Costly Sacrifice (March-May 2025)
Unit I: Tabernacle, Sacrifices, and Atonement
Lesson 3/5: The Ordination of Priests
Daily Bible Meditations by Beth Brown
Sunday, March 9: Hebrews 5
In this passage, we begin to learn about high priests. First, we hear about the human ones. As we read in Hebrews 5:2, "he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is clothed in weakness." Speaking as a human, I am all too acquainted with being clothed in weakness. Next, we learn about how Christ became a high priest and in Hebrews 5:8, "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered." Jesus was sent to spend 33 years covered in human frailties, making Him the perfect compassionate high priest for us.
Monday, March 10: Leviticus 8:1-13:
In order to ensure that only the men that the Lord had chosen to perform the duties of high priest could do so, Moses followed the Lord's directions in this portion of Leviticus very closely. It was an intricate ceremony, and it was performed in sight of the whole congregation at the doorway of the tent of meeting. It was solemn. It was specific. It was purposeful. There would be no doubt about who was chosen to be high priests. There would be no question as to who chose them to be high priests because the directions came directly from God through Moses.
Tuesday, March 11: Leviticus 8:14-23:
Now is the time for the sacrifice of the animals that we read yesterday earlier in Leviticus 8. The bull was a sin of- fering. The first ram was a burnt offering and the second ram was the ram of ordination. The high priest was shown to be chosen earlier in the chapter and now he must be cleansed. It seems wrong to have to be cleansed with blood, but we know that blood is all that can wash away sin. This is not the final answer of course, but it explicitly showed how ugly our sins are and the price that must be paid.
Wednesday, March 12: Psalm 133
Years after Moses and Aaron were gone, David would compare the beauty of brothers living in unity to the anointing of Aaron with oil and dew that God commands to flow down the mountain that He created. God is sovereign over all these things-our relationships, governments, the anointing of spiritual leaders, and the delicate balance of the natural world that He created for us to inhabit. How good to know that the God who forms a single drop of dew that joins the streams and rivers and oceans of raindrops that He also created is also directly involved with our relationships and spiritual and worldly governments.
Thursday, March 13: Hebrews 7:15-28
In Abraham's time, there were no high priests to tithe to. In fact, the original Levi, who would be the beginning of the Levites, had yet to be born because he would be one of Abraham's many great-grandsons. Abraham had been promised descendants like the grains of sand on the seashore, but he would not live to see them. So, it is a surprise to find a priest in his time worthy to be blessed by and tithed to. But Melchizedek, king of Salem, fit the bill. He was a righteous king of peace and priest of the Most High God - quite a pedigree.
Friday, March 14: Hebrews 7:15-28
The author of Hebrews made clear that Jesus is our ultimate high priest and that He will not die like the Levites, by nature, did. Verse 25 says, "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them" (NKJV). He does not have to offer daily, bloody sacrifices for His sins and the sins of others "for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself" (v.27, NKJV). He will be continuously, for all times, the high priest we desperately need.
Sabbath, March 15: Exodus 29:1-9, 35-37
This passage in Exodus gives the instruction for what happened in the passage we read in Leviticus earlier in the week, recounting how Aaron and his sons were brought to the door- way of the tent of meeting and presented to the Israelites as priests. It also recounts the sacrifices needed for the consecration of the high priest. However, the bloodshed did not happen in just one day but continued for seven days. This was not an easy undertaking, but by following all of God's directions, the priesthood was conferred on Aaron and his sons.
Reading:
Study: Exodus 29:1-9, 35-37
Background: Exodus 29:1-37; Leviticus 8:1-36
Devotional: Psalm 133
Key Verses:
"And you shall wrap their waists with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and fit caps on them, and they shall have the priest- hood by a permanent statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons" (Exodus 29:9).
Heart of the Lesson:
Communities set apart certain persons to carry out special duties on behalf of the group. What are some ways of marking this special status? Exodus 29 describes Yahweh's instructions to Moses for the preparation of Aaron and his sons to the holy priesthood.
Questions for Studying the Text:
- What are some ways society sets people apart for special duties? Why do you think we do that?
- What was the purpose of consecrating Aaron and his sons as priests (v. 1)? Why were specific rituals, such as sacrifices and washing, required for consecration (vv. 4-9)? How does this chapter connect to the broader narrative of the establishment of Israel's priesthood?
- What offerings were required for the ordination ceremony (v.1- 3)? Why were specific rituals, such as sacrifices and washing, and even special garments required for consecration (v.4-9)?
- What details from these requirements stand out and what point was being made? How do the elaborate preparations for the ordination of Aaron and his sons show that requirements for ministerial leadership need to be rigorous? How can the concept of spiritual consecration apply to your daily walk with God?
- Why were Aaron and his sons to remain at the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days (v.35-37)? What is the significance of atoning for the altar for seven days and making it holy (v.36-37)? How does this reflect the relationship between the priesthood and the altar in mediating between God and Israel?
- How does Jesus, as our High Priest, fulfill the priestly role outlined in Exodus 29? How is Christ superior to Aaron as a priest, in light of Hebrews 5 and 7?
