Ordination Offering

Leviticus 7:31-38 – The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons. And the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings. Whoever among the sons of Aaron offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh for a portion. For the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed I have taken from the people of Israel, out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons, as a perpetual due from the people of Israel. This is the portion of Aaron and of his sons from the Lord's food offerings, from the day they were presented to serve as priests of the Lord. The Lord commanded this to be given them by the people of Israel, from the day that he anointed them. It is a perpetual due throughout their generations.” This is the law of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, of the ordination offering, and of the peace offering, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day that he commanded the people of Israel to bring their offerings to the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai.

Exodus 29:4,7,17-20 – You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water…You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him…Then you shall cut the ram into pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head, and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering^[a] to the Lord. “You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar.

Application:

• ·         Washing Aaron and his sons with water symbolized the removal of ceremonial uncleanness and thus signified the purity that must characterize them.
• ·         Anointing Aaron symbolized spiritual endowment for serving God.
• ·         Burning the entire ram symbolized total dedication.
• ·         Right ears were symbolizing sensitivity to God and His word. Right hands and right feet were symbolizing a life of service to others on God’s behalf.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV