And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats:
God directed Moses when rearing up the wilderness tabernacle on the first day of the first month in the second year after leaving Egypt to bring Aaron's sons forward and dress them in coats to set them apart as priests for its service. Moses himself performed that clothing while they were only present and did not officiate, and the sanctuary thus made holy was for God's service and not for their own use. Their clothing belongs to the consecration of the earthly sanctuary whose construction and service reveal God's way as a pattern and object-lesson of the heavenly sanctuary and of Christ's priestly work in putting away sin. That Levitical priesthood was restricted to the tribe of Levi under Numbers 18:6-7, a law that made Christ, who belonged to Judah, ineligible to serve as High Priest under that order. Its ministration before the ark containing the law could only exhibit guilt and point forward to the great Sacrifice, until the typical service passed away forever with the death of Christ and the rending of the veil, for perpetual as applied to the Aaronic priesthood in Exodus 40:12-15 does not necessarily mean continuing without end.
Setting in Exodus
Exodus 40:14 belongs to the account of Moses rearing up the tabernacle in the wilderness in the second year after Israel departed from Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, in the first month on the first day of the month. At that time as commanded he spread the tent over the tabernacle, put the testimony of the ten commandments into the ark with the mercy-seat upon it, set up the vail, placed the table of shewbread and the golden candlestick in the first apartment and lighted the lamps before the Lord, put the golden altar of incense before the vail and burned sweet incense thereon, and offered the burnt offering and meat offering on the altar before the door of the tabernacle. When the last curtain was hung on the court gate, the cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
The verse belongs to the complete description of the worldly sanctuary in Exodus 25-31 and 35-40, summarized in Hebrews 9:1-5. That sanctuary was built from willing free-will offerings of gold, silver, brass, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, skins, wood, oil, spices and stones, to be God's movable dwelling-place among the people. It continued through the wilderness and the time of the judges, Samuel, Saul and David, and Solomon's temple built after the same pattern continued from the day God's glory filled it.
The verse belongs to the directions for building the marvelously beautiful sanctuary given after deliverance from Egyptian bondage. That sanctuary was a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites to teach the great plan of salvation, because hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted Israel to comprehend God's salvation and the character He required. It was to be built by workmen specially endowed by God, exactly according to the divine pattern given to Moses in the mount.
The verse stands within the full description of the sanctuary and its furnishings from Exodus 25 to the end of Exodus. That structure was of upright boards joined together and set in silver sockets, held by outer bars through rings, roofed with curtains reaching to the ground, closed at the east end by hangings of fine-twined linen, and divided by another curtain into two apartments with the outer apartment twice as large as the inner. The setting up of the table and showbread on Abib 1 does not prove Abib 1 was a weekly Sabbath, because the command to set out the showbread every Sabbath was given later.
The verse is part of God's instructions to Moses on the mount for setting up the sanctuary and putting everything in order, and of the account of carrying them out in erecting, anointing and dedicating the completed tabernacle for priestly service. That completed work brought blessing and glory upon the congregation and the building. The verse is part of the instructions for setting apart Aaron's sons as priests during the sanctuary's inauguration and sanctification. The sanctuary was made holy for God's service and could not be used by the priests as their own houses.
Priesthood and Pattern
The bringing of Aaron's sons and clothing them with coats belongs to the consecration of the earthly sanctuary and priesthood. The construction and service of that sanctuary reveal God's way and serve as an object-lesson and pattern of the heavenly sanctuary and of Christ's priestly work. That dedication of the earthly sanctuary was the pattern for the dedication of the heavenly sanctuary and priesthood for Christ's work of putting away sin.
