Exodus 29:27
And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons: And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:
The command sets apart the breast lifted in waving and the shoulder lifted in heaving from the ordination ram as holy food belonging to Aaron and his sons. It stands within the minute directions given on Sinai during the forty days for building the tabernacle as God's dwelling and for consecrating Aaron and his sons through seven days to minister before the ark. Those directions belong to the written ceremonial ordinances delivered through Moses, distinct from the Ten Commandments spoken by God and written on stone and from the civil statutes for government. The whole sacrificial ministration so ordered was a patterned object-lesson of salvation and of the heavenly sanctuary, and it passed away when Christ suffered and died once for all. The priests' consecration pointed to the One who bears the people's burdens, and the blood on ear, hand, and foot with oil upon the blood shows that every cleansed child of God must be as wholly devoted in hearing, service, and walk under the Holy Spirit.
Sinai Setting and Consecration
The verse belongs to the instructions Moses received on Mount Sinai concerning the tabernacle and its service. Those instructions were given during his forty days and nights on the mountain, and they show how particular God was about the worship of Israel. They stand within the Sinai narrative that records God's personal descent upon the mountain with His angels. The building and setting up of the sanctuary followed those mountain instructions.
Those instructions give a minute description in Exodus 25 to 40 of the worldly sanctuary built in the days of Moses. That description is found in Exodus 25-31 and continues to the end of the book. Moses was told to make it exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount. Divinely endowed workmen built it as a marvelously beautiful structure after deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
That sanctuary was God's dwelling place among the people and the center of worship. There worship centered on the holy of holies, with God's law beneath the mercy seat. It served that purpose in the wilderness and through the time of the judges and the kings, until Solomon built a temple on the same pattern.
Within that setting Exodus 29 gives the detailed directions for consecrating Aaron and his sons as priests to minister in the sanctuary before the ark. That consecration lasted seven days, and afterward God publicly accepted Aaron by sending fire to consume the first offering he made as high priest, establishing him as the earthly mediator to minister between God and the people. Its continual ministration included daily morning and evening burnt offerings, and God promised to meet with Israel there and sanctify the tabernacle with His glory.
The verse itself sets apart as holy the breast of the wave offering and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved and heaved up, of the ram of consecration for Aaron and for his sons. To sanctify is to dedicate to sacred religious use. In the ceremony the shoulder was placed on their hands, and the service represented the One who bears the people's burdens. The priesthood and its rites were committed to Aaron and his sons and not to others unless the Lord specially directed, thus setting apart the Levitical order to minister before the ark containing the two tables of the law in the Most Holy Place.
Ceremonial Law and Fulfillment
Exodus 29:27 belongs to the laws Moses received concerning offerings and ceremonial services, part of the written law of ordinances given by the hand of Moses during the forty days in the mount, recorded chiefly in Exodus 25-30 and Leviticus. It is distinct from the moral law of the Ten Commandments which God spoke directly from heaven and wrote on the two tables of stone with nothing added. It is also distinct from the separate set of laws in Exodus 21 to 23 given for civil government, showing that religion and civil government have essentially different purposes and must operate on entirely separate lines without commingling. These ceremonial laws revealed types whose meaning is traced from the old dispensation to the substance of the new, as laws to regulate the worship of Israel prescribing the sanctified portions of the consecration ram assigned to Aaron and his sons.
Those ceremonies were among the many 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 consecration offerings for Aaron and his sons, with the breast of the wave offering and the shoulder of the heave offering set apart, belonged to that ceremonial system. Animal sacrifices could not truly take away sin but found their fulfillment in Christ's sacrifice.
The whole ministration in sacrifices and offerings for which the ancient tabernacle was constructed passed away when Christ came and suffered and died once for all. That system has no likeness to modern churches, though Jewish synagogues try to keep some of its features and Roman Catholics partly copy some. The earthly sanctuary's rites served as a pattern of heavenly things, and the great temple which that ancient sanctuary typified is on high where Jesus now ministers. They were a great, multiple object-lesson which by various forms and rites taught the plan of salvation and the character God required, because hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted Israel to comprehend God's great salvation. The pattern was divine, and the full description of the sanctuary and its furnishings beginning with Exodus 25 and continuing to the end of the book must be read carefully to learn the exact pattern of the atonement work done in its two apartments for the errors of the people, whose sacrifice and ministry give the rites their significance.
The priests' consecration ceremony set apart as holy the breast of the wave offering and the shoulder of the heave offering from the consecration ram for Aaron and his sons, with the shoulder placed on their hands. That service represented the One who bears the people's burdens. It set apart the Levitical order of priesthood to minister before the ark containing the two tables of the law in the Most Holy Place of the typical sanctuary, and that priesthood carried that ministration forward through the entire Old Testament period while the typical sanctuary continued. The offerings and consecration God required of the high priest are the same offerings and consecration required of a cleansed leper and of the humblest child of God. The blood on the right ear means hearing consecrated to God to know no voice but His, the blood on the thumb and toe means the service of hands and feet wholly for Him, and the oil placed upon the blood means the presence of the Holy Spirit wherever there is cleansing and consecration, so that all must be as devoted and consecrated as Christ.