Morning Musing: Exodus 29:1-9

“This is what you are to do for them to consecrate them to serve me as priests. Take a young bull and two unblemished rams, with unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers coated with oil. Make them out of fine wheat flour, put them in a basket, and bring them in the basket, along with the bull and two rams. Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. THen take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe for the ephod, the ephod itself, and the breastpiece; fasten the ephod on him with its woven waistband. Put the turban on his head and place the holy diadem on the turban. Take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him. You must also bring his sons and cloth them with tunics. Tie the sashes on Aaron and his sons and fasten headbands on them. The priesthood is to be theirs by a permanent statute. This is the way you will ordain Aaron and his sons.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I remember attending my uncle’s graduation from med school when I was growing up. It was actually a pretty cool deal. The speaker was a guy who had climbed Mount Everest and barely survived about whose experience they later made a movie. What really stood out to me, though, was that toward the end of the affair, they had all the graduates say the Hippocratic Oath together. Then, whoever was leading the ceremony pronounced them all doctors. Their schooling was absolutely necessary, of course, but the ceremony was the key to their being officially considered doctors. We have always made things official with ceremonies. The next part of the tabernacle cycle in our Exodus journey describes the ceremony by which Aaron and his sons would officially be made the priests of Israel. There is once again a lot of detail here, so let’s take it a bit at a time and see what kind of positive sense we can make out of it.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 28:39-43

“You are to weave the tunic from fine linen, make a turban of fine linen, and make an embroidered sash. Make tunics, sashes, and headbands for Aaron’s sons to give them glory and beauty. Put these on your brother Aaron and his sons; then anoint, ordain, and consecrate them, so that they may serve me as priests. Make them linen undergarments to cover their naked bodies; they must extend from the waist to the thighs. These must be worn by Aaron and his sons whenever they enter the tent of meeting or approach the altar to minister in the sanctuary area, so that they do not incur guilt and die. This is to be a permanent statute for Aaron and his future descendants.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

My church hired a new youth minister when I was in 7th grade. His name was Tim, and he had an enormous impact on my faith growth and development. As part of his interview process (although, I think it was more of a formality for the sake of us kids), they let the whole youth group do a question and answer session with him. I don’t remember any of the questions save one. One girl raised her hand, and when given the floor, asked, “Boxers or briefs?” The room erupted in laughter, and everybody learned just how much fun the next couple of years were going to be. One last part of the priestly garment description here. Let’s wrap up this chapter by talking about some holy underwear.

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