Commentary - Exodus 29:1-9

Bird's-eye view

In this chapter, we move from the architectural plans for the tabernacle and the design of the priestly garments to the living stones of the house, the priests themselves. God is not just building a place; He is populating it. This entire chapter is dedicated to the elaborate, detailed, and bloody ritual for consecrating Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. The word for this is ordination, and it is a setting apart, a hallowing. God is taking common men, sinners like the rest of us, and is formally installing them into a sacred office. This is not a mere ceremony; it is a divine action. Through these prescribed rituals of sacrifice, washing, anointing, and clothing, God is marking these men as His own, fit to stand before Him and minister on behalf of the people. Every element in this process is dripping with theological significance, pointing forward to the one true High Priest, Jesus Christ, who would perfectly fulfill all that these symbols represented. This is the gospel in pictures, a shadow of the substance that was to come.

The central theme is holiness. To minister to a holy God, one must be made holy. This holiness is not achieved by the priests but is conferred upon them by God through the means He provides. The sacrifices deal with their sin, the washing with their filth, the garments with their status, and the anointing with their empowerment. It is a comprehensive transformation from common to sacred, a perpetual statute that establishes a mediatorial office between God and Israel. And for us, it is a foundational lesson in what it cost for our Great High Priest to be consecrated, and what it means for us to be a kingdom of priests in Him.

Outline

Context In Exodus

Exodus 29 sits within the larger block of instructions God gives to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 25-31). This section is all about the tabernacle, the place where God's presence would dwell among His people. God has already given the plans for the furniture (the ark, the table, the lampstand) and for the structure of the tent itself. In chapter 28, He detailed the glorious and beautiful garments the priests were to wear. Now, in chapter 29, He prescribes the ritual that will make the men fit to wear the clothes and serve in the place. This is a logical and theological progression. First the place of worship, then the uniform for the ministers, and now the ordination of the ministers themselves. This entire section establishes the three great themes of Exodus: God delivers His people (chapters 1-18), God gives His law to His people (chapters 19-24), and God establishes His tabernacle among His people so He can dwell with them (chapters 25-40). This chapter is a critical part of that third theme, showing how sinful men can be made holy in order to serve a holy God in His holy place.

Key Issues

Set Apart for God

The first thing we must get straight is what this chapter is about. The text says it is what must be done "to set them apart as holy to minister as priests to Me." The Hebrew word for "set apart as holy" is qadash, which means to consecrate, to sanctify, to make holy. This is not about making the priests morally perfect overnight. It is about changing their status. They are being taken from the realm of the common and placed into the realm of the sacred. They are being designated for a special purpose, set apart for God's exclusive use.

This is the essence of ordination. It is a formal, ritual act that publicly marks a person for a specific office. This is not something Aaron and his sons decide to do for themselves. It is something done to them at God's command. God calls, God qualifies, and God installs. The entire ritual that follows is a dramatic portrayal of what God is doing. He is taking men who are sinners, who are unclean, who are part of the general population, and He is making them fit to approach Him. Every step is a divine accommodation, a gracious provision that makes it possible for the unholy to serve the holy without being consumed.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 “Now this is what you shall do to them to set them apart as holy to minister as priests to Me: take one bull from the herd and two rams without blemish,

The instruction begins with a clear statement of purpose: this is how you make them holy for priestly service. And the first requirement is blood. Before anything else, sacrifices must be chosen. A young bull and two rams. The crucial qualifier is that they must be "without blemish." This is a non-negotiable requirement for any animal brought before the Lord. It signifies perfection, wholeness, and health. This is not God wanting the best because He is picky; it is because the sacrifice must foreshadow the one perfect sacrifice to come. A blemished animal cannot represent the sinless Christ. From the very beginning, the gospel is being preached: a perfect substitute is required to atone for the sins of the imperfect priest.

2-3 and unleavened bread and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil; you shall make them of fine wheat flour. And you shall put them in one basket and bring them near in the basket along with the bull and the two rams.

Alongside the blood sacrifice, there is a grain offering. Notice the repetition of "unleavened." Leaven, or yeast, in Scripture is consistently a symbol of sin and corruption, of that which puffs up. The offering brought to God must be pure, without any corrupting influence. The fine wheat flour speaks of the best of man's labor, and the oil is a consistent symbol of the Holy Spirit's presence and blessing. So you have a pure offering, empowered by the Spirit. These are not just snacks for the ceremony; they are part of the consecration. The priests are being set apart by blood and by a pure, Spirit-endowed offering. All these elements, the animals and the bread, are to be brought together, presenting a complete picture of the provision God has made.

