Scripture Daily

Context No. 1575 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 29:15-25: in context

15“You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 16You shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood, and sprinkle it around on the altar. 17You shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its innards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head. 18You shall burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt offering to the LORD; it is a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. 19“You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. 20Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot; and sprinkle the blood around on the altar. 21You shall take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be made holy, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him. 22Also you shall take some of the ram’s fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration), 23and one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD. 24You shall put all of this in Aaron’s hands, and in his sons’ hands, and shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. 25You shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar on the burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire to the LORD.

In the ceremony consecrating Aaron and his sons as priests, a ram is sacrificed, and some of its blood is applied in a particular way: to the tip of the right ear of each priest, to the thumb of the right hand, and to the big toe of the right foot. They and their garments are then sprinkled with the blood and the anointing oil, and portions of the offering are placed in their hands and waved before the LORD, to consecrate them for service.

The blood touched to the ear, the hand, and the foot is a vivid picture of the whole person being consecrated to God. Each point is telling. The ear, so that the priest's hearing would be devoted to God, tuned to listen to his voice and his word. The hand, so that his work, all that he did, would be given to God's service. The foot, so that his walking, the whole direction and conduct of his life, would go in God's ways. Ear, hand, and foot together represent the whole person, hearing, doing, walking, and the blood on each declared that the priest was consecrated to God in all of it, not in part but in whole. There is a pattern in this for what it means to be given to God. The New Testament calls all believers a royal priesthood, and the consecration it pictures is of the same kind: not a corner of life set apart for God while the rest goes its own way, but the whole person, the ears, the hands, the feet, consecrated to him. Our hearing is to be devoted to God, attentive to his voice; our hands, our work and action, given to his service; our feet, the whole walk and direction of our lives, set in his ways. The blood on the ear, hand, and foot is a picture of a total consecration, the whole self set apart for God. It is worth asking whether we have given him ear, hand, and foot, our hearing, our doing, and our walking, or only some part while the rest remains our own.

Have I consecrated to God the whole of myself, ear and hand and foot, my hearing devoted to his voice, my hands given to his service, my feet set in his ways, or have I set apart only a part of my life for him while the rest goes its own way?

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