Leviticus
8:1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the
garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two
rams, and a basket of unleavened bread; 3
And gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation. 4 And
Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 5 And Moses said unto the congregation, This is
the thing which the LORD commanded to be done. 6 And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and
washed them with water. 7 And he put
upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the
robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of
the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith. 8 And he put the breastplate upon him: also he
put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim. 9 And he put the mitre upon his head; also upon
the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the
holy crown; as the LORD commanded Moses. 10
And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all
that was therein, and sanctified them. 11 And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven
times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot,
to sanctify them. 12 And he poured of
the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him. 13 And Moses brought Aaron’s sons, and put coats
upon them, and girded them with girdles, and put bonnets upon them; as the LORD
commanded Moses.
Here is the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priests’
office repeating the orders of Exodus 28 and 29. Moses was given this authority
to administer this ceremony as God’s representative.
Deuteronomy 33:5 And he was
king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.
When it says gather thou all
the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle we need to use
our common sense to interpret this without scratching our head. Hundreds of
thousands of people or even tens of thousands of people could not be crowded at
the door of the tabernacle. Perhaps they sat in the order of their tribes or
perhaps only the heads of the tribes were in front. Notice how similar phrasing
is used elsewhere.
Mark 1:5 And there went out
unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized
of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
But,
we know from the text what this means.
Matthew 3:5 Then went out
to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6 And were baptized of him in Jordan,
confessing their sins.
See what Matthew just said about John the Baptist? Now, when the
text talks about Jesus in the same gospel;
Matthew 4:25 And there
followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Obviously, in Mark 1:5 and Matthew 3:5 we don’t imagine every
living person in Jerusalem, Judaea, and the region of Jordan and beyond crowded
into one place to be baptized.
The error of modernism is to read the Bible like a textbook rather
than a conversation with our Creator. You are literal-minded and correct to
read the Bible as it stands, believing it, understanding to whom it is speaking
and what it is saying in context. But you have to understand that the Holy
Spirit and the men it guided who wrote the Bible used metaphor, simile, and
hyperbole regularly. But reading this like you read the instruction manual for
a piece of machinery will make what the Spirit is trying to give you come out
as gibberish for you and fodder for non-believers to mock God and His words.
Moses washed them with water. Christ washed us from our sins in
His own blood thus being prepared for our sanctification.
Revelation 1:5 And from
Jesus Christ, who is the
faithful witness, and the first
begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that
loved us, and washed us from our
sins in his own blood,
1Corinthians 6:11 And such
were some of you: but ye are washed,
but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and
by the Spirit of our God.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
See
how we are washed by His word.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it
to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish.
However verse 3 would look literally, Moses is to take Aaron and
his sons and clothe them in their garments much as God’s saints are clothed in
salvation and in the righteousness of Christ.
Psalm 132:9 Let thy priests
be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy.
Isaiah 61:10 ¶ I will
greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels.
Revelation 3:5 He that
overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out
his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father,
and before his angels.
Revelation 19:8 And to her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
The
Urim and Thummim were discussed in Exodus 28.
The first thing Moses did to Aaron and his sons was to wash them.
Christ, too, washed His priesthood, whom Peter refers to as all Christians in
1Peter 2:9, before clothing them in His righteousness.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Saviour; 7 That being
justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life.
The
coat was of fine linen.
Exodus 28:39 And thou shalt
embroider the coat of fine
linen, and thou shalt make the mitre of
fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework.
Fine linen symbolizes the righteousness that Christ clothes the
church and each believer with.
Revelation 19:8 And to her [the
church in Heaven, the bride of Christ]
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Think
of the coat Christ wore.
John 19:23 Then the
soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four
parts, to every soldier a part; and also his
coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
A girdle is a sash worn low for religious purposes, for health, or
strength. Mention of it is used in conjunction with strength and combat. This
is not the girdle that women used to wear to maintain for appearance sake.
Think of a wide belt that constrains or girds.
2Samuel 20:8 When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them.
And Joab’s garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword
fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell
out.
Isaiah 3:24 And it shall
come to pass, that instead of
sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead
of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
Matthew 3:4 And the same
John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Acts 21:11 And when he was
come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle,
and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall
the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him
into the hands of the Gentiles.
Japanese, in medieval times, wore a haramaki as piece of armor
worn over the torso, fashioned by cords in the back. In World War Two they wore
one of cloth for health reasons with their unit name written on it.
Now,
with that context notice this reference to Christ in Isaiah.
Isaiah 11:1 ¶ And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of
his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD
shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in
the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the
poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the
earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay
the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness
the girdle of his reins. [interior organs of a person]
A robe
could signify office for ceremonial importance.
1Chronicles 15:27 And David
was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the
Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the
song with the singers: David also had
upon him an ephod of linen.
Jonah 3:6 For word came
unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
It
could represent a trait as it does here in a figure of speech called a simile.
Job 29:14 I put on
righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and
a diadem.
It can
symbolize what we possess through Christ.
Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly
rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me
with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels.
The ephod is blue and it is one piece with the opening for the
head reinforced so it would not be torn in taking on and off. It was more like
what we think of when we think of as a long poncho. According to Matthew Henry
the Medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides said that the sides were not sewn so the
arms for free to move although others say there were arm holes. Christ’s coat,
just mentioned, bore a similarity to this in construction.
The mitre according to
sources would look almost like a turban. The oil of anointing is often spoken
of by commentators as representative of the Holy Spirit. And we have this;
1John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of
him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,
and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in
him.
Remember
the promise of Christ.
John 14:26 But the
Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
I hope these parallels and contrasts, as uneducated and
unsophisticated as my presentation of them is, bless you as much as they bless
me when I study them.
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