Exodus 40:12
And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water. And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water.
The command brings Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting to be washed with water as the first act of setting them apart for priestly service, before clothing and anointing, with the brazen laver in the court holding the water for their use. It belongs to the fitting and rearing up of the wilderness tabernacle in the second year after Israel left Egypt, on the first day of the first month, when all was set in order according to instruction and the cloud and glory took possession of God's dwelling among Israel. The tabernacle so built at God's command was the center of earthly worship and a multiple object-lesson of the plan of redemption, revealing His love more fully to a people unfitted by slavery to comprehend His salvation and required character. Its services and priesthood were types of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, and the washing and dedication of the earthly sanctuary and priesthood consecrated both apartments for the work of putting away sin as the figure and pattern for the consecration of Christ's heavenly sanctuary and priesthood. As the earthly sanctuary had to be anointed before its ministry began, so Christ could not have ministered in the heavenly sanctuary before it was anointed, with the washing and anointing of Aaron and his sons foreshadowing the anointing of the Most Holy and Christ's entrance upon His everlasting priesthood.
Setting and Priestly Washing
Exodus 40:12 belongs to the preparing and fitting of the tabernacle, which was reared up and set up on the first day of the first month in the second year after Israel left Egypt. Moses spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the testimony of the ten commandments into the ark with the mercy-seat upon it. He set up the vail, placed the table of shewbread and the golden candlestick in the first apartment and lighted the lamps before the Lord, and put the golden altar of incense before the vail and burnt sweet incense thereon.
The brazen laver and the altar of burnt offering stood before the door within the court of fine-twined linen curtains, and the burnt offering and the meat offering were offered on the altar as commanded. Then the cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle as He took possession of His dwelling among Israel prepared for worship. Neither the holy nor the most holy place had any window, so the first apartment needed the candlestick with its seven lamps and the second was the thick darkness where God dwelt.
The wilderness tabernacle so set up was built at God's command as the center of earthly worship and service. Its completion and setting up according to the instructions given brought blessing and glory upon the congregation and the building. That manifestation of God's glory showed His acceptance of the people's repentance at the sanctuary's building and inauguration.
The chapter belongs to the third division of Exodus on worship in chapters 25 to 40, which gave delivered Israel an established worship as a nation with thorough organization, efficient leadership, and a complete code of laws. That building and setting up followed God's instructions to Moses in Exodus 25-31, and the full description from Exodus 25 to the end of the book must be carefully read to learn the exact pattern of the atonement work carried on in two kinds by different persons at different times in separate apartments because of the errors of the people to point to the remedy for sin. The structure so described had sides and one end of upright boards closely joined and set in silver sockets in the ground and held by bars through rings, roofed with curtains reaching to the ground with hangings of fine-twined linen at the east end and divided by another curtain giving the outer apartment twice the space of the inner, with inner walls overlaid with fine gold representing the reflected light of God's glory in the New Jerusalem and a ceiling of finest pure linen worked with many angels representing the angels of heaven waiting on Jehovah.
These were God's explicit directions for the sanctuary He asked Israel to make after leading them out of Egypt so He might dwell among them and reveal His great love more fully. It was to be built from the free-will offerings of the children of Israel after hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted them to comprehend His great salvation and the character He required. In this it continued the unfolding plan of redemption shown from Eden to the Exodus in the simple family offering of a lamb for sin upon an altar of rough stones with the father acting as priest and mediator, and formed a great multiple object-lesson comprehending by various forms and rites the great plan of salvation.
The verse directs bringing Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting and washing them with water as the first act in setting them apart for priestly service, before Aaron was clothed in holy garments and anointed. The brazen laver stood before the tabernacle entrance in the court and held the water for the priests' use, where they were to be washed before their service. The command to Moses to set up the sanctuary and put its service in order included this washing at the entrance.
The instructions set apart the completed tabernacle and began its appointed priestly service carried on by the priests throughout the year. The sanctuary thus set apart as holy could not be used by the priests as their own houses. Its sanctification was performed entirely by Moses in the presence of Aaron and his sons, establishing the due order in which the leader consecrates the sanctuary and performs acts otherwise belonging exclusively to priests. This explains why at the temple dedication Solomon alone exhorted, sacrificed, prayed, consecrated, and blessed while the high priest is unnoticed and priests appear only as bearers of the ark.
The tabernacle setup included setting out the showbread on the first day of the first month, Abib 1. That event occurred before the later ceremonial rule requiring the bread to be set out every Sabbath was given. Therefore the setup account cannot prove that Abib 1 was a weekly Sabbath.
Type and Doctrinal Lessons
The bringing of Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting to be washed with water was part of setting apart the tabernacle and its service, and the tabernacle with its services taught spiritual truths as types of Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, so the washing belonged to those object lessons. The dedication of the earthly sanctuary and priesthood consecrated both apartments for the work of putting away sin as a figure of the heavenly sanctuary and Christ's priestly work. That dedication of the earthly sanctuary with the washing of Aaron and his sons for priestly service stands as the pattern for the consecration of Christ's heavenly sanctuary and priesthood for the work of putting away sin. The sanctuary had to be anointed before its ministry began, so applied to the heavenly sanctuary Christ could not have ministered there before it was anointed. The earthly anointing of the tabernacle together with the washing and anointing of Aaron and his sons is the type for the anointing of the Most Holy, fulfilled in the anointing of the heavenly sanctuary and in Christ entering upon His everlasting priesthood.
The earthly sanctuary contained the ark of the covenant in its most holy place, the second apartment, with the law of God inside it and the mercy-seat above it. The top of the ark was called the mercy-seat because the breaker of the law shut up inside beneath it could find pardon by the sprinkling of the blood of atonement upon it. The whole ceremonial system of priests and sacrifices connected with the sanctuary was ordained to enable man to approach the broken law again and taught how atonement could be made for transgression of that law. Its rites pointed forward to Christ's real atonement and heavenly priesthood, typified the restoration of the pardoned to their inheritance, and pointed to the destruction of the impenitent. The worldly sanctuary first pitched in the wilderness after Israel was brought out of Egypt was built exactly according to the directions given to Moses on Sinai in its dimensions, material, and furnishings as a dwelling-place that God might dwell among men. That earthly sanctuary was always typical of and foreshadowed the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, serving unto the shadow of heavenly things and pointing to Christ and His power to forgive sin, and its typical service passed away entirely at the death of Christ.
The command belongs to the law of Moses given through Moses in Horeb that is to be remembered in the last days, standing together with Exodus 20 to 40 and Leviticus. It stands among the statutes and judgments that include all the precepts, the Ten Commandments with the others, covering moral, civil, health, and ceremonial law, including the laws of offerings, sacrifices, and types in which the substance of the new dispensation is traced from the shadows of the old. It belongs to the separate set of laws given for the regulation of worship in Exodus 29-31 and 40, distinct from the laws given for civil government in Exodus 21-23. By helping designate the persons who are to execute religious duties, it shows that civil government to control men and religion to bring men back to God have essentially different purposes and entirely separate lines of operation that must go side by side without commingling.
The direction with its context is part of the law requiring priests to come from the tribe of Levi. The Aaronic priesthood there described was appointed for a perpetual or everlasting period. That duration has expired, just as other institutions called perpetual or everlasting did.