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 Pomp and Ceremony in Ordaining
and Clothing Priests in the Books of Moses
Jesus, the simple man among the people of Israel, a Jew in a simple linen garment, the Son of Man, as He is called, son of a carpenter, was a stark contrast to the caste of priests back then and today.
The priests back then wore robes befitting their position and their claim, and today, cardinals, bishops, priests and ministers also display themselves in splendid robes. But God let his Son, the Co-Regent of heaven, walk the Earth in simple garments, without property, as a carpenter. Why did God not dress Jesus, His Son, in the robes of a priest and why did He not let Him serve in the Temple of Jerusalem? Does God make exceptions? Let us read what “God through Moses” said and how “He” gave Aaron and his sons the priesthood and clothed them as priests. In Exodus it says:
The robe of the ephod. And you shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. It shall have in it an opening for the head, with a woven binding around the opening, like the opening in a garment, that it may not be torn. On its skirts you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet stuff, around its skirts, with bells of gold between them, a golden bell and a pomegranate, round about on the skirts of the robe. And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out, lest he die. (Ex. 28:31-35)
And it continues:
The crown. And you shall make a plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to the Lord.’ And you shall fasten it on the turban by a lace of blue; it shall be on the front of the turban. It shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take upon himself any guilt incurred in the holy offering which the people of Israel hallow as their holy gifts; it shall always be upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. (Ex. 28:36-38)
The instructions of “God through Moses” that are in stark contrast to the statements, the teaching and way of life of the Son of God among the people should be passed on in detail according to the following, so that the one who reads it with his heart can more easily reach a decision: for the church officials or for the following of Jesus, the Christ.
On the clothing of the priests it says:
And you shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a girdle embroidered with needlework. And for Aaron’s sons you shall make coats and girdles and caps; you shall make them for glory and beauty. And you shall put them upon Aaron your brother, and upon his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. And you shall make for them linen breeches to cover their naked flesh; from the loins to the thighs they shall reach; and they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place; lest they bring guilt upon themselves and die. This shall be a perpetual statute for him and for his descendants after him. (Ex. 28:39-43)
Cleansing, clothing, and anointing. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and wash them with water. And you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod; and you shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy crown upon the turban. And you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head and anoint him. Then you shall bring his sons, and put coats on them, and you shall gird them with girdles and bind caps on them; and the priesthood shall be theirs by a perpetual statute. Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.
Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the bull, and you shall kill the bull before the Lord, at the door of the tent of meeting, and shall take part of the blood of the bull and put it upon the horns of the altar with your finger, and the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them upon the altar. But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the ram, and you shall slaughter the ram, and shall take its blood and throw it against the altar round about. Then you shall cut the ram into pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head, and burn the whole ram upon the altar; it is a burnt offering to the Lord; it is a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the Lord. You shall take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the ram, and you shall kill the ram, and take part of its blood and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron and upon the tips of the right ears of his sons, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of the right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the altar round about. Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron and his garments, and upon his sons and his sons’ garments with him; and he and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.
Ordination of priests. You shall also take the fat of the ram, and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the entrails, and the appendage of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination), and one loaf of bread, and one cake of bread with oil, and one wafer, out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord; and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. Then you shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar in addition to the burnt offering, as a pleasing odor before the Lord; it is an offering by fire to the Lord.
And you shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s ordination and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be your portion. And you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering, and the thigh of the priests’ portion, which is waved, and which is offered from the ram of ordination, since it is for Aaron and for his sons. It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a perpetual due from the people of Israel, for it is the priests’ portion to be offered by the people of Israel from their peace offerings; it is their offering to the Lord. The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them and ordained in them. The son who is priest in his place shall wear them seven days, when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place. You shall take the ram of the ordination, and boil its flesh in a holy place.
Holy meal. And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the tent of meeting. They shall eat those things with which atonement was made, to ordain and consecrate them, but an outsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy.
And if any of the flesh for the ordination, or of the bread, remain until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire, it shall not be eaten, because it is holy. Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you; through seven days shall you ordain them.
Consecration of the altar of burnt offering. And every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall offer a sin offering for the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it, to consecrate it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall become holy. (Ex. 29:4-37)
And of the blue and purple and scarlet stuff they made finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place; they made the holy garments for Aaron; as the Lord had commanded Moses.
And he made the ephod of gold, blue and purple and scarlet stuff, and fine twined linen. And gold leaf was hammered out and cut into threads to work into the blue and purple and the scarlet stuff, and into the fine twined linen, in skilled design.
They made for the ephod shoulder-pieces, joined to it at its two edges. And the skillfully woven band upon it, to gird it on, was of the same materials and workmanship, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet stuff, and fine twined linen; as the Lord had commanded Moses. The onyx stones were prepared, enclosed in settings of gold filigree and engraved like the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the sons of Israel. And he set them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel; as the Lord had commanded of Moses.
He made the breastpiece, in skilled work, like the work of the ephod, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet stuff, and fine twined linen. It was square; the breastpiece was made double, a span its length and a span its breadth when doubled. And they set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle was the first row; and the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper; they were enclosed in settings of gold filigree. There were twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel; they were like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes.
And they made on the breastpiece twisted chains like cords, of pure gold; and they made two settings of gold filigree and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece; and they put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece. Two ends of the two cords they had attached to the two settings of filigree; thus they attached it in front to the shoulder-pieces of the ephod. Then they made two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inside edge next to the ephod. And they made two rings of gold, and attached them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod, at its joining above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. And they bound the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it should lie upon the skilfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastpiece should not come loose from the ephod; as the Lord had commanded Moses.
He also made the robe of the ephod woven all of blue; and the opening of the robe in it was like the opening in a garment, with a binding around the opening, that it might not be torn. On the skirts of the robe they made pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet stuff and fine twined linen. They also made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the skirts of the robe round about, between the pomegranates; a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate round about upon the skirts of the robe for ministering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. (Ex. 39:1-26)
The crown. And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it an inscription, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to the Lord.’ And they tied to it a lace of blue, to fasten it on the turban above; as the Lord had commanded Moses. (Ex. 39:30-31)
And they brought … to Moses … the finely worked garments for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to serve as priests. According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the people of Israel had done all the work. And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it: And Moses blessed them. (Ex. 39: 41-43)
And you shall set up the court round about, and hang up the screen for the gate of the court. Then you shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture; and it shall become holy. You shall also anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar; and the altar shall be most holy. You shall also anoint the laver and its base, and consecrate it. Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water, and put upon Aaron the holy garments, and you shall anoint him and consecrate him, that he may serve me as priest. You shall bring his sons also and put coats on them, and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests. And their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations. (Ex. 40:8-15)
The last bit shows that one did not qualify for the office through such qualities as nearness to God, high moral maturity or the like; one just had to be born into the right family.
A soul that has enjoyed a good life in one incarnation will often follow the pull to live again as a human being where comfort, wealth and prestige will be offered, and where honors fall into one’s lap.
Many parallels may be drawn between the life of ecclesiastic officials today and the pomp and effort it must have taken to clothe Aaron and his sons in precious garments according to their special position and to honor their prestige in magnificent ceremonies.
The church authorities of today no longer sacrifice animals to appease or honor “God.” Today’s clergy sacrifices animals for more immediate and tasty purposes. As mentioned before, they have the animals killed by butchers in slaughterhouses, have their carcasses sawed and hacked to pieces, and the flesh prepared by cooks for the pleasure of the “glorified” palate as tasty morsels offered up for the well-being and fullness of the body. All this has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, the Co-Regent of heaven, who walked on Earth as the Son of Man, and who taught and lived as an example that which is true and will remain eternally.
to the next chapter
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