Leviticus 8

Moses carries out God’s instructions for setting Aaron and his sons apart as Israel’s priests. They are washed, clothed, anointed with oil, and covered by sacrifices: a sin offering, a burnt offering and an ordination offering. The chapter shows that no one comes near to serve a holy God on his own merit. Cleansing and sacrifice come first.

Leviticus 8:1-3

God himself begins the ordination. Moses is told to gather the priests, their garments, the oil and the offerings, and to call all Israel to the tabernacle door. The priesthood is God’s appointment, not a human career, and the whole people are to witness it.

BSA: assemble (“gather together, collect”): The whole community is called together, because the priests will serve on behalf of everyone.

Hebrew: מוֹעֵד (mo’ed, H4150) — “appointed meeting, set time.” The Tent of Meeting is the place and time God appointed to meet his people. The priests are being prepared to serve at that meeting.

Leviticus 8:4-5

Moses obeys, and the people gather. He tells them plainly that this is God’s command, not his own idea. Everything that follows rests on what the LORD has said, which gives the ceremony its authority.

See also: Exodus 29:1-4.

Leviticus 8:6

Before any robe is put on, Aaron and his sons are washed with water. Those who will handle holy things must first be made clean. The order matters: cleansing comes before clothing and service.

BSA: washed (“bathe, cleanse”): This is a full bathing, a picture of being made clean before serving God.

Hebrew: רָחַץ (rachats, H7364) — “to wash, bathe.” This is the ordinary word for bathing the body, so the priests are washed completely and not just touched with water.

See also: Hebrews 10:22.

Leviticus 8:7

Moses dresses Aaron piece by piece: the tunic, the sash, the robe and the ephod, which is a richly worked apron-like garment. Aaron does not dress himself. The priestly clothing is given to him, and so is the office.

BSA: ephod (“special vest, priestly garment”): The ephod was the distinctive priestly garment, set apart for service before God.

Leviticus 8:8

The breastpiece is placed on Aaron’s chest, and the Urim and Thummim go inside it. These were God’s means of giving guidance to Israel. The high priest carried the people’s needs on his heart and was also a channel for God’s answers.

BSA: Thummim (“objects revealing God’s will, complete truth”): The word suggests that the guidance God gave through them was true and complete.

See also: Exodus 28:29-30.

Leviticus 8:9

The turban is set on Aaron’s head, and on its front is the gold plate, the holy diadem. It was engraved to show that Aaron belonged to the LORD. His head carried a reminder that all his service was for God and that God’s holiness stood over it.

BSA: diadem (“crown”): It marks the high priest as set apart, crowned with dedication to God.

Hebrew: נֵזֶר (nezer, H5145) — “consecration, a crown or dedicated headband.” The word comes from the idea of being set apart. The ‘holy diadem’ is a crown of consecration, not of royal power.

See also: Exodus 28:36-38.

Leviticus 8:10-11

Moses anoints the tabernacle and everything in it, then sprinkles the altar seven times. Seven suggests completeness. Places and objects are made holy before the people are, so worship will have a clean place to happen.

BSA: consecrated (“set apart as holy, dedicated”): To consecrate is to take something ordinary and give it wholly to God’s use.

Leviticus 8:12

Oil is poured on Aaron’s head, a lavish act that marks him out as the anointed high priest. The oil points to God’s own choosing and empowering. Later Israel would speak of an Anointed One who would come.

BSA: poured (“liberally, abundantly”): The oil is poured out generously, not merely dabbed on.

Hebrew: מָשַׁח (mashach, H4886) — “to anoint, smear with oil.” This is the root behind the word ‘Messiah,’ which means ‘Anointed One.’ Priests, kings and prophets were anointed to show God had chosen them.

See also: Psalm 133:2.

Leviticus 8:13

Aaron’s sons are dressed next in their own plainer garments: tunics, sashes and headbands. The high priest wears more splendid clothing, but all of them are dressed as God directed. The sons serve alongside their father in the same work.

See also: Exodus 28:40-41.

Leviticus 8:14

Before the priests can serve for others, their own sin is dealt with. The bull of the sin offering is brought, and Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head. In this act they identify themselves with the animal that will die in their place.

BSA: laid (“placed, rested”): The hands rest firmly on the animal, joining the worshipper to the offering.

Hebrew: סָמַךְ (samakh, H5564) — “to lean on, press upon.” It means to lean one’s weight on something. The priests lean on the animal, trusting it to stand in their place.

See also: Leviticus 1:4.

Leviticus 8:15

The bull is slaughtered, and its blood is put on the altar’s four horns and poured out at its base. Even the altar needs cleansing, because it stands in a world marked by sin. Blood is how atonement is made, and life is given where sin deserves death.

BSA: atonement (“reconciliation, covering of sin”): The word carries the idea of sin being covered over so that peace with God is restored.

Hebrew: כַּפֵּר (kipper, H3722) — “to cover, make atonement.” The root pictures covering. The blood provides a covering for sin, so that people can be brought near to God.

See also: Leviticus 17:11.

Leviticus 8:16-17

The best fat and the inner organs of the bull are burned on the altar. The rest of the animal is burned outside the camp, as the LORD ordered. The sin offering is treated as bearing the defilement of sin. The New Testament sees a parallel in Jesus suffering outside the city gate.

