Exodus 29:36, commentary and pictures

Exodus 29:36 prescribes a bullock every day as a sin offering for atonement during the seven-day ceremony for the consecration of Aaron and his sons and for the preparing, cleansing, anointing and sanctifying of the altar, showing sacrifices were not limited to the Sabbath. Sanctification here means setting apart for sacred use, and making atonement for the altar by cleansing it with blood to free it from sin is the same work described as cleansing, purification, reconciliation and sanctification to bring into favor with God. The spotless bullock, called chattath, was counted as sin and stood as a type of Christ, with the sinner laying a hand upon it to transfer guilt to the offering in his place so that its consumption represented the taking away of sin. The sanctuary service to which it belonged was an earthly object lesson of God's plan of salvation from sin, centered in the portable tabernacle and afterward in Solomon's temple around the holy of holies, whose offerings pointed to Christ and His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Those daily ceremonial offerings belonged to the law of Moses imposed until the time of reformation, and the blood of bulls and goats could not truly take away sin but could only lead penitent sinners to Christ, who bore sin by His own sacrifice and now as great High Priest before the ark of God's testament saves to the uttermost.

Setting and Ceremony

Exodus 29:36 belongs to the minute, detailed instructions for the tabernacle and its service in Exodus 25-40, given exactly according to the pattern shown in the mount before the sanctuary was built and set up. Those directions were given by God to Moses during his forty days and nights in the mountain with the tables of stone, after Israel's covenant was ratified. They stand in the second, chiefly legislative division of Exodus in chapters 19-40, which binds the ransomed people to Jehovah by solemn covenant and provides a system of legal ordinances for their guidance, with this verse falling within the instructions of Exodus 29-34 for the sanctuary and its service. They cover the worldly sanctuary built in the days of Moses from free-will offerings of gold, silver, brass, acacia wood, fine linen, goat's hair and other materials by specially endowed workmen, so that God might dwell among Israel. Even when their full meaning and reasons are not understood, those detailed directions for building and preparing the sanctuary offer many instructive lessons.

Within those instructions the verse is part of the ceremony for the consecration of the priests, namely the seven-day consecration of Aaron and his sons for the priesthood. It belongs to the instructions for preparing and sanctifying the altar, for its cleansing, anointing and sanctifying. Sanctification here means setting apart or consecrating something for sacred use, as the priests and sanctuary were sanctified.

A bullock was to be offered every day for a sin offering for atonement during that consecration of priests and altar, so sacrifices were not limited to the Sabbath. After atonement was made for it, the altar was to be cleansed and anointed. Those sin offerings were made daily and continued through the year in the service of the Levitical priesthood in the earthly sanctuary and its preparation for priestly ministry. Distinct from them was the separate annual work at the close of the year, when the high priest brought sin-offering blood into the most holy place to make atonement and cleanse the sanctuary.

Meaning and Typology

The Hebrew word in the verse is chattath, which can mean sin, and the spotless bullock offered as a sin offering was counted as sin and stood as a type of Christ. The sinner confessed his guilt while laying his hand upon the animal, thereby transferring his sins to the offering that stood in his place. The consumption of the offering represented the taking away of sin, so that the sinner was counted righteous.

Making atonement for the altar meant cleansing it with blood, freeing it from the sins transferred to it through the blood of the victims. Cleansing of the sanctuary is done by blood and is identical with making atonement, and atonement, cleansing, purification, reconciliation and sanctification describe the same work of bringing something into favor with God. That work is done by blood, sometimes together with water, and the cleansing of the earthly altar with blood when atonement was made for it provides the type for the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary with blood.

The sanctuary service to which the verse belongs was an earthly object lesson of God's plan of salvation from sin and His way of dealing with rebellion. It was given after deliverance from Egyptian bondage, when centuries of slavery had unfitted Israel to comprehend His salvation and the character it required. It centered in the portable tabernacle erected in the wilderness at God's command and afterward in Solomon's temple that took its place, all revolving around the holy of holies where God's law rested with the mercy-seat over it. Its offerings and ceremonies pointed to Christ and His power to forgive sin, transform character and deliver from burdens, as an example and shadow of His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.

The daily bullock for atonement and the cleansing and sanctifying of the altar were ceremonial offerings whose blood of bulls and goats could not truly take away sin. They belonged to a ministration of condemnation and death that showed sinful people their guilt under God's holy law and left them exposed to its penalty with no pardon in itself. They could only lead penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice, Christ the life-giving Spirit who bore sin, put it away by His own sacrifice, and died for the human family. He now serves as great High Priest before the ark of God's testament in the heavenly sanctuary, where He saves to the uttermost all who come to God through Him.

Law and Application

Exodus 29:36 belongs to the law of Moses, to the law of ordinances and ceremonial instructions given through Moses concerning offerings and sacrifices through which the types of the old dispensation were revealed. It is distinct from the Ten Commandments spoken by God at Sinai, and belongs to that part of the record that was written out after the moral law when the record reaches Moses' time. Its daily bull offering and its cleansing and anointing of the altar were among the ceremonies imposed until the time of reformation. Those laws were to be remembered so that the substance of the new dispensation could be traced from their shadows. The instructions for the ancient tabernacle and its sacrificial ministry ended when Christ offered Himself once for all, and the sanctuary they served typified the heavenly temple where Jesus now ministers.

The verse stands within the record of Exodus 19, 20, and 24-34 of the personal descent of God upon Mount Sinai with His angels. It belongs to the same Sinai giving as the giving of the Sabbath in Exodus 16, the espousal of Israel as a holy nation unto God in Exodus 19, and the giving of the law of God in Exodus 20.

The verse shows part of God's direction committing the priesthood to Aaron and his sons, so that after Exodus 27-30 no one else was to perform the rites of a priest unless specially directed by the Lord. Saul had not been ordained for such service and had been instructed to wait at Gilgal till Samuel came to offer the sacrifices. His impatient and presumptuous offering in self-exaltation after his victory over the Ammonites broke that restriction and displeased God.

Exodus 29 shows the offerings and consecration God required of the high priest are the same offerings and consecration required of the cleansed leper. So the humblest child of God must be as devoted and consecrated as Christ.