Finishing from we left off, verses 18-21 talk about how Moses sacrificed a ram for a burnt offering. This one is different from the sin offering that was made in the earlier verses. Verse 22 brought up something I haven't read about yet in the other chapters, which is sacrificing a second ram for consecration. Verses 23-24 talk about how after Moses killed it, he took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. He did the same to Aaron's sons and then sprinkled the blood all around the altar.
Verses 26-27 describe a little more about the procedure of doing a wave offering. I don't know what its significance is for right now. Moses put an unleavened cake, a bread cake anointed with oil, one wafer onto all the animal fat and then put it into the hands of Aaron and his sons. He then had them wave for a wave offering. I seriously don't know what this is about, and it seems a little silly to me.
Verse 28 says that after the wave offering, Moses took all of them out of Aaron and his sons' hands and then burned them on the altar to make the consecration offering. Okay, so now it looks like before an offering is burnt on the altar, it gets waved to the Lord to show the fear of wanting to remember and abide by God's commandments or something like that.
Verse 29 talks about how Moses took the breast of the ram and waved it before the Lord. This verse says it was part of the consecration offering, so I think it implies that Moses burned it on the altar after. In Verse 30, Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and then sprinkled it on Aaron, his sons, and their garments. I remember from the earlier chapters that the holy garments sprinkled with blood had to be washed in a holy place, which is the court of the tabernacle.
Verse 31 is where Moses commanded Aaron and his sons to eat the ram of consecration after having boiled it at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. From what I remember earlier, they had to eat the meat with unleavened bread in a holy place, which is the court of the tabernacle inside the tent. Verse 32 said that the remainder of the meat and bread had to burned with fire. I don't know if this is to discourage people from eating leftovers, but it seems more along the lines of burning up garbage. I remember from earlier that the excess meat for a voluntary, peace offering could be kept for three days before burning it. For this consecration offering, there's also the burning of unleavened bread from the consecration basket involved.
The ram of consecration was not used to make atonement for sins, so it was allowed to be eaten by the priests. Verses 33-34 talk about how Aaron and his sons had to participate in a consecration ritual by staying inside the tabernacle of meeting for seven days. By doing so, the Lord will have like prepared them for their role of being priests and to also make atonement for their sins.
Verse 35 says that if they leave the tent for any reason, then the Lord might kill them off. Verse 36 states that Aaron and his sons did everything that the Lord commanded which was delivered by Moses. Now after reading through this chapter, I don't think I want to go through the hassle of being a priest in the Old Testament. It seems like a lot of work and having to live with a very strict diet doesn't really seem like a very enriching life to begin with. I don't really feel so jealous about Aaron and his sons anymore. They just accepted their role, as the Lord had commanded and chose them!
