Exodus 29: 1-9, “And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest’s office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish, And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them. And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams. And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water. And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod: And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him. And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them. And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest’s office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.”
A person could not just choose to be a priest. The Lord appointed priests into His service. He started by appointing Aaron to the priesthood and then making that office hereditary. As a result of that first appointment, the Lord also appointed the entire Levite tribe as workers in Temple service. Even though these people had been appointed to the Lord’s service they had to be personally dedicated by sacrifices. Blood was shed to deal with the sin that each priest had because they were Adam and Eve’s descendants but also because each one, in their own way, had chosen to be sinners as well. One of the consequences of sin was that Adam had to work hard to earn his living. (Gen 3: 17-19, “...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”) It is not proper to offer things to God that cost us nothing (2 Sam 24: 24, “And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”) When the priests were ordained for their service they had to bring offerings from the fruit of their labour then they could wear the holy garments of their office. When a person wants to give something to the Lord today it should be something that has come at a cost. Not because we want to impress the Lord by what we have done but because we are so impressed by what the Lord has done for us that we want to give Him the best we can out of gratitude.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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