, and that ministration could only exhibit guilt, condemnation and death, showing exposure to the law's just penalty with no promise of pardon in itself. It was part of a system of flesh and blood offerings of bulls and goats that could not really take away sins and offered no sacrifice that could take away sin. It could only direct penitent sinners forward to the coming Messiah and the great Sacrifice to be offered for sins, whose significance and efficacy lay in Christ and His power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver people from their burdens.

That system pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, bearing sins in His own body on the tree, so that eternal life comes only by eating the flesh of the Son of man and drinking His blood. These services of ministration in sacrifices and offerings passed away when Christ suffered and died once for all, abolished in His flesh by finding their fulfillment in the body of Christ, and were not to be continued after Christ suffered. They belong to the instruction God gave to the people through Moses during the forty days in the mount, recorded in Exodus 25-30 and Leviticus, and not to the Ten Commandments God spoke directly to the people from heaven and wrote on the two tables of stone with nothing added, being a carnal ordinance and burdensome yoke imposed until the time of reformation. The sanctuary typified the heavenly temple where Jesus now ministers as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary before the ark of God's testament, who died for all and is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through Him, in contrast to the former ministration which had no promise of pardon in itself. The sanctuary service shows divine and human cooperation: God works through Christ, and His people have a part in that work.

Worship Order and Consecration

Exodus 29:24 belongs to the instruction God gave to the people through Moses during the forty days in the mount, not to the Ten Commandments that God spoke directly to the people from heaven and wrote on the two tables of stone with nothing added. It is one of the many ceremonies recorded in Exodus 25-30 and Leviticus, a carnal ordinance and burdensome yoke imposed until the time of reformation. It is part of the separate set of laws God gave to regulate the worship of Israel, distinct from the set of laws He gave for civil government in Exodus 21 to 23. Religion and civil government have essentially different purposes and must operate on entirely separate lines, with worship belonging to persuading men to be reconciled to God rather than controlling men by force.

The priestly service was committed to Aaron and his sons, and its rites were not to be performed by others unless the Lord specifically directed it. Saul therefore acted presumptuously when he offered sacrifices without being appointed to that service and despite being told to wait for Samuel. The offerings and consecration required of the high priest, with the offerings put in his hands and waved before the Lord and with blood touched to the right ear, thumb, and toe followed by oil on the blood, were also required of a cleansed leper. Blood on the ear means hearing consecrated to know no voice but God's, blood on thumb and toe means hands and feet to serve only Him, and oil on the blood means the presence of the Holy Spirit wherever there is cleansing and consecration, so that the humblest child of God must be as devoted and consecrated as was Christ.