Exodus 29:34, commentary and pictures

Exodus 29:34 belongs to the seven-day ceremony consecrating Aaron and his sons to serve as priests, commanding that any flesh of the consecrations or bread left until morning be burned with fire and not eaten because it is holy. It stands among the minute, detailed instructions given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai for the wilderness tabernacle built that God might dwell among Israel. That sanctuary and its service was a manifold object-lesson of God's plan for dealing with sin, a type and shadow pointing to Christ and His work which found its fulfillment in His once-for-all sacrifice, so that the ancient tabernacle, priesthood, and offerings passed away when Christ came. While this is so, those who held the leftover rule to continue teach that it applies to the fragments remaining after the Lord's Supper, which are to be burned, and that keeping it in every detail honors God.

Context and Plain Meaning

Exodus 29:34 belongs to the very minute description of the sanctuary built in the days of Moses given in Exodus 25 to 40. It falls within the detailed instructions for the tabernacle and its furnishings received from God during forty days on Mount Sinai.

That tabernacle was the inner tabernacle erected by Israel at God's command in the wilderness as the center of God's worship on earth. It was later replaced in that office by Solomon's temple. All earthly worship and service revolved around the holy of holies where God's law rested with the mercy-seat over it.

Exodus 25-30 gives the complete description of that sanctuary to be made so God might dwell among Israel. It was to be built from free-will offerings of the children of Israel, including gold, silver, brass, acacia wood, fine linen, goat's hair and other materials. Its boards, coverings, door, holy place, most holy place, furniture and vessels were all specified. It was a marvelously beautiful structure to be built by specially endowed workmen according to the divine pattern shown in the mount.

The verse belongs to the ceremony consecrating Aaron and his sons as priests, in which sacrifices and unleavened bread were used. It is part of the account of their seven-day consecration to serve as priests. That consecration set them apart for holy service to God, for sanctification in this sense means consecration to a religious use. By this Moses set apart the Levitical order of priesthood to minister before the ark in the Most Holy Place of the typical sanctuary while that sanctuary continued.

Its plain rule is that any portion of the consecration flesh and its bread left until morning had to be burned with fire and could not be eaten. The reason given is that it was holy. This shows how particular God was about what pertained to His worship. In the sanctuary service this instruction was part of the object lesson setting forth God's plan for dealing with sin and salvation.

The instruction in Exodus 25-31 stands in chronological order after Exodus 19-24 and before the building and setting up of the sanctuary in Exodus 33-40. It is part of what was added after the book of the covenant containing the ten words and the judgments of Exodus 21-23. It develops principles already in that book without adding or taking away one moral principle.

As part of the law of ordinances written out after the moral law, the verse belongs to the ceremonial laws recorded in Exodus 19-30. It is among the laws given through Moses concerning offerings and ceremonial rites. These ceremonial instructions and ordinances are distinguished from the Ten Commandments spoken by God at Sinai.

The earthly sanctuary order to which the verse belongs included setting the candlestick with its seven lamps on the south side of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, which is the holy place. That earthly arrangement served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. It proves there is a holy place in the heavenly temple with seven lamps of fire or golden candlestick where Christ officiated as priest in continual daily offering.

Shadow Fulfillment and Application

The consecration meat and its bread were holy, so any portion left until morning had to be burned with fire and could not be eaten. That requirement belonged to the sanctuary and its service, which was a great multiple object-lesson taught by various forms and rites that set forth God's plan for dealing with sin and for salvation. It comprehended forgiveness and deliverance and the character God required, and it foreshadowed Christ and His work. It was given because Israel, redeemed from Egyptian bondage by a mighty hand, was unfitted by slavery to comprehend God's salvation.

Those laws given through Moses concerning offerings and ceremonial rites were types and shadows pointing to the substance of the new dispensation. They were ceremonies and offerings that could not take away sin, and they found their fulfillment in Christ's sacrifice. The ancient tabernacle with its sanctuary and priests and its ministration of sacrifices and offerings was constructed for that ministration, and it has no likeness to churches today. That ministration passed away when Christ came and suffered and died once for all, for the ancient sanctuary typified the great temple on high where Jesus now ministers.

The command for burning what remains of consecrated flesh and bread gives the rule for disposing of leftover consecrated food. It applies to the fragments that remain after the Lord's Supper, showing that they are to be burned. Keeping it in every detail honors God. Exodus 29 prescribes the same offerings and consecration for the high priest and for the cleansed leper, showing that the humblest child of God must be as devoted and consecrated as Christ was.