Exodus 5:17

5:17 But Pharaoh replied, ¹  “You are slackers! Slackers! ²  That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’

Exodus 6:9

6:9 ³ Moses told this ⁴  to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him ⁵  because of their discouragement ⁶  and hard labor.

Exodus 28:41

28:41 “You are to clothe them – your brother Aaron and his sons with him – and anoint them ⁷  and ordain them ⁸  and set them apart as holy, ⁹  so that they may minister as my priests.

Exodus 29:1

The Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

29:1 ¹⁰ “Now this is what ¹¹  you are to do for them to consecrate them so that they may minister as my priests. Take a young ¹²  bull and two rams without blemish; ¹³ 

Exodus 29:30

29:30 The priest who succeeds him ¹⁴  from his sons, when he first comes ¹⁵  to the tent of meeting to minister in the Holy Place, is to wear them for seven days. ¹⁶ 

Exodus 35:19

35:19 the woven garments for serving in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments for his sons to minister as priests.”

Exodus 35:25

35:25 Every woman who was skilled ¹⁷  spun with her hands and brought what she had spun, blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen,

Exodus 38:8

38:8 He made the large basin of bronze and its pedestal of bronze from the mirrors of the women who served ¹⁸  at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

[5:17]  ¹ tn Heb “And he said.”

[5:17]  ² tn Or “loafers.” The form נִרְפִּים (nirpim) is derived from the verb רָפָה (rafah), meaning “to be weak, to let oneself go.”

[6:9]  ³ sn The final part of this section focuses on instructions for Moses. The commission from God is the same – he is to speak to Pharaoh and he is to lead Israel out. It should have been clear to him that God would do this, for he had just been reminded how God was going to lead out, deliver, redeem, take the people as his people, and give them land. It was God’s work of love from beginning to end. Moses simply had his task to perform.

[6:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Moses spoke thus.”

[6:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “to Moses.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[6:9]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew מִקֹּצֶּר רוּחַ (miqqotser ruakh) means “because of the shortness of spirit.” This means that they were discouraged, dispirited, and weary – although some have also suggested it might mean impatient. The Israelites were now just not in the frame of mind to listen to Moses.

[28:41]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Traditionally “sanctify them” (KJV, ASV).

[29:1]  ⁷ sn Chap. 29 is a rather long, involved discussion of the consecration of Aaron the priest. It is similar to the ordination service in Lev 8. In fact, the execution of what is instructed here is narrated there. But these instructions must have been formulated after or in conjunction with Lev 1-7, for they presuppose a knowledge of the sacrifices. The bulk of the chapter is the consecration of the priests: 1-35. It has the preparation (1-3), washing (4), investiture and anointing (5-9), sin offering (10-14), burnt offering (15-18), installation peace offering (19-26, 31-34), other offerings’ rulings (27-30), and the duration of the ritual (35). Then there is the consecration of the altar (36-37), and the oblations (38-46). There are many possibilities for the study and exposition of this material. The whole chapter is the consecration of tabernacle, altar, people, and most of all the priests. God was beginning the holy operations with sacral ritual. So the overall message would be: Everyone who ministers, everyone who worships, and everything they use in the presence of Yahweh, must be set apart to God by the cleansing, enabling, and sanctifying work of God.

[29:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “the thing.”

[29:1]  ⁹ tn Literally: “take one bull, a ‘son’ of the herd.”

[29:1]  ¹⁰ tn The word תָּמִים (tamim) means “perfect.” The animals could not have diseases or be crippled or blind (see Mal 1). The requirement was designed to ensure that the people would give the best they had to Yahweh. The typology pointed to the sinless Messiah who would fulfill all these sacrifices in his one sacrifice on the cross.

[29:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “after him”; NCV, NLT “after Aaron.”

[29:30]  ¹⁰ tn The text just has the relative pronoun and the imperfect tense. It could be translated “who comes/enters.” But the context seems to indicate that this would be when he first comes to the tent to begin his tenure as High Priest, and so a temporal clause makes this clear. “First” has been supplied.

[29:30]  ¹¹ tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time. The ritual of ordination is to be repeated for seven days, and so they are to remain there in the court in full dress.

[35:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “wisdom of heart,” which means that they were skilled and could make all the right choices about the work.

[38:8]  ¹³ sn The word for “serve” is not the ordinary one. It means “to serve in a host,” especially in a war. It appears that women were organized into bands and served at the tent of meeting. S. R. Driver thinks that this meant “no doubt” washing, cleaning, or repairing (Exodus, 391). But there is no hint of that (see 1 Sam 2:22; and see Ps 68:11 [12 Hebrew text]). They seem to have had more to do than what Driver said.