Reading today takes us through chapters 7, 8, and 9 where we read of the priest’s part in the offering, the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests, and we see Aaron offering sacrifices to the Lord.
Chapter 7 –
The priest’s regulations for for the guilt offering include several elements: the place where it is to offered, the parts of the sacrificial animal to be burned, and the fact any male among the priests could eat the remaining meat.
Verse 7 – 10 show us God’s provision for His servants can be traced back to Moses for the church today.
Verses 11-21 – The Fellowship Sacrifice –
This was unique as the only offering where those bringing it could eat a portion of the sacrifice – usually as part of a celebration meal with family and friends. The name of this offering explains its purpose. The worshipper sought to draw near to God by making a sacrifice either in thanksgiving as a testimony to Gods goodness or as an offering of a fulfillment of a vow, or simply a freewill offering.
Next came the strict prohibition against eating the fat of the blood of any animal. God set aside the fat portion of the offerings, the choicest parts as His alone. This was to remind the Israelites their great God deserved the best.
Chapter 8 –
The ordination was a public ceremony where God told Moses to bring Aaron and his sons along with everything needed for the ceremony and to assemble the whole community at the entrance of the tent of the meeting.
Moses took the anointing oil and sprinkled it on the altar and everything else in the tabernacle that needed to be consecrated for the priests. The scripture explains how Moses does it.
Once the required sacrifices were made the priests had one more requirement to fulfill: they were to eat the ordination meal at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
Chapter 9 –
The priests have now been consecrated they begin their serving. This chapter tells us Israel got off to it’s best start possible. The priests functioned flawlessly in presenting the sacrifices for both themselves and the multitudes, and when done it was done to the glory of God.
On the eighth day following the seven-day separation, the people brought the required sacrifices to the tabernacle – sin offering and burnt offering, fellowship offering and grain offering – as Moses had commanded.
Aaron was ready to offer the sacrifices the people had brought. These sacrifices atoned for sin, symbolized their complete dedication to God, and provided a way for sinful humans to have fellowship with a holy God this made it possible for God to dwell among His people.
As believers whose sins have been forgiven once-for-all by Christ’s death on the cross, we are truly in a privileged position today.
Asbury United Methodist Church 