Commentaria in Exodum
Chapter Twenty-nine. Synopsis of the Chapter
God commands Moses to consecrate Aaron and his sons as priests with this rite: first, let him wash them; second, clothe them in the priestly vestments; third, offer a calf for sin and two rams, one for a holocaust, the other for a peace-offering, with unleavened loaves; fourth, anoint, for seven days daily, both them and the altar, verse 33. All of which you may rightly expound mystically, and adapt to the consecrations and first-fruits of the priests of the New Testament. Lastly, verse 38, He prescribes the sacrifice of a lamb to be immolated daily, both morning and evening.
1. “And this thou shalt do, that they may be initiated to minister to me in the priesthood. Take a calf of the herd, and two rams without blemish, 2. and unleavened bread, and a cake without leaven tempered with oil, wafers also unleavened anointed with oil: thou shalt make them all of fine wheaten flour. 3. And thou shalt put them in a basket, and shalt offer them: and the calf, and the two rams. 4. And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony. And when thou hast washed the father with his sons in water, 5. thou shalt clothe Aaron with his vestments, that is, with the linen garment, and the tunic, and the ephod, and the rational, which thou shalt gird with the girdle. 6. And thou shalt put the mitre on his head, and the holy plate upon the mitre, 7. and thou shalt pour the oil of unction upon his head: and with this rite he shall be consecrated. 8. His sons also thou shalt bring, and shalt clothe them with linen tunics, and shalt gird them with the girdle, 9. Aaron to wit and his children, and thou shalt put mitres upon them: and they shall be priests to me by a perpetual ordinance. After thou hast initiated their hands, 10. thou shalt present also the calf before the tabernacle of the testimony. And Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head thereof, 11. and thou shalt immolate it in the sight of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony. 12. And thou shalt take of the blood of the calf, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, but the rest of the blood thou shalt pour at the foot thereof. 13. And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the entrails, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and thou shalt offer them a burnt offering upon the altar: 14. but the flesh of the calf, and the skin and the dung thou shalt burn without the camp, because it is for sin. 15. Thou shalt take also one ram, upon whose head Aaron and his sons shall put their hands. 16. And when thou hast killed him, thou shalt take of his blood, and pour it round about the altar. 17. And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces: and having washed his entrails and feet, thou shalt put them upon the flesh that is cut in pieces, and upon his head, 18. and thou shalt offer the whole ram for a burnt offering upon the altar: it is an oblation to the Lord, a most sweet savour of the victim of the Lord. 19. Thou shalt take also another ram, upon whose head Aaron and his sons shall put their hands. 20. And when thou hast killed him, thou shalt take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron and of his sons, and upon the thumbs and great toes of their right hand and foot, and thou shalt pour the blood upon the altar round about. 21. And when thou hast taken of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the oil of unction, thou shalt sprinkle Aaron and his vestments, his sons and their vestments. And when they and their vestments are sanctified, 22. thou shalt take the fat of the ram, and the rump, and the fat that covereth the entrails, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder, because it is the ram of consecration: 23. and one roll of bread, a cake tempered with oil, a wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread, that is set in the sight of the Lord: 24. and thou shalt put all upon the hands of Aaron, and of his sons, and shalt sanctify them, elevating them before the Lord. 25. And thou shalt take all from their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a holocaust, a most sweet savour in the sight of the Lord, because it is his oblation. 26. And thou shalt take the breast of the ram, wherewith Aaron was initiated, and shalt sanctify it, elevating it before the Lord, and it shall fall to thy part. 27. And thou shalt sanctify both the consecrated breast, and the shoulder, 28. which thou hast separated of the ram of the consecration, wherewith Aaron was initiated and his sons, and they shall fall to Aaron’s and his sons’ by a perpetual law, from the children of Israel: because they are the firstfruits and the beginnings of their peace offerings, which they offer to the Lord. 29. And the holy vesture, which Aaron useth, his sons shall have after him, that they may be anointed in it, and their hands consecrated. 30. Seven days shall he be clothed with them, who is made high priest in his stead of his sons, and who shall go into the tabernacle of the testimony to minister in the sanctuary. 31. But thou shalt take the ram of consecration, and boil the flesh thereof in the holy place: 32. and Aaron and his sons shall eat it. The loaves also that are in the basket, they shall eat in the vestibule of the tabernacle of the testimony: 33. that it may be an atonement sacrifice, and the hands of the offerers may be sanctified. A stranger shall not eat of them, because they are holy. 34. And if there remain until the morning of the consecrated flesh, or of the bread, thou shalt burn the remains with fire: they shall not be eaten, because they are sanctified. 35. All that I have commanded thee, thou shalt do over Aaron and his sons. Seven days shalt thou consecrate their hands, 36. and thou shalt offer a calf for sin every day for expiation. And thou shalt cleanse the altar when thou hast offered the victim of expiation, and shalt anoint it to sanctify it. 37. Seven days shalt thou expiate the altar, and sanctify it, and it shall be most holy. Whosoever shall touch it, shall be sanctified. 38. This is what thou shalt sacrifice upon the altar: two lambs of a year old every day continually, 39. one lamb in the morning, and the other in the evening: 40. a tenth part of flour tempered with beaten oil, which may have the fourth part of a hin: and wine for the libation of the same measure for one lamb. 41. The other lamb also thou shalt offer in the evening, according to all that we have said of the morning oblation, and the things that go with it, for a sweet savour, 42. it is a sacrifice of the Lord by a perpetual oblation in your generations, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony before the Lord, where I will appoint to speak to thee. 43. And there I will command concerning the children of Israel, and the altar shall be sanctified by my glory. 44. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the testimony with the altar, and Aaron with his sons, that they may do the office of priests to me. 45. And I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and will be their God: 46. and they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might abide among them, I the Lord their God.
Verse 2. “A cake,” a round loaf, a collyris, or a flat-cake; for this is the Hebrew challoth.
“Tempered with oil.” In Hebrew, mingled with oil; that is, when the flour was kneaded, it was worked up with oil, and that to signify the anointing of Aaron; for this is what the Greek word in the Septuagint signifies.
“Wafers also anointed with oil.” Wafers (lagana) are thin cakes; for this is what the Hebrew rekikim signifies. These wafers were mixed with water when they were kneaded; but when they were offered, they were fried in oil: for this is what the Hebrew meshuchim shemen signifies, that is, anointed or smeared with oil, namely that they were fried in it. So Abulensis and Oleaster.
Verse 3. “The calf, and the two rams,” namely thou shalt offer, that is, thou shalt set them and bring them to the tabernacle, that afterwards, verse 10, they may be immolated. In the calf or bull, says Lipomanus, is noted the neck of pride; in the ram, the leadership of flocks is signified. The priests, therefore, who are to be the rulers of the people, are commanded to immolate a bull and a ram, that by this they may be symbolically admonished to slay whatever swelling pride savoured of in lordship; and to be sanctified for seven days, that they may be admonished to persevere in holiness through all their life.