Leviticus 9 & 10 GOD’S Way

The Tabernacle has been dedicated and Aaron and his sons have finished their seven days in it. Things are to be done GOD’S way. The people will learn this lesson the HARD way.

With the conclusion of the of Exodus, we were given a brief synopsis of the dedication of the Tabernacle. It was a quick accounting of this full week with Aaron and his sons. I even made the assumption that God’s glory came down right after Moses anointed everything. Not so. We see His glory settle on the Tabernacle AFTER Moses and Aaron come out of the Tent of Meeting together. And it is moments before two of Aaron’s sons, who God had called to serve Him, step out on their own and DON’T live to regret it. Let’s join the congregation as we witness the Lord’s presence.

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Aaron and his sons had stayed in the Tabernacle for the full seven days. Meals were brought to them and their waste was removed so they wouldn’t have to set one foot outside of the courtyard. This ministration also prevented defiling the Lord’s house.

The morning of the eighth day dawn. Moses is excited. This day will mark a new beginning. Everything is ready for the Lord to take possession of His house. Moses carefully washes his face, hands, and feet as he readies to call the people together again. He must be clean to appear before the Lord too.

Mana has already been gathered and stored away by the time Moses calls the people to the Tabernacle. The ram’s horn sounds and the people begin to assemble. The leaders make their way towards the front of the crowd. Fathers lift young children onto their shoulders to afford them a better view. All are ready for whatever God has next. None of them know what it is, but they trust Moses. And they trust him to follow wherever the Lord leads.

Moses leads the elders of the people into the courtyard. They stand on the eastern side of the bronze altar. Moses motions for Aaron and his sons to join them there. Once all are assembled together, Moses gives Aaron instructions.

“Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. And say to the people of Israel, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering, and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and a grain offering mixed with oil, for today the Lord will appear to you.’” (Leviticus 9:2-4)

Rather than Aaron going out in search of the offering he was instructed to bring, the leaders sent those under them to bring ALL that Moses had called for. For Aaron; a bull calf for a sin offering, and ram for a burnt offering. For the people; a male goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb for a burnt offering, an ox and a ram for a peace offering, and grain mixed with oil for a grain offering. All these stood ready just outside the door to the courtyard.

Moses looked around at all the people. He saw faces bathed in expectation. “It’s time” his spirit hears. Moses now addresses the people. “This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” (Leviticus 9:6).

The excitement of the people reaches even higher. “Yes! Please!” screams through the hearts and minds of the people.

Moses turns to Aaron now. “Draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.” (Leviticus 9:7)

Aaron bows his head in acceptance of Moses’ direction. He and his sons walk over to where the animals are waiting. Aaron stretches out his hand towards the person holding the ropes for the bull calf and the ram for his own sin offering. He hands these ropes to his eldest son to take charge of. Next he retrieves the ropes of the animals for the people’s sin offering and burnt offering. He hands the rope of the goat to another son, and that of the calf and lamb to a third. These offerings will be presented first. The ox and ram will wait until last to be offered. The grain offering will be sprinkled in the mix.

Aaron searches his heart for all the directions Moses had given him from the Lord concerning these sacrifices. He also mentally walks through the sacrifices Moses had performed a week ago. He NEEDS to get everything perfect. This is for the Lord. And to bring the Lord’s presence among the people.

“Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. And the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar. But the fat and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering he burned on the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses.” Leviticus 9:8-10)

Because of the Lord’s explicit instructions concerning the sin offering, the meat and skin of this animal had to be carried outside the camp to be burned. Aaron was not free to leave the Tabernacle yet. The Lord had not released him. The portion to be burned of the sin offering was set aside, outside the curtain, for a time.

“Then he killed the burnt offering, and Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar. And they handed the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he burned them on the altar. And he washed the entrails and the legs and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar.” (Leviticus 9”12-14)

Aaron’s personal offerings were completed. The fire of the altar continued to burn what had been laid on it. Aaron turned next to the offerings for the congregation. Theirs would join his on the bronze altar of the Lord. “Then he presented the people’s offering and took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people and killed it and offered it as a sin offering, like the first one.” (Leviticus 9:15) The people’s sin offering was a goat, and would be given to Aaron and his family to eat as a food offering. This would absolve the people’s sins.

Aaron offered the people’s burnt offering, exactly as the Lord had commanded it be done. The whole animal was cut and laid upon the altar. It too, burned alongside Aaron’s own offerings.

“Then he killed the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings for the people. And Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar. But the fat pieces of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail and that which covers the entrails and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver— they put the fat pieces on the breasts, and he burned the fat pieces on the altar, but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved for a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses commanded.” (Leviticus 9:18-21)

After finishing the last of the offerings, Aaron lifted his hands and blessed the people. Once Aaron’s blessing was completed, “Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.” (Leviticus 9:23-24)

Two of Aaron’s sons begin to be jealous of all the attention and honor their Abba was receiving. They decided that they would join in the festivities of the Lord. Nadab and Abihu both took up the censors that they had been given during the ordination ceremony. They dashed over to where the incense was kept and poured a portion into their censors. Next, they lit the wicks and began to move about the courtyard, holding their censors aloft.

This was NOT what the Lord had commanded them to do. The Lord reacted immediately, “And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” (Leviticus 10:2)

Screams rang out from among the crowd. Those nearest to the two, now dead, sons, jumped back in terror. Moses voice immediately rang out in Aaron’s ear. “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” (Leviticus 10:3a).

