Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom wenstrom

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Sunday June 17, 2012Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 29:38-46-The Permanent Consecration Burnt Offering For The TabernacleLesson # 40

3. Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 29:36.

4. This morning we will complete our study of Exodus chapter 29 noting verses 36-46, which record the Lord giving Moses instructions regarding the consecration of the altar and the permanent consecration burnt offering for the tabernacle.

5. Exodus 29:36 “Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it. 37 For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it; then the altar shall be most holy, and whatever touches the altar shall be holy.” (NASB95)

6. These verses present a separate ceremony distinct from the ordination of the priests.

7. Seven bulls, one for each day is used in this ceremony to purify the altar of burnt offering and were to be used “as a sin offering for atonement.”

8. “Sin offering” is the noun ḥǎṭ∙ṭā(ʾ)ṯ (חַטָּאת) (khat-taw-aw´), which was an offering given for the purpose of atonement as propitiation and would purify the altar of burnt offering and make it acceptable to be used by God who is holy.

9. Nothing made by human beings could be pure enough to be used for God’s service and so the altar of burnt offering had to be consecrated and this was done by sacrificing a bull every day for a week.

10. The fact that the Israelites all possessed a sin nature meant that anything that they made such as the altar of burnt offering was unclean or ceremonially unclean and unfit to be used by God who is holy.

11. However, the sacrifice of these seven bulls would consecrate the altar so that it could be used for God’s service.

12. The sacrifice of a bull on each of the seven days would make the altar of burnt offering fit for the purpose for which it would be employed, namely accepting the offerings placed upon it as gifts to the Lord, which would symbolize the Lord’s acceptance of the death of these animals for the forgiveness of sins.

13. Of course, sacrifice of these bulls typified the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the cross, which would provide the forgiveness of sins for those sinners who trust in Him as Savior resulting in their justification.

14. The Lord’s sacrifice at Calvary would provide the forgiveness of sins for the justified sinner in the sense that it would serve as the basis for the restoration to fellowship of the sinner once they confess their sins (cf. 1 John 1:9).

15. Interestingly, there is no mention of the blood of these bulls which would be sacrificed for these seven days.

16. The blood of a bull was applied to the horns of the altar for the ordination of the priests with the main portion of the bull burned outside the camp.

17. These seven bulls mentioned in verses 36-37 are employed strictly for the consecration of the altar.

18. Verse 36 also mentions that the altar was to be anointed in order to consecrate it or set apart it for the Lord’s use.

19. In Exodus 30:22-33, the Lord gives Moses instructions regarding the recipe to make the anointing oil.

20. There is no blood used for the procedure for consecrating the altar of burnt offering whereas the blood of the animal was used with regards to the consecration of the priests, with the blood sprinkled on the sides of the altar, dabbed on the horns.

21. Unlike in the ordination of the priests, no rams or breads are used in the consecration of the altar.

22. Also, unlike the ceremony connected to the ordination of the priests, no meal was eaten from the sacrificed animals.

23. The bulls were offered differently in the two ceremonies.

24. Verse 36 requires burning the whole bull on the altar, with no priests or worshipers eating any part and there is no disposal of the bull by burning outside the camp since a “sin offering” was usually a whole burnt offering (29:11–14).

25. The statement “whatever touches the altar shall be holy” is incorrectly translated and instead should rendered “whatever touches it must be holy.”

26. This is indicated by the fact that the imperfect verb qā∙ḏǎš (קָדַשׁ) (kaw-dash´), “shall be holy” is an “injunctive imperfect” or “non-perfective injunction,” which commands that the subject of the verb perform the action of the verb and is a forceful command which should typically be translated as “must.”

27. Here the subject is the article hǎ- (הַ־), which is used as a relative particle meaning “that” and is modified by the noun kōl (כֹּל), which means “anything” and thus, the subject of this imperfect verb is anything that touches the altar.

28. Therefore, the injunctive imperfect form of the verb qā∙ḏǎš indicates that anything that touches the altar “must” be holy.

29. Consequently, this statement does not teach that there is an automatic transfer of holiness by mere contact with a holy object.

30. Instead it teaches that unholy things are not to be brought into contact with the consecrated altar so as to make it unholy and thus require it to be consecrated all over again.

31. Exodus 29:38 “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. 39 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; 40 and there shall be one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with one lamb.

32. 41 The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord. 42 It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.” (NASB95)

33. In Exodus 29:38-42a, the Lord gives instructions to Moses regarding the required daily general offerings.

34. In these verses, the Lord required that sacrifices were to be offered up twice daily on behalf of all the Israelites, year old rams and accompanying offerings were made on the tabernacle altar, both in the morning and the evening.

35. The spacing of these offerings with one in the morning and one before sundown was intended to teach Israel that they were forgiven by God “night” and “day.”

36. “Lamb” is the noun kě∙ḇěś (כֶּבֶשׂ) (keh-bes´), which does not mean “lamb” but rather it means “ram” that is a male as opposed to a kibśāh ewe-lamb.

37. This error in translation is due partly because of unfamiliarity today with flock animals and also because it is thought that a “lamb” entails both lambs and rams.

38. The ram in verses 38-41 was to be a year old, which would be full grown and thus a very valuable animal.

39. Thus, the Lord required that the Israelites sacrifice two of these valuable animals as a reminder of the need for a better sacrifice, which would be accomplished once and for all or in other words, a death which would atone for sins for everyone for all time (cf. Hebrews 9-10).

40. The sacrifice of these lambs was accompanied by a meal and drink offering.

41. Verse 40 says that with the first lamb, a tenth of an ephah of fine flour was to be mixed with a fourth of a hin of olive oil for a meal offering and a fourth of a hin of wine as a drinking offering.

42. Verse 41 says that with the second lamb, the Israelites were to prepare the same meal and drink offering as they did for the first lamb.

43. When these meal and drink offerings were poured out on the altar and sizzled and burned to ashes and smoke, the Lord says that this would be a “soothing aroma” to Him meaning that He accepted their offering.

44. In Exodus 29:42a, the Lord tells Moses that the offering of these two lambs with the accompanying meal and drink offerings was to be practiced as long as the tabernacle stood and the temple was standing.

45. Exodus 29:42 “It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. 43 I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory.

46. 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister as priests to Me. 45 I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 46 They shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God.” (NASB95)

47. In Exodus 29:42b, the Lord says that He would meet with Moses at the doorway of the tent of meeting and He would speak to him there.

48. The tabernacle like the temple later on in Israel’s history was the location in which God would meet Israelites and speak to them.

49. The shed blood of the animals was the basis for this meeting between God and men.

50. The Israelites were being taught that you cannot have fellowship with God without a sacrifice.