“And Moses said to the congregation, ‘This is the thing that the Lord has commanded to be done.’ And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. And he put the coat on him and tied the sash around his waist and clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him and tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band. And he placed the breastpiece on him… And he set the turban on his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses. Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. And Moses brought Aaron’s sons and clothed them with coats and tied sashes around their waists and bound caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.” (v5-13 abr)
Moses consecrates and ordains Aaron, his sons, and the entire tabernacle with all of its accoutrements according to God’s commands. Up until this point, the entire tabernacle process has not been completed – sure the items were crafted and assembled, but nothing has been used until now. Once everything and everyone is consecrated and made holy by/for God, then all of the laws regarding the tabernacle and sacrifices can begin to be followed.
As part of the ordaining process Moses makes several offerings including a sin offering (for Aaron and his sons), a burnt offering, a ram of ordination (only offered when a priest is ordained), a wave offering, and a grain offering. Food was shared from the wave and grain offerings, and the chapter concludes by saying it is a seven day process for ordination and they aren’t allowed to leave the grounds during that time.
I’m not sure if all of the offerings are made every day of the ordination, or if the non-sin offerings are repeated each day, the scripture isn’t clear on that. I would guess at least one or two of the offerings were repeated each day (eg. the wave and grain offerings), since they would need food to eat (unless they fasted the other six days).
The one thing that I take away from this for today is that ordination (coming into a calling from God) is a process – God calls each of us uniquely, yet each of us will need to grow into our calling. Some of us may have only one calling in life, but most of us will have a series of them, and every calling has an ordaining process where we need to follow God’s leading and instructions to grow into the role(s).
I don’t know about you, but most of what God calls me to is beyond my personal capacity, strength and wisdom. Every calling is a process as I learn and grow. When a God gives me an additional/different calling, then I have to grow into the new role. God doesn’t call me because I’m already qualified, God calls me so in the process He can qualify (teach) me and help me grow.
I want to encourage each of us to not be discouraged if we’re struggling with something God asks us to do, or if we’re overwhelmed with the process ahead. This priestly ordination and creation/consecration of the tabernacle was a huge undertaking (greater in scale than most of us will encounter), yet they got through it with God’s help. God will never ask us to do something, and then not help us in it – He doesn’t set us up to fail, if we fail it’s probably because we didn’t listen to Him in the process. The tabernacle project succeeded because of this one key ingredient – obedience to God: “And Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord commanded by Moses.” (v36)
Father God, thank you for calling us and guiding us. We realize that the one, true, all-powerful God does not require our help in order to accomplish something. Yet, You still choose to partner with us. Praise be to You for training and equipping us to serve You, in whatever capacity You call us. Thank you for teaching us obedience and being gracious with us when we stumble. We love You and long to serve You as best we can. Jesus, please help us to do this. Amen.
~ Conqueror in Training