Exodus 29:35

29:35 “Thus you are to do for Aaron and for his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; you are to consecrate them ¹  for ²  seven days.

Exodus 28:41

28:41 “You are to clothe them – your brother Aaron and his sons with him – and anoint them ³  and ordain them ⁴  and set them apart as holy, ⁵  so that they may minister as my priests.

Exodus 29:29

29:29 “The holy garments that belong to Aaron are to belong to his sons after him, so that they may be anointed ⁶  in them and consecrated ⁷  in them.

Exodus 29:33

29:33 They are to eat those things by which atonement was made ⁸  to consecrate and to set them apart, but no one else ⁹  may eat them, for they are holy.

Exodus 29:20

29:20 and you are to kill the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, ¹⁰  and then splash the blood all around on the altar.

[29:35]  ¹ tn Heb “you will fill their hand.”

[29:35]  ² tn The “seven days” is the adverbial accusative explaining that the ritual of the filling should continue daily for a week. Leviticus makes it clear that they are not to leave the sanctuary.

[28:41]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Traditionally “sanctify them” (KJV, ASV).

[29:29]  ⁵ tn The construction is an infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition. The form simply means “for anointing,” but it serves to express the purpose or result of their inheriting the sacred garments.

[29:29]  ⁶ tn This form is a Piel infinitive construct with a lamed (ל) preposition. It literally reads “for filling the hands,” the idiom used throughout this chapter for ordination or installation. Here too it has a parallel use of purpose or result.

[29:33]  ⁷ tn The clause is a relative clause modifying “those things,” the direct object of the verb “eat.” The relative clause has a resumptive pronoun: “which atonement was made by them” becomes “by which atonement was made.” The verb is a Pual perfect of כִּפֵּר (kipper, “to expiate, atone, pacify”).

[29:33]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew word is “stranger, alien” (זָר, zar). But in this context it means anyone who is not a priest (see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 324).

[29:20]  ⁹ sn By this ritual the priests were set apart completely to the service of God. The ear represented the organ of hearing (as in “ears you have dug” in Ps 40 or “awakens my ear” in Isa 50), and this had to be set apart to God so that they could hear the Word of God. The thumb and the hand represented the instrument to be used for all ministry, and so everything that they “put their hand to” had to be dedicated to God and appropriate for his service. The toe set the foot apart to God, meaning that the walk of the priest had to be consecrated – where he went, how he conducted himself, what life he lived, all belonged to God now.