Leviticus 6:1-8:36, Tzav, “Command”
Over the last several weeks I have come to see the pattern of how these sections of the Torah were prepared by Moses. First, he shares with us what the Lord shared with Him, then he tells us about what he did in following all that the Lord had told him. I really like how this pattern has unfolded in the preparing of the priestly garments, the preparing of the tabernacle, the preparing of the tabernacle coverings, and ultimately, here, in the starting of the sacrificial system.
In previous readings I kind of missed the impression that this was the first time that any of this, all of this, had ever been done. This time through it really hit me. This is the first time. God just gave this all to Moses, and Moses, for the very first time, is showing Aaron and his sons what to do. All the people have been gathered to observe, and they too are observing all of this for the very first time.
As I moved into chapter 8 of the reading, I started coming into the significance of some important aspects of what was taking place. The chapter starts out with the Lord speaking to Moses and having him “take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering, and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread, and the assembling all the congregation at the doorway of the tent of meeting.” Leviticus 8:2-3 (NASB). After telling the people that he was doing what the Lord commanded him to do, he washed Aaron and his sons with water. Then he dressed Aaron in the priestly garments. After that, he “took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the basin and its stand, to consecrate them. (Leviticus 8:10-11 NASB)
As I read these lines, I started considering just how serious Moses was in all of this. This led me to understanding just how serious he took his relationship to be with God. I started thinking about how deeply Moses must have loved God and how intent he was to trust Him and follow His commands. As I read these verses, I began to see just how holy Moses saw God to be, and how deeply Moses understood to respect Him, honor Him, and uphold Him with the reverence He deserves. As I read these verses I began to wonder how much of these understandings and attitudes were meant to be passed along to Aaron and his sons through this very process.
As I got to this point in the reading, I started considering how sometimes I hear people talking about how the veil was torn when Yeshua was on the cross. I started thinking about how this is represented as being all about giving each of us direct access to Hashem in the Holy of Holies and how we can approach Him “just like we are”. This led me back to where I was in the last paragraph and into wondering how many of those understandings and attitudes were meant to be passed along to us through what Yeshua did on the cross 2,000 years ago.
As I moved deeper into the reading, I discovered how Moses went on to anoint Aaron and consecrate him. Then Moses dressed Aaron’s sons in the priestly garments just as he had dressed Aaron. From there Moses had Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering as he slaughtered it. I found it interesting that all that Moses allowed Aaron and his son’s to do was to lay their hands on the bull and that from there, Moses did all the slaughtering, he is the one who put the blood on the alter and “purified” it, and he is the one who poured the blood at the base of the alter and consecrated it, “to make atonement for it”. (Leviticus 8:14 NASB).
Again, this was a reminder that something new was taking place. The alter was being purified, consecrated, and being atoned for. Aaron and his sons were not yet acting as priests, and Moses, not even dresses as a priest, was doing all the work. I began to realize that this was all about discipleship.
Moving deeper into the reading takes us through Moses performing the sacrifices for the burnt offering, the offering of ordination, his ordaining Aaron and his sons with the placing of blood on the lobe of their right ear, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot. We then read about Moses preparing Aaron and his sons for the wave offering and having them perform the wave before taking the unleavened cakes and oil from their hands and offering them up to the Lord again as a part of their ordination.
From there Moses took the breast of the offering, waved it before the Lord, and offered it up as his portion of the ordination sacrifice. From there Moses mixed anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the alter and sprinkled it on Aaron, his sons, and on their garments. This consecrated them and their garments. Then Moses told them to boil the remainder of the meat from the ordination sacrifice along with the unleavened cakes and oil and eat at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Once they had eaten and been satisfied, they were to burn what was left of these things and not save them.
The final stage of their ordination was to remain in the doorway of the tent of meeting for seven says. Moses told them to remain there day and night, and that if they left for any reason, they would die. He concluded in saying that through this “ordination” process, the Lord would be making atonement on their behalf.
Moving a little beyond this reading and going into the first 9 verses of chapter 9 helps bring what I am seeing to a proper closure. In these first 9 verses of chapter 9 we see Moses commanding Aaron and his sons to do for the children of Israel just as he had done for them. Maybe not to the same extent, but to a very particular degree and to the degree that led me to seeing things with a prophetic eye.
In these verses we find Moses telling Aaron and his sons how to perform the sacrifices for their own atonement and then move into the various sacrifices for the people. This all took place on the 8th day of the sacrificial process.
Going back to the veil being torn when Yeshua took his final breath on the cross has led me to a very important concept that I believe we all should take into consideration when thinking that the veil was torn so that we all have access to the Holy of Holies. One of the points that we fail to consider when thinking about this is that the veil that was torn was the veil that separated the Holy Place, from The Most Holy Place. The Most Holy Place is also known as the “Holy of Holies”. The “Holy Place” is the room that is portioned off from the rest of the tabernacle with another veil. Furthermore, the rest of the tabernacle is still separated from the people with another set of curtains through which they were only allowed through for the point of offering sacrifices.
In essence, if we want to really understand what Hashem may have been implying with the tearing of the veil, we must keep in mind which veil was torn and to whom access to that veil was extended. In short, the average people of the “nation” were only allowed through the curtains of the outer court for the purpose of offering sacrifices. Even then, they were not allowed to move beyond the alter and toward the Holy Place or that veil. This area was set aside for the priesthood. The priests were then allowed perpetual access in the remainder of the outer court area. During set times they were allowed through the veil of the Holy Place to minster to the various articles that were kept there. This included the access to the show bread, the morning and evening burning of the incense, and the other various tasks that were performed on a regular schedule. From there, there was the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Only once a year was the High Priest allowed to move through this veil and into the area where the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat were to be found.
