Ordination. We usually think of that word connected with a young preacher “graduating” and given a kind of preacher diploma. And indeed, in most ministry circles, ordination does come with a certificate of some kind.
Aaron and his sons will not get a certificate. They will be quarantined in the tabernacle space for a week, bathed, dressed in their new priestly duds, and 3 animals will be sacrificed along with some bread, cakes, wine, and oil. What is this all about? Most folks will just read through this and hear:
Aaron priest…. Sacrifice sacrifice sacrifice. Blood blood blood. (Ew) Ritual. Altar. Burnt offering. More blood. Liver. Kidneys. Cakes. Fire. Holy. Consecrate. Sanctify. Whatever whatever yada yada yada. Let’s get to a story.
I got news for ya. You’re gonna be reading more about “the long lobe of the liver” than you probably care to by the time Leviticus is over. Leviticus is where most people grab a parachute and bail out of a Bible read-thru plan. 🪂
🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
But you’re not going to bail. Because you are not most people. Neither am I. I am slightly unhinged. I have 2 jobs. And when a wild idea popped in my head to blog my way through the whole Bible for 2 years, I thought, “Ya know what? That would be awesome! It’ll be like going to school. I love going to school!” (Like I said. Unhinged.) 🙃
Let’s see if we can find some treasure here. There are 3 sacrifices:
- The Sin Offering (1 bull) 🐂
- The Whole-Burnt Offering (1 ram) 🐏
- The Ordination Offering (1 ram) 🐏 plus: a loaf 🍞, a cake 🧁, & a wafer 🧇
Let’s look at them one at a time.
The Sin Offering 🐂
This one is pretty straightforward. You can’t be a priest and enter into holy space if you are bearing the guilt of sin. Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the bull before killing it to identify with the bull. It’s a way of acknowledging- “I deserve to die because of the wrongs I have done. This bull is taking the sin penalty in my place.”
Under the new covenant, our sin offering is Christ. He bore the guilt of our sin and took the death penalty for sin in our place. You cannot be a member of the new royal priesthood without faith in the sin-offering of Jesus Christ.
But what’s up with the fat and the lobe of the liver and the kidneys and stuff? That’s weird.
Many ancient cultures (and even shamanistic religions today) used animal livers and kidneys in divination, (fortune telling). I honestly have no idea why. But when did evil ever make sense? Occultic groups also practice(d) consuming blood. They believe that it gives them the life-force of that creature. By specifically requiring the blood to be poured out and those parts burned up, God eliminates their use in that way. There may be more to it than that, but that’s all I got for ya.
None of this beef was eaten. To an ignorant observer it looked like a lot of wasted steaks. Only the specified parts were burned on the brazen altar. The rest of the animal was taken outside the camp and burned. The writer of Hebrews gives us the inspired commentary on this:
“For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the Holy Place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood. So then, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”
Hebrews 13:11-14 NASB2020
The Whole-Burnt Offering 🐏
Again they lay their hands on the ram- identifying with it. The blood is poured out around the altar. The carcass is cut in pieces and the whole thing ascends in smoke. That’s actually what the Hebrew means- to go up in smoke. And they have identified with this ram. That’s them. That’s their lives going up in smoke. You cannot be selfish and be God’s priest.
That’s what consecration is. You’re all in. If you are serious about serving in God’s kingdom of priests, you don’t get to have a vestigial organ surgically removed and toss it in the fire. All of you must be laid on the altar in total commitment.
Four parts are specifically mentioned:
The entrails- your innermost parts. Your guts. Your courage and the core of your compassion. The legs – your autonomy to go where you like. The pieces- the dismembered parts of your soul that are broken and out of place. The head- your mind; intellect, imagination, judgment, emotions, and will. It must ALL go up in the smoke of irrevocable surrender.
