Exodus 28 to 29: Priests as the New Boss...

Exodus 28

Aaron is being kitted out for second-in-command

Verse 4-5 “And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplace, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet and fine linen.”

Good God, gaudy goods.

Get grotesquely garishly glamrockly gaudier... gaah!

Verse 33 “And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about:”

See what I mean?

Ah,

Verse 38 “And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of he holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.”

Verse 42 is kind of poetic

“And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness: from the loins even unto the thighs shall they reach:”

Exodus 29

Ah, here comes the rationale for all this . Here comes the money shot-

Verse 1 “And this is the thing thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish.”

And the priest class is going to sit on its arse... and scoff unleavened bread, cakes, wafers etc

Verse 22 “And thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder: for it is a ram of consecration.”

Oh, and Aaron's gladrags will stay in the family...

Verse 29 “And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in them.”

ah, after all the recipe instructions for rams and so forth, we get to the nub of the issue.

Verse 32-3 “And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy.”

The priest class, entrenching itself...

Yeah, more health and safety hygiene instructions for sanctification of altars etc.

Verse 44 “And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office.”

'We're God's henchmen. Do what we tell you.'

Sigh.