What I am getting at here is this; Yes, when Yeshua took His last breath something very important shifted in the heavenly realms. When this shift occurred, Hashem gave us a sign through the tearing of the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. In interpreting this I do believe that Hashem was telling us that Yeshua Himself, from that day forward, would forever be our one and only High Priest and that as His People, we would have access to Him. At the same time, I think it is very important to note that the veil that stood between the Holy Place and the outer court did not tear. Furthermore, the walls of the temple did not fall down. In other words, was Hashem attempting to communicate that from the beginning, His intent has been to create a nation of people who would become a royal priesthood that would ultimately be His bride and through whom the world would be blessed?
This concept is supported in Exodus 19:3-6: “Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” (NASB)
Within the context of the New Covenant, I think Peter really captures what I am attempting to communicate in 1 Peter 2:9-11 when he says: “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” (NASB)
Before I go too far, I want to cut off any concept of the gentile church replacing Israel as God’s chosen people. The above verse is a direct reference to Deuteronomy 32 where Hashem gave Moses the “song of Moses”. This is a prophetic song that, together with Deuteronomy 28-30, provide the entire prophetic image of the journey of Israel from that time through the return of the Lord and the setting up of the millennial kingdom. Paul references this song when he speaks of how Hashem will use the gentiles to move the people of Israel to jealousy in Romans 11. In this section of scripture Paul clearly states ultimately “all of Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26) and that it is through this partial hardening of Israel’s heart that gentiles would be grafted into the very olive tree through which the people of Israel come. This is a grafting in, not a replacement.
With that said, going back to the point and the prophetic implications I will share what I am seeing. Moses, following God’s commandments, ordained Aaron and his sons to serve as the priests to the “nation of Israel”. They spent seven days going through a process of ordination. I would argue, as I will substantiate next week, that this was intended to be a time of deep contemplation, reflection, and repentance. I would argue that the blood of the animals and all the physical things that Moses did, unto themselves, did nothing for the atonement. The true atonement came, and was to come, through the heart felt repentance and getting right before God in harmony with the sacrificial system that He instructed Moses to facilitate. At the end of the seven days, Aaron and His sons were presumably “ordained” and ready to be the priests they were called to be. As such, moving into their 8th day, they began something new. They were now to be priests for the people. The first thing they were to do in this new role was to start the sacrificial journey for the people in the same way as Moses had done for them. This was to sacrifice an animal for sin. From there, it was only after the sin offering that Moses could move into the sacrifices associated with the ordination. So too was the process for Aaron and his sons relative to the people.
As I contemplated this, I saw that, in accordance with Exodus 19 and 1 Peter chapter 2, the entire nation is called to be priests. As such, I got the image of Aaron and his sons “ordaining” the people in the same way that Moses had “ordained” them. This leads me to seeing Yeshua’s blood as the “ordination” of the grafting of the elect gentiles into the “nation” through the New Covenant.
In the end, I have no choice but to recognize that Peter was clearly speaking to the gentiles who had grafted themselves into the “nation”. I have to accept that he was calling them to embrace the calling of living priestly lives. I have to allow this to speak deeply into my soul. I have to ponder what this means and I have to share what I believe I am being called to share. All of these implications help me understand what God may have been attempting to communicate when He tore the veil between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.
Maybe what He was saying should be more understood as Him saying that atonement would no longer be offered once a year through a physical High Priest as our only representative but instead would be offered perpetually through Yeshua being our spiritual, and more perfect, High Priest. At the same time, only priests are allowed access into the Holy Place, and as such, this may be why it is so important to see ourselves as such. Maybe, we should see what He did on the cross and the blood that He spilled as our ordination. Maybe if we approached Him with this understanding, we would tend to approach Him with the same reverence that Hashem was calling Aaron and his sons to as He spoke through Moses and the protocol He established through their ordination.
With all this said, we must remain in balance. We must keep in mind is that being a priest is about heart attitude, repentance, transformation, faith, dedication, trusting Him, intercession, sacrificial service to others, and walking in His strength and not our own. We have to remember that it was only a year earlier that Aaron built the golden calf and lied to Moses about it. We have to accept that Aaron and his sons did not instantly transform overnight or even in the course of seven days. We have to accept and trust that the Lord is the one who is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin” Exodus 34:6-7 NASB.
When we remain in balance we walk in faith, allow Him to be Lord, seek to grow daily, and understand that we belong to Him for a purpose in what He is doing in the lives of others. As we walk out this journey there will be times where He will have to show us our selfishness, our self-righteousness, our lusts, and our destructive patterns. At the same time, it is in His strength that we grow and we must embrace the journey and the process. I believe this is what it is to be a priest. Afterall, if we can’t apply this balance to our own lives, how will we ever be tolerant of the very people Hashem has called us to represent? I guess it is no wonder that before the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies to meet with God on behalf of the people, he first had to get right with God himself, and then intercede for his family. Maybe there is something to be learned just in that.
I pray that this has been a blessing, that it has been challenging yet not weighty, I pray that it has been revealing and encouraging. I pray that in and through the time you have dedicated to what I have shared that the Holy Spirit has quickened something into you soul that will lead to greater freedom, growth, and transformation. Amen amen
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