ALL will be given in service to the Lord. But you will be a living sacrifice. This act doesn’t actually kill you. Well, it does kill the flesh but your spirit will be made gloriously alive.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Galatians 2:20 NASB2020
The Ordination Offering 🐏 🍞🧁🧇
They lay their hands on this one too but that’s about as far as the similarities go. The blood is placed on:
The right ear lobe 👂🏼
The right thumb 👍🏻
And the right big toe 🦶🏼
What. On. Earth. ? 🤔
It might help to pause and define some terms.
Ordination / Consecration – the Hebrew word is millu. Strongs says it means “a fulfilling,” and “a dedicatory sacrifice.” It carries the idea of “filling the hands” (with a sacrifice). Millu:
Mem (water, lift up, unknown, peoples)
Lamed (shepherd’s staff, lead, guide, toward, teach/instruct)
Aleph (ox, chief, leader, first, beginning)
To lift up toward the Beginning Chief. When you fill your hands full (like water filling a cup to the brim), and lift up the offering toward the Beginning Chief, that is dedication. It is total. It’s all His.
And here’s a biggie: HOLY. What does the word holy mean? It’s one of those words that we know what it means until we’re asked to define it. Many people think it means pure or sinless. And that’s part of it. Sort of. Holy means set apart, to dedicate (to Yahweh). Anything dedicated to Yahweh must be ceremonially or morally clean so that’s where the idea of purity comes from.
Aaron was set apart as Holy to Yahweh but he was not sinless. He was ceremonially pure. Ritually clean.
Once a thing is dedicated, it belongs to Yahweh and it can no longer be used by man for human purposes.
If you have money dedicated for car repair it shouldn’t be used to buy a sofa. That money is set apart for a specific purpose.
The opposite of holy is “common.” Generic. Normal. It’s kinda like military uniforms. Aaron had normal robes- basically his civilian clothes. And he had his holy robes- his uniform; not to be worn when engaging in civilian activities. The uniform is “holy”- set apart for a specific purpose and strictly prohibited from those not serving.
Back to the ear, thumb, and toe.
If a man is dedicated to Yahweh, he is no longer his own.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NASB2020
👂🏼 His ear (his listening attention) belongs to Yahweh. He may no longer listen to other voices. Or ungodly influences. Yahweh has his undivided attention.
👍🏻 His right thumb (the ability to grasp with the dominate hand) is set apart to the Lord. His strength and abilities and talents now belong to Yahweh for His use. They may not be used by man for man’s purposes.
🦶🏼His big toe (his walk, his conduct, where he goes and the paths he chooses to take) is devoted to Yahweh.
“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,”
Ephesians 4:1 NASB2020
After being marked with the ram’s blood, they will lift up a small pile of edibles: the fat, the lobe of the liver, kidneys, the right thigh (which a butcher would call a joint of mutton), a round “loaf” (probably like a pita), a “cake” mixed with oil, and an unleavened wafer (a thin cracker). They will hold these things and wave them (probably overhead) as an act of giving them to Yahweh. Then they will place these items on the alter to be burned up. They will wave the “brisket” before Yahweh then cook and eat it along with consecrated unleavened bread. (A brisket taco is a legit possibility here)
🌮🌮🌮😋
So part of this ram goes up in smoke and part of it they eat. All sacrifices point to Jesus. Christ is both the One Who ascends up to heaven in a cloud AND the One Who dwells within the members of His priestly family. We “eat” the lamb and the bread of life.
The chapter ends with instructions for Moses to consecrate (make holy) the brazen altar and then the morning and evening sacrifices- which look a bit like an abridged Passover meal: lamb, quick dough (flour & oil) and wine.
I encourage you to take some time to think about your own consecration.
Are you ALL in? Or have you put only your tonsils and your appendix on the altar and told yourself that’s all God really wants.
Being a living sacrifice is not easy (especially at first). But I have yet to meet a saint who regretted (in the words of missionary martyr Jerry Witt Sr.), “unlimited, unconditional, all-out surrender.” It’s only when you lose your life for Christ that you truly find it.
Allow me to provide a soundtrack for your meditation: Is Your All On The Altar?
May you be consecrated and holy to the Lord.
To The Reader 