The sanctification of the wilderness tabernacle was performed entirely by Moses, who himself brought Aaron's sons and clothed them with coats in their presence while they did not officiate but were only present. This was the due order for consecrating God's house, in which the appointed kingly leader exhorts, sacrifices, prays, consecrates, and blesses. It is the precedent for Solomon taking the leading part in everything at the dedication of the temple and continuing the union of king and priest in his own person. The command to bring Aaron's sons forward and clothe them for service as priests, together with Numbers 18:6-7, shows that the Levitical priesthood was restricted to the tribe of Levi. This priesthood law made Christ, who belonged to Judah, ineligible to serve as High Priest under that order.
The verse sets apart the Levitical order to minister before the ark containing the two tables of the law in the Most Holy Place of the typical sanctuary while it should continue through the entire Old Testament period. That ministration could only exhibit man's guilt and just condemnation and death, because the law showed guilt with no promise of pardon. The priesthood thus appointed offered no sacrifice that could take away sin but could only point penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of men. This stands in contrast to Christ as great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary before the ark of God's testament, who laid down his life for the world and is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through him. The ancient sanctuary was typical and foreshadowed the better temple, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, with all its rites pointing to the coming Messiah and his power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens, until its typical service passed away forever with the death of Christ and the rending of the veil.
The Aaronic priesthood described in Exodus 40:12-15 is called perpetual, but perpetual does not necessarily mean continuing without end, since its appointed period can expire. The verse is part of the law of Moses commanded in Horeb, which takes in all the laws given through Moses, moral, civil, health, sacrificial and ceremonial, and not the Ten Commandments alone. It belongs with the statutes and judgments and with the laws of offerings, sacrifices and types whose shadows trace the substance of the new dispensation, and with Exodus 20 to 40 and Leviticus it is to be remembered in the last days as the rule of conduct. The verse belongs to God's distinct set of laws for regulating worship, separate from his set of laws for civil government in Exodus 21-23, and it plainly designates the persons to carry out that worship. It marks religion's line as persuading men to be reconciled to God and bringing them back to God, while civil government is a temporary government of force to control men and regulate their relations toward each other in this life only, so the two systems must go side by side with essentially different purposes and entirely separate lines of operation, since any commingling produces discordant clashing detrimental to both.
God directed Moses when rearing up the wilderness tabernacle on the first day of the first month in the second year after leaving Egypt to bring Aaron's sons forward and dress them in coats to set them apart as priests for its service. Moses himself performed that clothing while they were only present and did not officiate, and the sanctuary thus made holy was for God's service and not for their own use. Their clothing belongs to the consecration of the earthly sanctuary whose construction and service reveal God's way as a pattern and object-lesson of the heavenly sanctuary and of Christ's priestly work in putting away sin. That Levitical priesthood was restricted to the tribe of Levi under Numbers 18:6-7, a law that made Christ, who belonged to Judah, ineligible to serve as High Priest under that order. Its ministration before the ark containing the law could only exhibit guilt and point forward to the great Sacrifice, until the typical service passed away forever with the death of Christ and the rending of the veil, for perpetual as applied to the Aaronic priesthood in Exodus 40:12-15 does not necessarily mean continuing without end.
Setting in Exodus
Exodus 40:14 belongs to the account of Moses rearing up the tabernacle in the wilderness in the second year after Israel departed from Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, in the first month on the first day of the month. At that time as commanded he spread the tent over the tabernacle, put the testimony of the ten commandments into the ark with the mercy-seat upon it, set up the vail, placed the table of shewbread and the golden candlestick in the first apartment and lighted the lamps before the Lord, put the golden altar of incense before the vail and burned sweet incense thereon, and offered the burnt offering and meat offering on the altar before the door of the tabernacle. When the last curtain was hung on the court gate, the cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
The verse belongs to the complete description of the worldly sanctuary in Exodus 25-31 and 35-40, summarized in Hebrews 9:1-5. That sanctuary was built from willing free-will offerings of gold, silver, brass, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, skins, wood, oil, spices and stones, to be God's movable dwelling-place among the people. It continued through the wilderness and the time of the judges, Samuel, Saul and David, and Solomon's temple built after the same pattern continued from the day God's glory filled it.