Without even a restraining hand upon him, Aaron held his peace. He saw the bodies of his sons; burned beyond recognition. He KNEW that the Lord had judged them for their OWN actions. As painful as it was to see, Aaron KNEW if he did anything, he would suffer the same result. Aaron closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing.

Moses knew he could not leave the bodies of Aaron’s sons lying where the Lord had struck them. So, he called two of his and Aaron’s uncles forward; Mishael and Elzaphan. “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.” (Leviticus 10:4b)

The two men immediately bundled their nephews in their own coats, lifted their bodies, and carried them outside the camp. People parted before them the entire way. Silence reigned supreme at that moment. The people were afraid to voice any comments regarding the Lord’s actions.

As soon as the bodies were out of sight, Moses turned to address Aaron and his two remaining sons. He had to tell them to do something that would break most men. He had to tell them that they couldn’t publicly mourn Nadab and Abihu. “Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the congregation…” commanded Moses. Before Aaron could object, he added “…but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled…”

Aaron’s eyes still followed the path his sons had taken as they were carried out of the camp. Moses had to give Aaron his greatest caution. “…but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled.” (Leviticus 10:6-7)

Aaron nodded his head in acceptance of the command of the Lord. His sons did likewise. While standing there, Aaron had an experience he had longed for his whole life. The Lord spoke to him. Not through Moses, but directly to him. “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.” (Leviticus 10:9-11) Aaron would NEVER forget this moment and he would live by the words the Lord shared with him.

The sacrifices had come to an end, but there was still things that needed attended to. By this time, the people had departed. They left when Aaron’s sons were taken outside the camp. While Moses attended to the people, Aaron took the goat from the people’s sin offering and placed it on the altar to be burned too.

When Moses’ attention centered on Aaron once again he addressed the portions of the sacrifices that Aaron and his family would receive and where they would eat them. “Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving sons: ‘Take the grain offering that is left of the Lord’s food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy. You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons’ due, from the Lord’s food offerings, for so I am commanded. But the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your sons’ due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel. The thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to wave for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be yours and your sons’ with you as a due forever, as the Lord has commanded.’” (Leviticus 10:12-15)

Moses looked around at what was left before him. He noticed something significant was missing. “Where is the goat from the people’s sin offering?”

Silence greeted him. Moses asked again, and again before Aaron raised his eyes to meet Moses. Aaron then looked over at the altar. Moses knew right away what Aaron was saying.  “Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? Behold, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded.” (Leviticus 10:17-18)

Pain warred with fear in Aaron’s eyes and heart as he addressed Moses’ reproach. “Behold, today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, would the Lord have approved?” (Leviticus 10:19)

Moses closed his mouth and lowered his head for a moment. When he raised his head again and made eye contact with Aaron, there was compassion clearly written across his face. Moses closed his eyes and nodded his head to Aaron.

“Moses”, called Eleazer.

“Yes, my brother. What is it?”

“Is it safe for us to leave the Tabernacle now? Someone needs to bring the bull from Aaron’s sin offering outside the camp to be burned.”

“Yes. I believe it is safe. The Lord has not told me otherwise. Take the bull outside the camp and burn it.”

Aaron, Eleazor and Ithamar turned to go to retrieve the remains of the bull. Before they had gone more than a few steps, Moses reminded them of the Lord’s charge not to mourn outwardly. “The people will mourn for you. Your task from this time forward is to intercede on behalf of the people with the Lord. He will carry your grief.”

After setting the sin offering alight, Aaron and his sons returned to the Tabernacle to eat their holy portions of the sacrifices.

This was the beginning of a new relationship with the Lord. His presence now dwelt among the people. And they had someone to go to Him on their behalf.

(to be continued)

I feel for Aaron. Not being able to mourn for his sons. He wasn’t even allowed to acknowledge what had happened. Would this be his requirement forever? I can almost bank on the fact that Aaron and his other sons would NOT step out of line in the Tabernacle; as Nadab and Abihu did. They would certainly fear meeting the same fate.

I had trouble with the bodies for sin offerings. I had to go back and check out the requirements for the congregation’s sin offering. When I looked at the sacrifices and the laws yesterday, the sin offering for the congregation was supposed to be burned outside the camp too. What made it different though is that Moses called for a “goat” instead of a “bull” for this offering. The goats from the sin offerings were given to the priests as their food. So, that is why Moses was upset that it was burned; I believe.

Another thing that troubles me, is the timing of taking the bull for the sin offering outside the camp. Is it supposed to be burned AFTER everything is completed? Or are they to stop the proceedings and deal with the carcass right after applying the blood? I wish I knew. I had them set it aside and deal with it after all was said and done.

Still another thing that I’m curious about is that the requirements for the sin offering for the priest and congregation are supposed to be brought into the Tent of Meeting. They were to be applied to the altar of incense and the veil. Both these sacrifices had their blood spilt on the bronze altar. Was it so that the people would all be able to see the proceedings? I’m sure God had a reason for this. He simply chose not to make it apparent to me; for now. They are, after all, HIS rules. He can do with them what He chooses.

Father God, You never cease to amaze me with how You bring questions to my mind. Not questions of faith, but questions of ‘how’, ‘what’, ‘when’, and ‘why’. They keep me thinking about Your stories. They help me see beyond the surface. Thank You for allowing me to ask, to seek, and to sometimes find answers.

Thank You Holy Spirit for making these stories come alive in my mind. For, when they come to life, I learn MUCH more from them. Keep the stories, and the wondering coming.