See also: Hebrews 13:11-12.

Leviticus 8:18

Next comes the ram of the burnt offering. Again Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head. After sin has been dealt with, the priests offer themselves wholly to God, and the burnt offering expresses that total surrender.

BSA: burnt offering (“a sacrifice completely consumed by fire, a holocaust”): The whole animal is given to God, a picture of complete devotion.

Leviticus 8:19-20

The ram is slaughtered and its blood sprinkled on every side of the altar. Then it is cut in pieces and the head, the pieces and the fat are burned. Nothing is held back. The careful, detailed work shows how seriously each step is taken.

See also: Leviticus 1:10-13.

Leviticus 8:21

The entrails and legs are washed so that the offering is clean, and the whole ram goes up in smoke. God receives it as a pleasing aroma, which means he accepts it with delight. The priests’ consecration begins in acceptance, not rejection.

BSA: burnt offering (“a step or stairs, often used to describe the ascent to the altar”): The Hebrew name suggests something that goes up, with the smoke rising to God.

See also: Ephesians 5:2.

Leviticus 8:22

A second ram is brought, called the ram of ordination. Once more the priests lay their hands on its head. This offering is special to the moment of installing them for service.

BSA: ordination (“consecration, setting apart”): The offering is the means by which the priests are formally set apart for God.

Hebrew: מִלֻּאִים (millu’im, H4394) — “filling, installation.” The word comes from ’to fill.’ To ordain a priest was literally to ‘fill his hand’ with the offerings and duties of the office.

Leviticus 8:23-24

Blood from the ram is put on the right earlobe, right thumb and right big toe of Aaron and of each son. Ears, hands and feet are claimed for God. They are to listen to him, work for him and walk his way. Then blood is sprinkled around the altar.

BSA: earlobe (“the tip or extremity of the ear”): Blood on the ear’s tip marks the priest’s hearing as given over to God.

See also: Exodus 29:20.

Leviticus 8:25-26

Moses gathers the fat, the choice organs and the right thigh of the ram. On top of them he lays three kinds of unleavened bread from the basket: a cake, a cake made with oil, and a wafer. The best of the animal and the bread are brought together as one gift to God.

BSA: unleavened (“without yeast”): Bread without yeast was simple and pure, free of anything that spreads and changes it.

Leviticus 8:27-28

The offerings are placed in the priests’ hands and waved before the LORD, then Moses burns them on the altar. The priests first hold what is to be given and present it to God. It is a picture of hands being filled for service and then given back to him.

BSA: waved (“moved back and forth, sprinkled”): The gift is moved before the LORD’s presence as a sign that it is presented to him.

Hebrew: תְּנוּפָה (tenufah, H8573) — “wave offering.” It comes from a word meaning to swing or lift up. The gift is lifted and moved toward God, then given back as his portion.

Leviticus 8:29

The breast of the ordination ram is waved before the LORD, and then it becomes Moses’ share. In this ceremony Moses acts as the priest, so the portion normally given to priests is his. God provides for those who serve him in his house.

See also: Exodus 29:26.

Leviticus 8:30

Moses sprinkles Aaron, his sons and their clothes with a mixture of anointing oil and the altar’s blood. The oil points to the Spirit’s setting apart, and the blood to cleansing through sacrifice. The two together mark the priests as God’s.

BSA: consecrated (“set apart, sanctified”): Both the people and their clothing are made holy, set aside for God’s service.

See also: Exodus 29:21.

Leviticus 8:31-32

The priests are to boil the meat and eat it at the tent door with the bread. Eating together from the sacrifice shows they now share in God’s table. Whatever is left over must be burned, so that nothing holy is treated carelessly.

BSA: eat (“to partake, devour”): The priests take part in the offering by eating, sharing in what was given to God.

Leviticus 8:33

For seven days the priests must stay at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Their ordination takes a full week. Nothing here is rushed, and they are kept in God’s presence until the work of setting them apart is complete.

Hebrew: יְמַלֵּא (yemalle, H4390) — “he will fill.” The text says literally that seven days will ‘fill’ their hand. The word is related to the one for ordination, so the week is the time of being installed.

Leviticus 8:34

Moses explains that all this was commanded by the LORD to make atonement for the priests. Even those who will help others find forgiveness need it themselves. Their service rests on God’s provision and not on their own goodness.

BSA: atonement (“to cover, to make reconciliation”): The offerings cover the priests’ sin and bring them into right relationship with God.

See also: Hebrews 5:1-3.

Leviticus 8:35

The priests must remain at the tent door day and night for a week, keeping the LORD’s charge. The warning that they must not die shows how seriously God’s holiness is to be taken. Serving him means doing it his way and staying near him.

BSA: charge (“watch, responsibility”): The priests are placed on duty, like guards keeping watch over what God has entrusted to them.

Hebrew: מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret, H4931) — “a guard, a duty to keep.” The word describes a watch or post of duty. The priests are to guard what God has given them and keep his requirements faithfully.

Leviticus 8:36

The chapter ends with simple obedience. Aaron and his sons do everything the LORD commanded through Moses. They receive their office as a gift and begin their service by doing exactly what God said.

See also: Leviticus 9:1.