The verse belongs to the directions for building the marvelously beautiful sanctuary given after deliverance from Egyptian bondage. That sanctuary was a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites to teach the great plan of salvation, because hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted Israel to comprehend God's salvation and the character He required. It was to be built by workmen specially endowed by God, exactly according to the divine pattern given to Moses in the mount.
The verse stands within the full description of the sanctuary and its furnishings from Exodus 25 to the end of Exodus. That structure was of upright boards joined together and set in silver sockets, held by outer bars through rings, roofed with curtains reaching to the ground, closed at the east end by hangings of fine-twined linen, and divided by another curtain into two apartments with the outer apartment twice as large as the inner. The setting up of the table and showbread on Abib 1 does not prove Abib 1 was a weekly Sabbath, because the command to set out the showbread every Sabbath was given later.
The verse is part of God's instructions to Moses on the mount for setting up the sanctuary and putting everything in order, and of the account of carrying them out in erecting, anointing and dedicating the completed tabernacle for priestly service. That completed work brought blessing and glory upon the congregation and the building. The verse is part of the instructions for setting apart Aaron's sons as priests during the sanctuary's inauguration and sanctification. The sanctuary was made holy for God's service and could not be used by the priests as their own houses.
Priesthood and Pattern
The bringing of Aaron's sons and clothing them with coats belongs to the consecration of the earthly sanctuary and priesthood. The construction and service of that sanctuary reveal God's way and serve as an object-lesson and pattern of the heavenly sanctuary and of Christ's priestly work. That dedication of the earthly sanctuary was the pattern for the dedication of the heavenly sanctuary and priesthood for Christ's work of putting away sin.
The sanctification of the wilderness tabernacle was performed entirely by Moses, who himself brought Aaron's sons and clothed them with coats in their presence while they did not officiate but were only present. This was the due order for consecrating God's house, in which the appointed kingly leader exhorts, sacrifices, prays, consecrates, and blesses. It is the precedent for Solomon taking the leading part in everything at the dedication of the temple and continuing the union of king and priest in his own person. The command to bring Aaron's sons forward and clothe them for service as priests, together with Numbers 18:6-7, shows that the Levitical priesthood was restricted to the tribe of Levi. This priesthood law made Christ, who belonged to Judah, ineligible to serve as High Priest under that order.
The verse sets apart the Levitical order to minister before the ark containing the two tables of the law in the Most Holy Place of the typical sanctuary while it should continue through the entire Old Testament period. That ministration could only exhibit man's guilt and just condemnation and death, because the law showed guilt with no promise of pardon. The priesthood thus appointed offered no sacrifice that could take away sin but could only point penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of men. This stands in contrast to Christ as great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary before the ark of God's testament, who laid down his life for the world and is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through him. The ancient sanctuary was typical and foreshadowed the better temple, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, with all its rites pointing to the coming Messiah and his power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burdens, until its typical service passed away forever with the death of Christ and the rending of the veil.
The Aaronic priesthood described in Exodus 40:12-15 is called perpetual, but perpetual does not necessarily mean continuing without end, since its appointed period can expire. The verse is part of the law of Moses commanded in Horeb, which takes in all the laws given through Moses, moral, civil, health, sacrificial and ceremonial, and not the Ten Commandments alone. It belongs with the statutes and judgments and with the laws of offerings, sacrifices and types whose shadows trace the substance of the new dispensation, and with Exodus 20 to 40 and Leviticus it is to be remembered in the last days as the rule of conduct. The verse belongs to God's distinct set of laws for regulating worship, separate from his set of laws for civil government in Exodus 21-23, and it plainly designates the persons to carry out that worship. It marks religion's line as persuading men to be reconciled to God and bringing them back to God, while civil government is a temporary government of force to control men and regulate their relations toward each other in this life only, so the two systems must go side by side with essentially different purposes and entirely separate lines of operation, since any commingling produces discordant clashing detrimental to both.