4 Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons near to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.

The men themselves are now brought forward. Aaron, the designated high priest, and his sons. They are brought to the entrance of the tabernacle, the place where God meets with man. And the first thing that happens to them is a bath. They are washed with water. This is not about personal hygiene. This is a total, ceremonial cleansing. It signifies the removal of all their defilement. Before they can be clothed for service, they must be washed clean. This washing was a one-time event at their consecration, signifying a complete purification for their office. This points directly to the regeneration and cleansing from sin that we receive in Christ, symbolized in our baptism (Titus 3:5).

5-6 And you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod; and you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban.

Once washed, Aaron is clothed. He doesn't dress himself; the garments are put on him. This is an act of investiture. He is being robed in righteousness and glory that is not his own. Each piece, described in detail in the previous chapter, is laden with meaning. He is clothed in the uniform of his office, a uniform that speaks of his role as mediator, as the one who bears the names of the people of Israel into the presence of God (on the breastpiece). The turban signifies his consecrated mind, and the holy crown, a gold plate inscribed with "Holy to the Lord," declares the very purpose of his existence. He is being clothed in a new identity. He is no longer just Aaron; he is the High Priest of God.

7 Then you shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.

After being washed and clothed, Aaron is anointed. This is the central act of consecration. The special anointing oil, a fragrant mixture prescribed by God, is not just sprinkled; it is poured on his head. It would have run down his beard and onto his robes (Psalm 133:2). This lavish pouring signifies a complete setting-apart and empowerment by God's Spirit for the office he is to fill. The Hebrew word for "anoint" is mashach, from which we get the word Messiah, the Anointed One. Aaron, in this moment, becomes a type, a living picture, of the great Anointed One to come, Jesus Christ, who would be anointed not with oil, but with the Holy Spirit without measure (John 3:34).

8 And you shall bring his sons near and put tunics on them.

After the high priest is fully consecrated, attention turns to his sons. They are also brought near and clothed, though their garments are simpler than Aaron's. They are given the basic white linen tunics of the priesthood. This shows that they share in the priestly office, but they are subordinate to the high priest. They are part of a priestly order, a holy family set apart for service.

9 You shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them, and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

The clothing is completed with sashes and caps. The sash signifies that they are ready for service, girded for action. With the clothing complete, the verdict is declared: this priesthood is a "perpetual statute." It is an enduring ordinance for Israel under the Old Covenant. The final sentence summarizes the entire action: "So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons." The Hebrew here is literally "you shall fill the hand of Aaron and the hand of his sons." This is a technical term for ordination. It implies that their hands are now filled with the authority and the duties of the priestly office. They are no longer empty-handed; God has filled their hands with holy work to do.

Application

It is easy to read a chapter like this and see it as a dusty piece of ancient history, irrelevant to our modern, casual forms of worship. But that would be a profound mistake. This passage is a vibrant portrait of the gospel and a standing rebuke to any form of flippant Christianity. It teaches us, first and foremost, what it took to make a priest who could stand before God. Aaron's consecration, with all its blood, water, oil, and glorious garments, is but a dim shadow of the consecration of our Lord Jesus.

Jesus is the true priest, without blemish, who offered Himself. He is the unleavened bread, the pure offering. He was not washed with water at His ordination, because He had no sin, but He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He was not clothed in linen garments made by man, but was revealed in His own divine glory on the mount of transfiguration. And He was anointed not with a flask of oil, but by the Holy Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Everything Aaron needed to have done to him, Christ is in Himself. His hands were filled, not with the instruments of sacrifice, but by being nailed to the cross, where He completed His priestly work.

And because we are in Him, we too are a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9). We are set apart as holy to minister to God. How? We are chosen "without blemish" in Christ. We are washed in the waters of regeneration. We are clothed not in our own righteousness, which is as filthy rags, but in the perfect righteousness of Jesus. We are anointed with the same Holy Spirit. Our hands have been filled with the work of the gospel, the ministry of reconciliation. This passage should therefore fill us with a holy reverence. It reminds us that access to God is a bloody, costly business. It reminds us that we do not saunter into God's presence on our own terms. We come only because our Great High Priest has been perfectly consecrated, and we have been consecrated in Him.