Aaron’s Purification Offering
8: 14-17
Aaron’s purification offering DIG: Why did the Holy Place need to be purified? Why did Moshe sprinkle seven times? What was the difference in the three offerings? Why were they in that order? How did the sacrifice of the bull prefigure Christ’s sacrifice? How and why did Moses deviate from the prescribed ritual in Leviticus 4? What was the purpose?
REFLECT: Were these rituals mainly for God’s benefit, the priests’ benefit or the people’s benefit? Why? How do we cleanse ourselves of our sin today (First John 1:9)? In what ways are we, as B’rit Chadashah priests, set apart today to draw near to ADONAI? In response to all the Messiah has done for you, what holy and pleasing sacrifice can you offer to God?
A critical part of the ordination ceremony
was the offering of a bull for a purification offering.
The order of offerings: After being washed in the bronze basin, dressed with the sacred garments and anointed with holy oil (to see link see Aw – The Ordination of Aaron and His Sons), the ordination service started. They were to bring a purification offering followed by a burnt offering followed by a peace offering. This was the Tabernacle standard. The purification was offered first to provide ritual purification and atonement. It signifies that as we approach ADONAI, sin must be dealt with first. We cannot skip straight to the peace offering. The purification offering was followed by the burnt offering. It symbolizes our ordination as a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God’s special possession (First Peter 2:9 NIV). The second step in relationship with God is to turn our lives over to Him completely. Only then, following the purification and burnt offerings are we ready to enjoy fellowship with God as symbolized by the shared meal of the peace offering.101
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for the joy that we can approach you. Too often we forget the great cost that had to be paid so mankind could approach our holy and Almighty God. You didn’t just speak, nor snap your fingers for our sin to be gone. You willingly and knowingly suffered shame and pain for our sin. Let us run with endurance the race set before us, focusing on Yeshua, the initiator and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame; and He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1c-2). I praise and thank You so very much for opening the door for me to come near to You. But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah (Ephesians 2:13). In Yeshua’s holy Name and power of His resurrection. Amen
There were seven main steps to the ordination of the Tabernacle and the priests. Part of the fourth step was the purification offering of a bull: A critical part of the ordination ceremony was the offering of a bull for a purification offering. This was significant for two reasons. First, because it demonstrated the fact that priests were people too. They sinned like anyone else. In order to approach Ha’Shem, especially for the ministry He called them to do, their sin had to be atoned for. Second, the offering of a bull, the most expensive of the sacrificial animals, showed the dignity and importance of the office of the priesthood.102
We have already learned the procedures for the purification offering offered by an anointed priest (see Al – The Purification Offering). After being slaughtered, its blood was to be carried into the Holy Place, sprinkled seven times on the inner veil (see the commentary on Exodus Fq – The Inner Veil of the Sanctuary: That is Christ, His Body) and then smeared on the four horns of the Altar of Incense (Exodus Fp – Altar of Incense in the Sanctuary: Christ, Our Advocate with the Father) purifying it. But having so recently learned the mitzvot of the purification offering, it is surprising to see Moses significantly deviate from the prescribed ritual in Leviticus 4.
Then a young bull for the purification offering was brought into the Tabernacle courtyard. Moshe officiated as the priest at that time. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull (8:14). At three separate occasions in the ordination ceremony Aaron and his four sons laid their hands on the heads of each of the animals, in each case symbolizing the transfer of sin from the worshiper to the sacrifice (especially see Leviticus 16:21-22).
You will find as you go through the Word of God that the children of God have always been conscious of the fact that we are sinners. For numberless evils surround me; my iniquities engulf me – I can’t even see; there are more of them than hairs on my head, so that my courage fails me (Psalm 40:12). Friend, do you feel that you are that kind of a sinner? ADONAI can do something for you if you are like that. After all, if you don’t get sick enough to go to the doctor, you won’t ever go to him. If you aren’t sure that you are a real sinner , you are not likely to go to the Messiah. For my iniquities loom high over my head as a heavy burden, too heavy for me (Psalm 38:4). So, if you have a load that is too heavy for you, get someone else to carry it for you. There is Someone who says: Come to Me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). And don’t try to fool God. He knows all about you anyway; so you might as well tell Him the whole story.103
Then, Moses slaughtered the bull and caught its blood in a bowl. But instead of carrying the blood into the Holy Place and sprinkling it seven times on the inner veil and smearing its blood on the four corners of the Altar of Incense, he carried it to the bronze altar (see Exodus Fa – Build Altar of Acacia Wood Overlaid with Bronze). After it had been slaughtered, Moshe took the blood and put it on the horns of the bronze altar all the way around with his finger, thus purifying it. The remaining blood he poured out at the base of the bronze altar and dedicated it, making atonement for it (8:15). The point is that whoever represented God in ministry surely must have experienced full atonement: forgiveness of sins and acceptance by God.104
This was a purification offering for both Aaron and his sons. By failing to bring the blood into the Holy Place, it would seem that Moshe made a mistake. But in fact, it was not an error. He carried out the procedure according to the mitzvot ADONAI had given him in Exodus 29:12-14. But why should this purification offering be different from the one in Leviticus 4? The reason for the variation in the procedure was that Moses was unable to enter the Holy Place because he himself was not a priest and did not have access to it. At that time, Aaron and his sons had not entered the Holy Place. It was therefore not necessary to apply the purification blood inside.
Then all the fat around the inner parts, the covering of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat around them, was taken and burned on the bronze altar (see At – God’s Claim to the Best of Life). But the bull’s flesh and its hide and the rest of the animal were burned outside the camp (8:16-17). This requirement is rephrased in Ezeki’el 43:21.
Jesus’ death freed us from our sins by His blood (Revelation 1:5), but it also represented an act of ordination on His part. Yeshua Messiah gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2). Although we ourselves will never be able to die for another person and remove their sins, we can, in response to all that Christ has done for us, offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1). Such is the very least that we should be willing to give to God’s dear Son, who is at the same time our great High Priest and our Sacrifice (Hebrews 4:14 to 5:10, 6:19 to 7:28, 8:3, 9:1-28, 10:10, 14, 21-22; First Timothy 2:5).105
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