Exodus 29: Set Apart For God’s Glory

Blood on earlobes, thumbs, and toes sounds shocking until you understand what Exodus 29 is really doing. We’re breaking down the ordination of Aaron and his sons and why God gets so specific about worship, sacrifice, and holiness. These aren’t random ancient rituals. They’re a clear, purposeful picture of what it means to be set apart for God’s glory and why approaching God’s presence is never casual. 

We talk through how Israel is organized around the tabernacle, why the tribe of Levi is singled out for service, and why one family is chosen for the priesthood. That structure reveals something many of us miss: spiritual calling comes with real responsibility, and God’s clarity is a gift. When Scripture feels overly detailed, it’s often because God is teaching us what’s safe, what’s holy, and what it takes for broken people to draw near without being destroyed by the weight of His presence. 

Then we connect the blood and sacrifice to the bigger story of redemption. The shedding of blood points forward to Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice, and the One who makes it possible to come boldly to the throne of grace. We end with a heart-check about prayer: if we truly believed we have instant access to the King of Kings because of Jesus, would it change the way we worship and talk to God today? If this helped you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the Bible Breakdown Podcast.

Transcript

Welcome And Daily Bible Plan

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

Why Worship Needs Clear Instructions

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Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Exodus chapter 29, and today's title is Set Apart for God's Glory. Set Apart for God's Glory. One of the things I love about the book of Exodus is it is very detailed in what God is looking for in worship. And the reason why that is helpful is because where there is vagueness, there's chaos. But clarity is kindness. And so God is saying, I want to make this clear so that you know if you're doing it right, because that's that's the kindest thing that I can do, right? And he is going to talk about how to have clarity when it comes to this idea of what is it that the priests are dedicated to do. And then that is an amazing thought because the New Testament calls us a kingdom of priests in the new in the new kingdom of God. So we're going to talk about that in just a moment. So we can get your Bibles out, get your coffee out, get your Bible journals out. Also, you take make sure you take just a moment to like, share, and subscribe to the YouTube channel and our podcast. Leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion

Who The Priests Are For Israel

SPEAKER_00 1:33

on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job. And you can get all that information at thebiblebreakdown.com because the more we dig, the more we find. Well, we are continuing our journey through the book of Exodus. And when we got to Exodus chapter 19, the Bible says that the presence of God descended upon Mount Sinai, and God gave the instructions to the people. And then Moses went back up on the mountain and he got more instructions. And what we said was is you could look at all the things that God is telling Moses right now as a commentary on the Ten Commandments of the Well, the Ten Commandments. I don't know where else I was going with that. We said that the first five could be looked at how to honor God. The second five are how to honor one another. And so all of this is a continual movement in understanding more and more about what this is, what it means, and how it affects the people of God. Well, what we're going to do now, excuse me, is we are going to dig into this idea that there were all a bunch of Israelites, right? 12 tribes of Israel. And we're going to learn later how the 12 tribes were actually supposed to gather around and set up their tents all around the tabernacle. The tabernacle was going to be in the middle of the 12 tribes of Israel. And then within the 12 tribes of Israel, you had one tribe called the tribe of Levi. And the Levites, their job was to take care of the tabernacle. So they are the ones who are going to be moving this from place to place. Well, within the Levites, there was one family, the family of Moses and Aaron, that were going to serve as priests. And these are the ones who are going to worship God within the tabernacle. So once again, you've got the 12 tribes of Israel, then one tribe of the 12 called the Levites, and then one family from within the tribe of Levites. And that family is what is going to make up the priests. And these priests are dedicated to the work of God. And we're going to find out what happens to them today. So you ready?

