Exodus 28:41

28:41 “You are to clothe them – your brother Aaron and his sons with him – and anoint them ¹  and ordain them ²  and set them apart as holy, ³  so that they may minister as my priests.

Exodus 29:2

29:2 and ⁴  bread made without yeast, and perforated cakes without yeast mixed with oil, and wafers without yeast spread ⁵  with oil – you are to make them using ⁶  fine wheat flour.

Exodus 29:36

29:36 Every day you are to prepare a bull for a purification offering ⁷  for atonement. ⁸  You are to purge ⁹  the altar by making atonement ¹⁰  for it, and you are to anoint it to set it apart as holy.

Exodus 40:9-10

40:9 And take ¹¹  the anointing oil, and anoint ¹²  the tabernacle and all that is in it, and sanctify ¹³  it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy. 40:10 Then you are to anoint the altar for the burnt offering with ¹⁴  all its utensils; you are to sanctify the altar, and it will be the most holy altar.

[28:41]  ¹ sn The instructions in this verse anticipate chap. 29, as well as the ordination ceremony described in Lev 8 and 9. The anointing of Aaron is specifically required in the Law, for he is to be the High Priest. The expression “ordain them” might also be translated as “install them” or “consecrate them”; it literally reads “and fill their hands,” an expression for the consecration offering for priesthood in Lev 8:33. The final instruction to sanctify them will involve the ritual of the atoning sacrifices to make the priests acceptable in the sanctuary.

[28:41]  ² tn Heb “fill their hand.” As a result of this installation ceremony they will be officially designated for the work. It seems likely that the concept derives from the notion of putting the priestly responsibilities under their control (i.e., “filling their hands” with work). See note on the phrase “ordained seven days” in Lev 8:33.

[28:41]  ³ tn Traditionally “sanctify them” (KJV, ASV).

[29:2]  ⁴ sn This will be for the minkhah (מִנְחָה) offering (Lev 2), which was to accompany the animal sacrifices.

[29:2]  ⁵ tn Or “anointed” (KJV, ASV).

[29:2]  ⁶ tn The “fine flour” is here an adverbial accusative, explaining the material from which these items were made. The flour is to be finely sifted, and from the wheat, not the barley, which was often the material used by the poor. Fine flour, no leaven, and perfect animals, without blemishes, were to be gathered for this service.

[29:36]  ⁷ tn The construction uses a genitive: “a bull of the sin offering,” which means, a bull that is designated for a sin (or better, purification) offering.

[29:36]  ⁸ sn It is difficult to understand how this verse is to be harmonized with the other passages. The ceremony in the earlier passages deals with atonement made for the priests, for people. But here it is the altar that is being sanctified. The “sin [purification] offering” seems to be for purification of the sanctuary and altar to receive people in their worship.

[29:36]  ⁹ tn The verb is וְחִטֵּאתָ (vÿhitte’ta), a Piel perfect of the word usually translated “to sin.” Here it may be interpreted as a privative Piel (as in Ps 51:7 [9]), with the sense of “un-sin” or “remove sin.” It could also be interpreted as related to the word for “sin offering,” and so be a denominative verb. It means “to purify, cleanse.” The Hebrews understood that sin and contamination could corrupt and pollute even things, and so they had to be purged.

[29:36]  ¹⁰ tn The construction is a Piel infinitive construct in an adverbial clause. The preposition bet (ב) that begins the clause could be taken as a temporal preposition, but in this context it seems to express the means by which the altar was purged of contamination – “in your making atonement” is “by [your] making atonement.”

[40:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you will take” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and you will anoint” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and you will sanctify” (perfect with vav, ו).

[40:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and.”