(Exodus 29:1 - 29:46)
This is the manner by which Aaron and his sons may be ordained as my priests:
Select a calf from the herd and two rams without defect and bake some unleavened bread (without yeast), unleavened cakes dipped in olive oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil, all made of finely milled wheat flour. Put them all in a single basket and bring them along with the calf and the two rams. Aaron and his sons should be presented at the entrance of the Tabernacle and after they have been bathed, Aaron should be clothed in the priestly vestments, the tunic, the robe, the priestly vest itself, and the chestpiece. Wrap the decorated sash around him. Place the turban on his head and the medallion upon the turban. Take the anointing oil and pour it upon his head to consecrate him.
Then present his sons, cloth them in the linen robes and sash. After placing turbans upon the heads of Aaron and his sons, you will consecrate them. They will then be priests for life.
Ordain them in this manner:
The calf will be brought before the Tabernacle. Aaron and his sons will hold the calf by the neck while you, in the presence of Jehovah and before the entrance of the Tabernacle, shall kill it. With your fingers you will smear some of the blood on each of the horns of the altar and pour the rest of the blood beneath the altar. The fat from around the calf's internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat around them you will burn on the altar, but the meat of the calf, its hide, and intestines you must burn outside the compound, as an offering to expiate sin.
Then take one of the rams and with Aaron and his sons holding it down, you will kill it. Its blood should be splattered against the sides of the altar. You should butcher the ram, wash its internal organs and legs and lay them upon the cut-up carcass and head. The entire ram should then be incinerated upon the altar, as it is a burnt offering to Jehovah -- a sacrifice by fire of savory aroma!
Take the other ram and with Aaron and his sons holding it down, you should kill it as well. Of its blood dab some on the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons and also on the thumbs of their right hands and the big toes of their right feet. The remainder of the blood, sprinkle around the altar. Sprinkle upon Aaron and his sons and upon their vestments the blood that was upon the altar and some anointing oil: they and their vestments will then be sanctified.
Take the fat of the ram and its hindquarters, the fat that covers the lungs, the long lobe of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat around them and the right thigh (for this is a ram of consecration). Also take one loaf of the unleavened bread dipped in oil, a wafer out of the basket containing the unleavened bread and present them to Jehovah. These things should be given to Aaron and his sons so that they may sanctify them by elevating them and proffering them to Jehovah. Then take the bread from their hands and put it upon the altar with the burnt offering. This will smell really sweet to Jehovah, a gift to the divine from the fire!
The breast of the ram that was used to consecrate Aaron should be elevated and presented to Jehovah. This will be your portion. Sanctify this consecrated ram and the thigh that was separated from its carcass. Aaron's portion and that of his sons will be from the ram consecrated to him. They and their descendants shall, as a right of their priesthood, always enjoy a portion of the peace offerings consecrated to me by the Israelites.
The sacred vestments that Aaron now wears will be assumed by his sons after him; they will be anointed and ordained in them. Those of his sons who would succeed him and minister in his place in the Sanctum must wear them for 7 days. They should take the consecrated ram, boil its meat in the Sanctum, and Aaron and his sons should dine upon it. The loaves in the basket they should eat before the entrance to the Tabernacle. This will be a sacrifice of atonement so that those who minister may be sanctified. For this reason no other may partake of them. If any of the consecrated meat or bread remains until morning, it should be burned. (It should not be otherwise eaten, because it is sanctified.)
You should do all that I have commanded you in regard to Aaron and his sons. Their ritual of priestly ordination should last 7 days. A calf should be sacrificed every day to expiate sin. You should clean the altar every day after each sacrifice, anoint it to sanctify it. For seven days this process of sacrifice, expiation, and sanctification should continue so that the altar and anyone that touching it shall become holy.
Now this is what you should regularly sacrifice on the altar: each day, two yearling lambs. One lamb should be offered in the morning and the other at nightfall. The first lamb should be prepared with two quarts of fine flour mixed with a quart of pure olive oil and a libation of a quart of wine. The evening lamb should be prepared the same way, so that it will be a sweet and savory gift for Jehovah.
Such burnt offerings should continually be made for the generations to come, there at the entrance of the Tabernacle, where I have chosen to commune with you. It is also there, a place made holy by my presence, that I will give instructions to the people of Israel. I will sanctify the altar, I will sanctify the Tabernacle, and I will sanctify Aaron and his sons who will serve me as my priests. I will live among the people of Israel and be their god. They will know that I am Jehovah, their god, I, who have brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I might dwell amongst them and be Jehovah, their god.
Notes
1. Interesting and disturbing is it that the one cannot be sanctified as a Jehovan priest without a requisite ceremonial slaughter of animals. Although this and similar practices were almost universal in the ancient world, one wonders to what end. Why is the seemingly purposeless and ostensibly viscous killing of lesser forms of life regarded as a holy act? Why must worshipers, to get into the good graces of their god, slaughter the animals he has created? Is it merely to provide the priests with a good meal? The biblical texts certainly shed no light upon the matter.
2. The sacrificial killing of the calf and the rams would have furnished to modern eyes a disgustingly bloody spectacle of savage butchery and primitive superstition. Ancient peoples must have certainly had not only a different attitude toward such matters, but duller sensibilities. We celebrate a holiday in America during which a turkey is sacrificed for the dinner table, yet, when the high priest of the national religion is delivered the avian victim, he customarily spares it, granting the bird a pardon. (We haven't the heart to condemn to death a turkey that is a specific individual and are comfortable eating only some unknown, generic turkey we have never glimpsed when alive.)
3. The Tabernacle was build so that Jehovah could dwell among his people, or it is merely to visit them? In the spirit or in the flesh? It is unclear as yet how this is meant.
4. The concept of holiness, meaningless to nonbelievers, seems to be existent in most religions. What belongs to the god, what is valued by the god, sometimes what is invested with special power by the god becomes holy. In contrast, what is sacred is what men may regard with reverence, whether it may be holy or just personally valued.
5. One wonders how the ancient Israelites would have been able to clean up all that bloody mess resulting from the frequent sacrifices. What miracles were necessary to keep the priestly vestments cleaned and unstained and how, with probably not a lot of water available, were they able to hose down the altar to wash away all the blood? And maybe the burning flesh might have smelled pleasantly aromatic for a while, but later, wouldn’t the smell of butchered animals have made the holy Tabernacle reek like a abattoir?
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