Consecration of Aaron Leviticus 8

Outline:
v1 Moses consecrateth Aaron and his sons
v14 Their sin offering
v18 Their burnt offering
v22 The ram of consecrations
v31 The place and time of their consecration

Leviticus 8:12 "And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify him."

This verse would be most familiar to us as this tradition, the anointing with oil, is still carried out in many churches. There were other things that took place that day.

Verse 2 tells the inventory of what was to be taken unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation v3.

-Aaron and his sons
-the garments
-the anointing oil
-a bullock for the sin offering
-two rams
-a basket of unleavened bread

also

-gather all the congregation together

Then from verse 6 to 9 Moses dresses Aaron and his sons after washing them with water.

-coat
-girdle
-robe
-ephod
-curious girdle of ephod
-mitre upon his head (the head-dresss of a Jewish priest made of fine linen in the form of an Eastern turban with a gold plate and the words "Holiness to the Lord)

Then Moses took oil and anointed the tabernacle v10 and all that were inside.
Moses sprnkled the altar seven times, anointed the altar and the vessels.
Moses poured oil upon Aaron's head

Next the offerings:

Bullock was for the sin offering.
Blood of bullock put on horns of altar and poured the remainder at the bottom of the altar.
(To make reconciliation)
Everything else was burnt with fire outside the camp.

Ram for burnt offering.
Blood sprinkled on altar and round about.
Ram pieces washed then placed on altar and burnt it

Second ram.
The ram of consecration.
Blood applied to Aaron and sons. v22-24

From the basket
-one unleavened cake
-a cake of oiled bread
-one water

Wave Offering is introduced

v27 'And he put all upon Aaron's hands and upon his sons' hands and waved them for a wave offering before the Lord."

v30 the blood is sprinkled upon Aaron and his sons.

Seven Days in the tabernacle

v33 "And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end..."

To put it in modern terms they remained there 24/7.

As Scofield notes, the priest did not consecrate themselves. It was done by another. In this case, Moses acting in the stead of Jehovah.

Under the new testament there is a different way.

Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, breathren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

I have taken pains in this chapter to break down the events so that you might notice the details and also note how some of these procedures are carried out in our churches today. Terms like anointing and sprinkling.

Ever present in this proceedings is the blood. In the old testament it was the blood of animals offered often. In the new testament it is the blood of Christ offered (and accepted) once for all time.

Hebrews 9:12 "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."

v13-14 Forif the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

The chapter in Hebrews goes on to explain the previous methods and compares them to the new testament.

And so after a lot of study, we are to the point where Aaron and his sons are ready to minister in the tabernacle. There they will prepare and make the various offerings for the people and their sins.

Psalm 63:1-2 "O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary."