Exodus 29

Verse-by-verse explanation

1. Exodus 29:1Describes the ceremony consecrating Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, starting with the choice of animals: one young bull and two rams without physical blemish.
2. Exodus 29:2Besides the animals, the ceremony required different kinds of unleavened bread, all made with fine wheat flour mixed with olive oil.
3. Exodus 29:3These loaves were placed in a basket and presented together with the animals at the moment of consecration.
4. Exodus 29:4Before putting on any sacred garment, Aaron and his sons went through a full ritual washing at the entrance of the tabernacle.
5. Exodus 29:5After the washing, Aaron was dressed piece by piece in the complete priestly garb, in the order described here: tunic, robe, ephod, breastplate, and sash.
6. Exodus 29:6The turban and the holy crown, probably the gold plate mentioned in chapter 28, completed the garb on Aaron’s head.
7. Exodus 29:7Pouring oil on the head was the gesture that officially sealed someone’s consecration for a sacred role, here the start of Aaron’s priesthood. That is where the idea of “anointed” comes from, someone set apart and authorized by that ritual.
8. Exodus 29:8After Aaron, it was his sons’ turn to put on their own priestly tunics, simpler than the high priest’s.
9. Exodus 29:9Sashes and caps completed the garb of Aaron’s sons, formalizing their priesthood as something permanent, passed down through the following generations.
10. Exodus 29:10Laying hands on the animal’s head before the sacrifice was a gesture of identification: it represented the symbolic transfer of whatever needed to be dealt with, such as guilt or impurity, from the person to the animal that would be offered in his place.
11. Exodus 29:11The bull was slaughtered right at the entrance of the tabernacle, a place charged with meaning as the point of access to the sacred space.
12. Exodus 29:12Applying blood to the “horns,” the points at the altar’s four corners, was part of the ritual purifying the altar itself before it was used. The blood symbolized life given up, used here to make the altar fit for sacred service.
13. Exodus 29:13The fat surrounding the bull’s internal organs, including the liver and kidneys, was set apart specifically to be burned on the altar.
14. Exodus 29:14Unlike other sacrifices, whose meat was eaten by the priests or by the one offering it, this “sin offering” was entirely burned outside the camp, with nothing from it kept for use. This marked the particular gravity of this kind of offering, tied to the purifying of guilt.
15. Exodus 29:15After the bull, the first of the two rams went through the same gesture of the laying on of hands, symbolically transferring something from Aaron and his sons to the animal.
16. Exodus 29:16The blood of this first ram was sprinkled all around the sides of the altar, unlike the bull’s blood, which went straight to the base.
17. Exodus 29:17The ram was cut into pieces, and its inner parts and legs were washed before being put back together with the rest of the animal for burning.
18. Exodus 29:18A “burnt offering” is a sacrifice in which the entire animal was burned, with nothing left over to be eaten. The phrase “sweet savour” is not about the smell itself, but an old way of saying the offering was acceptable, properly fulfilling its function.
19. Exodus 29:19The second ram, called the ram of consecration, received the same initial gesture of the laying on of hands as the other animals.
20. Exodus 29:20Applying blood to the ear and to the thumb of the right hand and the right foot was part of the priests’ consecration ceremony. The general idea behind the gesture was to set apart those parts of the body, hearing, acting, walking, for sacred service, though the text does not spell out the exact meaning of each point chosen.
21. Exodus 29:21A mixture of blood from the altar and anointing oil was sprinkled on Aaron, his sons, and their very garments, consecrating both people and clothes at the same time.
22. Exodus 29:22Specific parts of the second ram, including the fat tail and the right shoulder, were set apart precisely because it was the ram of consecration, given different treatment from ordinary sacrifices.
23. Exodus 29:23One loaf of bread, one cake kneaded with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread completed the specific offering of this ritual.
24. Exodus 29:24These portions of meat and bread were placed in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and waved ritually before God as a formal presentation of the offering.
25. Exodus 29:25After this gesture of presentation, the offering was taken from their hands and burned on the altar together with the rest of the sacrifice.
26. Exodus 29:26The breast of the ram of consecration, after going through that same ritual waving motion, was set aside as Moses’s personal portion in this ceremony.
27. Exodus 29:27Determines that both the breast and the shoulder ritually presented in this ceremony had to go on being consecrated as special portions from then on.
28. Exodus 29:28These specific portions of the peace offering would permanently become part of the support reserved for the priests, given by the people of Israel themselves.
29. Exodus 29:29Aaron’s sacred garments did not stay with him alone: they would be inherited by the sons who succeeded him in the office of high priest.
30. Exodus 29:30Each new high priest would wear these garments for seven straight days on taking office, a period of consecration before fully carrying out the role.
31. Exodus 29:31The meat of the ram of consecration was boiled, not roasted like other sacrifices, and prepared specifically within the tabernacle’s sacred space.
32. Exodus 29:32Aaron and his sons ate this meat together with the bread from the basket, a ritual meal reserved exclusively for them at the entrance of the tent.
33. Exodus 29:33The meat and bread used in this consecration ritual could only be eaten by Aaron and his sons, the priests themselves. No one outside the priestly family was allowed to eat it, even an ordinary Israelite, because it was a meal reserved specifically for those being consecrated.
34. Exodus 29:34Any leftover of this sacred meal by the next day had to be burned, never eaten, because it was considered too holy to become ordinary food once the time had passed.
35. Exodus 29:35Sums up that this whole consecration process had to be repeated for seven straight days, following exactly the instructions God gave Moses.
36. Exodus 29:36During each of these seven days, a new bull would be sacrificed as a sin offering, a purification ritual repeated daily for the altar itself.
37. Exodus 29:37At the end of the seven days of purification, the altar would become so holy that anything touching it would also come to be considered holy.
38. Exodus 29:38Besides the seven-day consecration ritual, a permanent daily offering is established here: two year-old lambs sacrificed every day, without exception.
39. Exodus 29:39One lamb was offered in the morning and the other in the evening, marking the beginning and end of the day with a constant sacrifice.
40. Exodus 29:40Each lamb was accompanied by a portion of flour mixed with olive oil and a quantity of wine, supplementing the main offering of meat.
41. Exodus 29:41The evening lamb followed exactly the same pattern as the morning one, keeping the daily offering always identical at both times.
42. Exodus 29:42This continual daily sacrifice had to be kept up by all of Israel’s future generations, marking the entrance of the tabernacle as the meeting place between God and the people.
43. Exodus 29:43God promises to meet with the people at exactly this point of constant sacrifice, and His own glory would be what made that place holy.
44. Exodus 29:44Holiness would extend through the whole system: the tabernacle, the altar, and the priests themselves, all consecrated specifically for service to God.
45. Exodus 29:45The final goal of this whole elaborate structure is stated directly here: God dwelling physically in the midst of the people of Israel themselves.
46. Exodus 29:46Closes the chapter by linking this dwelling of God among the people to the same deliverance from Egypt told at the start of the book, the underlying reason for the whole covenant.