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Exodus 29:1-35 Bible in Basic English (BBE)

1 This is what you are to do to make them holy, to do the work of priests to me: Take one young ox and two male sheep, without any mark on them,

2 And unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes on which oil has been put, made of the best bread-meal;

3 Put these in a basket and take them, with the ox and the two sheep.

4 And let Aaron and his sons come to the door of the Tent of meeting, and there let them be washed with water.

5 Take the robes, and put the coat and the dress and the ephod and the priest's bag on Aaron; put the band of needlework round him,

6 And let the head-dress be placed on his head and the holy crown on the head-dress.

7 Then take the oil and put it on his head.

8 And take his sons and put their robes on them;

9 And put the linen bands round Aaron and his sons, and the head-dresses on them, to make them priests by my order for ever: so you are to make Aaron and his sons holy to me.

10 Then let the ox be taken in front of the Tent of meeting: and let Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head.

11 And you are to put the ox to death before the Lord at the door of the Tent of meeting.

12 Then take some of the blood of the ox, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, draining out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.

13 And take all the fat covering the inside of the ox, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and let them be burned on the altar;

14 But the flesh of the ox and its skin and its waste parts are to be burned outside the circle of the tents, for it is a sin-offering.

15 Then take one of the sheep, and let Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head.

16 Then let it be put to death, so that the sides of the altar are marked with its blood.

17 Then the sheep is to be cut up into its parts, and after washing its legs and its inside parts, you are to put them with the parts and the head,

18 And let them all be burned on the altar as a burned offering to the Lord: a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

19 Then take the other sheep; and after Aaron and his sons have put their hands on its head,

20 You are to put the sheep to death, and take some of its blood and put it on the point of Aaron's right ear, and of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and the great toes of their right feet, dropping the rest of the blood on the sides of the altar.

21 Then take some of the blood on the altar, and the oil, and put it on Aaron and his robes and on his sons and on their robes, so that he and his robes and his sons and their robes may be made holy.

22 Then take the fat of the sheep, the fat tail, the fat covering the insides, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and the right leg; for by the offering of this sheep they are to be marked out as priests:

23 And take one bit of bread and one cake of oiled bread and one thin cake out of the basket of unleavened bread which is before the Lord:

24 And put them all on the hands of Aaron and of his sons, to be waved for a wave offering before the Lord.

25 Then take them from their hands, and let them be burned on the burned offering on the altar, a sweet smell before the Lord, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

26 Then take the breast of Aaron's sheep, waving it before the Lord; and it is to be your part of the offering.

27 So you are to make holy the breast of the sheep which is waved and the leg which is lifted up on high, that is, of the sheep which is offered for Aaron and his sons;

28 And it will be their part as a right for ever from the children of Israel, it is a special offering from the children of Israel, made from their peace-offerings, a special offering lifted up to the Lord.

29 And Aaron's holy robes will be used by his sons after him; they will put them on when they are made priests.

30 For seven days the son who becomes priest in his place will put them on when he comes into the Tent of meeting to do the work of the holy place.

31 Then take the sheep of the wave offering and let its flesh be cooked in water in a holy place.

32 And let Aaron and his sons make a meal of it, with the bread in the basket, at the door of the Tent of meeting.

33 All those things which were used as offerings to take away sin, and to make them holy to be priests, they may have for food: but no one who is not a priest may have them, for they are holy food.

34 And if any of the flesh of the offering or of the bread is over till the morning, let it be burned with fire; it is not to be used for food, for it is holy.

35 All these things you are to do to Aaron and his sons as I have given you orders: for seven days the work of making them priests is to go on.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 29

Commentary on Exodus 29 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verses 1-37

Consecration of Aaron and his Sons through the anointing of their persons and the offering of sacrifices, the directions for which form the subject of vv. 1-35. This can only be fully understood in connection with the sacrificial law contained in Lev 1-7. It will be more advisable therefore to defer the examination of this ceremony till we come to Lev 8, where the consecration itself is described. The same may also be said of the expiation and anointing of the altar, which are commanded in Exodus 29:36 and Exodus 29:37, and carried out in Leviticus 8:11.


Verses 38-46

The Daily Burnt-Offering, Meat-Offering, and Drink-Offering. - The directions concerning these are attached to the instructions for the consecration of the priests, because these sacrifices commenced immediately after the completion of the tabernacle, and, like the shew-bread (Exodus 25:30), the daily trimming of the lamps (Exodus 27:20-21), and the daily incense-offering (Exodus 30:7.), were most intimately connected with the erection of the sanctuary.

Exodus 29:38-40

And this is what thou shalt make (offer) upon the altar; yearling lambs two a day continually, ” one in the morning, the other between the two evenings (see at Exodus 12:6); to every one a meat-offering ( minchah ) of a tenth of fine wheaten flour ( soleth , see at Leviticus 2:1), mixed with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil ( cathith , see at Exodus 27:20), and a drink-offering ( nesek ) of a quarter of a hin of wine. עשּׂרן (a tenth) is equivalent to האיפה עשׂירית , the tenth part of an ephah (Numbers 28:5), or 198-5 Parisian cubic inches according to Bertheau's measurement. Thenius , however, sets it down at 101-4 inches, whilst the Rabbins reckon it as equivalent to 43 hen's eggs of average size, i.e., somewhat more than 2 1/4 lbs. A hin (a word of Egyptian origin) is 330-9 inches according to Bertheau , 168-9 according to Thenius, or 72 eggs, so that a quarter of a hin would be 18 eggs.

Exodus 29:41-46

להּ is to be understood ad sensum as referring to עולה . The daily morning and evening sacrifices were to be “for a sweet savour, a firing unto Jehovah” (see at Leviticus 1:9). In these Israel was to consecrate its life daily unto the Lord (see at Lev 1 and 2). In order that the whole of the daily life might be included, it was to be offered continually every morning and evening for all future time (“throughout your generations” as at Exodus 12:14) at the door of the tabernacle, i.e., upon the altar erected there, before Jehovah, who would meet with the people and commune with them there (see Exodus 25:22). This promise is carried out still further in Exodus 29:43-46. First of all, for the purpose of elucidating and strengthening the words, “I will meet with you there” (Exodus 29:42), the presence and communion of God, which are attached to the ark of the covenant in Exodus 25:22, are ensured to the whole nation in the words, “And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and it (Israel) shall be sanctified through My glory.” As the people were not allowed to approach the ark of the covenant, but only to draw near to the altar of burnt-offering in the sanctuary, it was important to declare that the Lord would manifest Himself to them even there, and sanctify them by His glory. Most of the commentators have taken the altar to be the subject of “shall be sanctified;” but this is certainly an error, not only because the altar is not mentioned in the previous clause, and only slightly hinted at in the להּ in Exodus 29:41, but principally because the sanctification of the altar is noticed by itself afterwards in Exodus 29:44. The correct exegesis is that adopted by Baumgarten and others, who supply the word Israel (viz., regarded as a nation), which they take from the expression “children of Israel” in the previous clause. In Exodus 29:44, the sanctification of the tabernacle and altar on the part of God is promised, also that of His servants, and finally, in Exodus 29:45, Exodus 29:46, the abode of God in the midst of the children of Israel, with an allusion to the blessings that would follow from Jehovah's dwelling in the midst of them as their God (Genesis 17:7).