Understanding and Living - Jerry Johnson
Ordination is important
I am ordained as a minister by two different Baptist denominations. In 1991, a small Southern Baptist church in Oklahoma ordained me based almost solely upon the influence of the pastor. His church had agreed to sponsor me in trying to start a mission church in upstate New York when I attended seminary in Albany. The ordination was the equivalent of a "hand jam" be- cause he simply formed a group of deacons to interview me with basic softball questions and sign paperwork. The intentions were noble, but these people did not know me or really examine me, so I cannot say I was consecrated in a biblical sense.
Fortunately, for my ordination with Seventh Day Baptists, I had to go through a rigorous process, despite the fact that I had completed a Master of Divinity and was pastoring my second SDB congregation: two Summer Institutes, in-depth interviewing and recommendations, followed by a formal ceremony - what a difference. Looking back, I can say that in 1991, I was young and impressionable and needed a title. Paradoxically that title meant nothing in my failed at- tempt at a church plant and led directly to my finding SDBs in Connecticut after severing ties with this pastor.
Consecrate
Exodus 29 offers a brief glimpse into the elaborate nature of the week-long consecration and ordination for Aaron and his sons into the priesthood of God. In verses 1-9, God provided instructions concerning preparation of the animals for sacrifice, placement of the garments they would wear, and the ritual involved in ordaining them. The first animal, a young bull, was for removing sin (v.10-14). Then a ram would serve as a food or gift offering (v.15-18). A second ram would serve as a "wave" or "fellowship" offering (v.19-37; see also Leviticus 7:28-36). Verses 35-37 stress the importance of both obedience and purity during these seven days. We can read about these instructions being carried out in Leviticus 8.
There are several important spiritual principles that we can glean from the commands for consecration. Moses himself had to bring the three types of animals and three types of bread, not Aaron nor his sons. At the very outset, he would make sure they were washed with water, which symbolized a connection between physical cleanliness and holiness (30:17-21). Notice that the washing would happen at the "doorway of the tent of meeting" (v.4), indicating that they had not yet experienced the removal of their sin. This was a public event that others could witness. They had to first be humbled, and they could not do it on their own.
In a similar yet far superior vein, Christians are commanded, "[L]et's approach God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22). We are priests because, "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). We see the importance of cleansing in Paul's word picture of what marriage represents: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word" (Ephesians 5:25-26).
Anointing
Aaron was to be consecrated with special garments (see chapter 28) and then anointed with oil (30:22-25). The garments were placed upon Aaron and his sons by Moses, the representative of God. Tony Merida affirmed, "These garments pointed to the idea that the priest must be righ- teous. The psalmist wrote, 'May your priests be clothed with righteousness' (Psalm 132:9, HCSB). Ultimately, only one high priest would be 'Holy to the Lord' and would be clothed with righteous- ness: Jesus. By faith in Him, we receive His righteousness (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). That is the only way we can stand before God" (Exalting Jesus in Exodus, p.181-82).
The oil was symbolic of unity, as seen in Psalm 133: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, as on Aaron's beard, the oil which ran down upon the edge of his robes" (v.1-2). True believers in Christ "have an anointing from the Holy One" (1 John 2:20), just as Christ was anointed (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38; Hebrews 1:9). Aaron's clan would "have the priesthood by a permanent statute" (Exodus 29:9), but it was superseded by Christ, because, "if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also" (Hebrews 7:11-12).
Sanctification
Verses 35-37 offer a capstone to the instructions. The sin offering (v.10-14) would take place each day for seven days. The altar would also be cleansed and anointed in order to be made holy. This is a picture of sanctification - a setting apart for God's purposes. The author of Hebrews argued: "By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time" (10:10); "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (10:14); and "How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" (10:29).
Of course, Aaron and his sons would inaugurate a priesthood that offered countless sacrifices on behalf of the people, beginning with these ones for their own sin. Christ was the culmination - the apex. The Life Application Bible offers, "In contrast, today we tend to take God for granted, rushing into worship and treating him with almost casual disregard. But we worship the almighty Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Remember that profound truth when you pray or worship, and come before him with reverence and repentance" (NIV Edition, p.138).
Hints for Teaching:
Lesson Goals:
- Understand ancient practices for identifying and setting apart people for ministry.
- Recognize the value of rituals when accepting God’s call.
- Implement daily habits that remind us of our place in God's kingdom.
Teaching Activity:
Create a classroom altar using symbolic items to represent the different sacrifices. Discuss their significance in the ordination process and our spiritual lives, as well as holiness and the priesthood, drawing parallels between OT priests and the NT call to live as "priests". Have students read and compare the cross-references (1 Peter 2:9, Deuteronomy 7:6, etc.). Discuss how the concept of holiness and priesthood carries over from the Old Testament to the New Testament. areas that need consecration. Encourage students to write a commitment to God and place it on the classroom altar.
Looking Forward:
The ordination of Aaron and his son as priests inspired us to take consecration seriously. Next, we will examine the sacrificial system and maintaining our relationship with God.
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