Reading Exodus 29 Ordination Rituals

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Exodus chapter 29, verse 1 says this. Take a young bull and two rams with no defects. Then, using the choice wheat flour and no yeast, make loaves of bread, thin cakes mixed with olive oil, and wafers spread with oil. Place them on a single basket, and present them at the entrance of the tabernacle, along with the young bull and two rams. Present Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the tabernacle, and wash them with water. Dress Aaron and his priestly garments, the tunic, the robe worn with the ephod, the ephod itself, and the chest piece. Then wrap the decorative sash of the ephod around him. Place the turban on his head and fasten the sacred medallion to the turban. Then anoint him by pouring the anointing oil over his head. Next present his sons and dress them in their tunics. Wrap the sashes around the waists of Aaron and his sons and put their special head coverings on them. Then the right of to the to the right of the priesthood will excuse me, said again, then the right to the priesthood will be theirs by law forever. In this way you will ordain Aaron and his sons. Bring the young bull to the entrance of the tabernacle, where Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on its head. Then slaughter the bull in the presence of the Lord at the entrance of the tabernacle. Put some of its blood on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest at the base of the altar. Take all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys, and the fat around them, and burn it all on the altar. Then take the rest of the bull, including its hide, meat, and dung, and burn it outside the camp as a sin offering. Next, Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on the head of one of the rams. Then slaughter the ram and splatter its blood against all sides of the altar. Cut the ram into pieces and wash off the internal organs and the legs. Set them alongside the head and the other pieces of the body. Then burn the entire animal on the altar. This is a burnt offering to the Lord, it is a pleasing aroma and a special gift presented to the Lord. Now, take the other ram, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head, then slaughter it, and apply some of its blood to the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons. Also put it on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Splatter the rest of the blood against all sides of the altar. Then take some of the blood from the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his sons and on their garments. In this way, and in this way, they and their garments will be set apart as holy. Now pause. The mental picture here for me is hilarious because they are taking blood and they are to splatter is different than anoint. To anoint is to place it on them. To splatter is to sprinkle it in their direction, type to fling it. And so literally they're taking blood and they're tossing it toward Aaron and toward their clothes. And so this is a symbol, it's what it's what it is, a symbol of God covering over their sins and making it holy, but it's still gross. Verse 22 Since this is the ram for the ordination of Aaron and his sons, take the fat of the ram, including the fat of the broad tail and the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat around them, along with the right thigh. Then take one loaf of bread, one thin cake mixed with olive oil, and one wafer from the basket of bread without yeast that is placed in the Lord's presence. Put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons to be lifted up as a special offering to the Lord. Afterward, take the various bread from their hands and burn them on the altar along with the burnt offering. This is a pleasing aroma to the Lord, a special gift for him. Then take the breast of Aaron's ordination ram and lift it up in the Lord's presence as a special offering to him. Then keep it as your own portion. Set aside the portions of the ordination ram that belong to Aaron and his sons. This includes the breast and the thigh that were lifted up before the Lord as a special offering. In the future, whenever the people of Israel lift up a peace offering, a portion of it must be set aside for Aaron and his descendants. This is their permanent right, and it is a sacred offering from the Israelites to the Lord. Aaron's sacred garments must be preserved for his descendants who succeed him, and they will wear them when they are anointed and ordained. The descendants who succeed him as high priests will wear these clothes for seven days as he ministers in the tabernacle and the holy place. Take the ram used in the ordination ceremony and boil this meat in a sacred place. Then Aaron and his sons will eat this meat along with the bread in the basket at the tabernacle entrance. They alone may eat the meat and bread used for their purification in the ordination ceremony. No one else may eat them, for these are things that are set apart and holy. If any of the ordination meat or bread remains until morning, they must be burned. They may not be eaten, for it is holy. This is how you will ordain Aaron and his sons to their offices. Just as I have commanded you, the ordination ceremony will go for seven days. Each day you must sacrifice a young bull as a sin offering to purify them, making them right with the Lord. Afterward, cleanse the altar by purifying it, make it holy by anointing it with oil. Purify the altar, and consecrate it every day for seven days. After that, the altar will be absolutely holy, and whatever touches it will become holy. These are the sacrifices you are to offer regularly on the altar. Each day offer two lambs that are a year old, one in the morning, and the other in the evening. With one of them offer two quarts of choice flour mixed with one quart of pure oil of pressed olives. Also, offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering. Offer the other lamb in the evening, along with the same offerings of flour and wine in the morning. It will be a pleasing aroma, a special gift presented to the Lord. These burnt offerings are to be made each day from generation to generation. Offer them in the Lord's presence at the tabernacle entrance. There I will meet with you and speak with you. I will meet with the people of Israel there, in the place made holy by my glorious presence. Yes, I will consecrate the tabernacle and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will live among the people of Israel and be their God, and they will know that I am the Lord their God. I am the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could live among them, for I am the Lord, their

Why Blood And Sacrifice Matter

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God. Wow. Well, if we're not careful, we can get lost in all of those details. That just doesn't mean anything to us anymore. I mean, let's just be really honest. It is difficult to think about, especially if you live in a culture where you don't, you know, you never go hunting or you you don't farm in any way, and you hear about them, you know, dissecting these different animals and stuff, and you can just be like, Why? Well, you notice that the very last verse says, I want them to know that I am the Lord, their God. I brought them out of Egypt, and I did so so that I could live among them. And so from the very beginning, the Bible has said that there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. So the shedding of blood was what was required. Something had to die to pay the price, to pay the penalty for the sin that had been committed. And it was a type and shadow of eventually that Jesus would be the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus would be the ultimate atoner of sin. And I love this idea that God is saying, I want to be with you, I want to commune with you, but at the same time, you're not ready. You are not ready to stand in my presence. You have got to be cleansed for seven days, not because I have like I'm petty, but it's because you can't stand in my presence. Like I am so holy compared to how far you have fallen, you don't even realize how far you have fallen, that if you were to walk right into my presence without seven days of purification, you couldn't handle it. You would die. So this purification isn't for God's benefit, it's for theirs.

Jesus Opens Bold Access In Prayer

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And what I love about this is that when Jesus saves us, he says, Listen, you can't save yourself. You can't, you can't be in my presence for one second and live. So I don't save you for my sake, I save you for your sake. Because I want to live among you, but you can't handle it. And so I will save you and I will restore to you all the things that have been lost and have been broken. And where they had to do this just to enter his presence. Now, because of Jesus, the Bible says that we can come boldly to the throne of grace because of Jesus. And so when we see this, it helps us remember even more how powerful the name of Jesus really is and how amazing our salvation is. And here's my question for you Is it possible that every once in a while we take for granted the opportunity that we have to pray? The opportunity that we have to worship God and to come before his throne. If you think about it right now, you know, if you wanted to talk to the president of the United States, you're not going to get to do that today, most likely. Most of us don't have the phone number 1-800 White House, you know, and I want to talk to the president right now, and they're just going to put you right through. Now, you may be listening to this and you can, but you would definitely be in the very small minority. Most of us don't have a direct line, but we have a direct line to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And it's all because of Jesus. We don't have to go through a seven-day process of purifying ourselves and slaughtering animals and splattering blood. But we can say the name of Jesus and instantly the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has his ear bent toward us. What would it do to your prayer time if you realized that you were talking to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and you no longer have to go through this process, but just with the name of Jesus you have his attention. Would it change the way you prayed today?

Prayer And Closing Blessing

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Let's pray together right now. God thank you so much for today. I thank you, God, that you're with us and you're for us. You know we don't do it on purpose. It's just your goodness is so easy to get used to. I'm sorry that we do that sometimes, but I pray that you will open our eyes to see afresh just how blessed we are. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And amen. Well, God's Word says in Exodus 6, verse 6, he says, I will free you from your oppression and I will rescue you from slavery. I'm so thankful to serve a God of freedom. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Exodus chapter 30.