Burunche’s Blog

Exodus 29:10 – 18 “Bring the bull to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on its head. And you shall slaughter the bull before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; then pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.

Take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar. But burn the flesh of the bull and its hide and dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

Take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. You are to slaughter the ram, take its blood, and sprinkle it on all sides of the altar. Cut the ram into pieces, wash the entrails and legs, and place them with its head and other pieces. Then burn the entire ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.”

At first, this scene of blood – letting seems absurd and barbaric. Why slaughter bulls and rams? Why pour out the blood? Yesterday we mentioned that both bulls and rams were worshiped in Egypt as gods. By ordering the Israelites to slaughter these animals, God is proving that the gods of Egypt are worthless and that He is the only true living God.

A Jewish scholar named Jacob Milgrom has explained that “Jews are forbidden to eat the blood of animals because blood represents life. So, while the animal’s dead body may be eaten, the animal’s life – blood must, as it were, be “returned ” to God – either by sprinkling it on the altar or by pouring it on the ground. (Deuteronomy 12:16, 15:23)”

v. 13 ”Take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar.” WHY? Again, God wants the Israelites to make a complete break with divination and other idolatrous beliefs. The organs mentioned were frequently examined by pagan priests to detect the future or to answer questions. While kidneys generally were not used, the kidneys are located immediately next to the liver. God didn’t want to take any chances that the Israelites would develop a new form of divination using kidneys instead of livers! And the same thing would hold true for the entrails.

Dennis Prager comments: “The Torah insists on burning the entrails to ensure these magical practices would have no place in the Tabernacle. In reading these accounts of the Tabernacle, perhaps the most important point to keep in mind is the Torah’s obsession with ridding the Israelites of idolatrous beliefs. Maimonides identified fifty – one of the Torah’s 613 commandments as directed against idolatry.

This is just one more example of how meaningful the details of the sacrificial system were to the Jews of ancient times and how infused they were with civilization – changing values.” (Dennis Prager The Rational Bible: Exodus)

v. 15 – 18 “Take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head. You are to slaughter the ram, take its blood, and sprinkle it on all sides of the altar. Cut the ram into pieces, wash the entrails and legs, and place them with its head and other pieces. Then burn the entire ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.”

God is weaning the Israelites away from a system of human sacrifice. Several different cultures, including the Egyptians, practiced some form of human sacrifice, especially of prisoners. God is substituting animals for humans that might otherwise have been killed. But there is more.

Prager continues: “By turning the ram into smoke, the priest powerfully demonstrated the gods of Egypt can disappear in a puff of smoke, whereas the God of Israel has no physical form that can be obliterated.

Like the ten plagues, which were directed at Egyptian gods, many of the sacrifices do the same thing – undermine belief in Egyptian gods (rams and bulls) and religious superstitions (reading animal entrails.)”

APPLICATION: How many of your beliefs would stand the test of fire? How many might go up in a puff of smoke? Many of us who call ourselves Christians may be holding onto beliefs that are actually as wrong as those of the ancient Israelites. One good example is the sources of information that we believe. Stay on social media for awhile and you can find all kinds of stuff… but where is the truth?

We must always be willing to submit our cherished beliefs to God, realizing that we may have been swayed by popular opinion or by plausible arguments that have no basis in fact. The story is told of a Protestant missionary in South America who was going to have to cooperate with the local Catholic church on a project. The missionary went to the Lord in prayer and complained, “God, I don’t believe everything these people do! How am I going to work with them?” At that point, the Lord answered, “I don’t agree with everything you believe, but I work with you anyway!”

PRAYER: Father God, you are the Source of all Light and Life and Truth. Open our eyes, that we may see wonderful things in your Law. Open our ears and our hearts to hear your Truth. Help us to turn away from any lies that we have believed and to seek your perfect Will. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 29:1 – 9 “Now this is what you are to do to consecrate them to serve Me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without blemish, along with unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil. Make them out of fine wheat flour, put them in a basket, and present them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams. Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and wash them with water. Take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod itself, and the breastplate. Fasten the ephod on him with its woven waistband. Put the turban on his head and attach the holy diadem to the turban. Then take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head. Bring his sons as well, and clothe them with tunics. Wrap the sashes around Aaron and his sons and tie headbands on them. The priesthood shall be theirs by a perpetual statute. In this way you are to ordain Aaron and his sons.”

God is ordering Moses to consecrate, that is, to set apart Aaron and his sons as priests. This priesthood will be hereditary through Aaron’s family. But why is God ordering some of the things that he specifies?

“Take a young bull and two rams without blemish” Prager tells us, “Bulls and rams were worshiped as gods in ancient Egypt. The induction ceremony of the priests therefore involved sacrificing Egyptian gods to God – another attempt to turn the people away from polytheism and pagan worship.”

Why the need to stipulate that these animals would be perfect? God wants His people to understand that He will only accept the best and that sick, lame, or injured animals will not be accepted as a sacrifice. If a sacrifice costs very little, it is worthless.

“along with unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil. ” The leavening process was invented in Egypt. The use of unleavened bread made it clear that God wanted nothing to do with the Egyptian practices or their beliefs. The Israelites also associated unleavened bread with the escape from Egypt, thus reinforcing the memory of God’s miraculous deliverance.

The recipe for the anointing oil is given in Exodus 30:22-25. This oil was specially compounded so that it had a lovely fragrance and was only to be used as God instructed. Nobody was to manufacture this oil for their personal use or for sale. The anointing oil was to be used for consecration of holy things, consecration of priests, and later on, for consecration of kings. In addition, many people feel that the anointing oil represents the Holy Spirit. Aaron’s sons are to be sprinkled with this oil; however, the oil is to be poured on Aaron’s head. By pouring the oil on Aaron’s head, Moses is symbolically imparting the Holy Spirit. The term “Messiah” means “anointed one.”

APPLICATION: Does God still consecrate people to serve Him? Absolutely! God has a special calling for each and every one of us, and He longs to give us His Holy Spirit so that we will be able to fulfill that calling.

The first part of the consecration ceremony involved making a complete break with Egyptian gods and Egyptian practices. Just as Aaron and Moses and the Israelites had to leave the dark pagan practices of the Egyptians behind, so we must go before the Lord and ask Him to show us if there is anything in our lives that is a hindrance. Once God shows us something, we then need to ask Him to help us break completely and to repudiate whatever is holding us back from serving Him completely.

This process is not a one – time thing but a continual letting go. God is amazingly patient; He does not clean us up all at once. God leads us out of those things that have absorbed our attention so that eventually they have no hold on us anymore. But sometimes we must also take a strong stand within ourselves. Oswald Chambers tells us that bad habits on go by kicking! God will not do for us what we must do for ourselves.

How do you know the will of God for your life? ASK HIM! You don’t have to use fancy language or even to speak out loud. But do find a quiet place without distractions and then ask God to show you His will. God is a good Father who does not play guessing games with His kids. If you ask for wisdom, He will give it.

PRAYER: Father God, many of us are troubled and confused. We want your best for us but we have no idea how to get from where we are to where our best will be. Please give everyone who reads this your guidance and help them know that you truly love them. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 28:36 – 43 “You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD. Fasten to it a blue cord to mount it on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban. And it will be worn on Aaron’s forehead, so that he may bear the iniquity of the holy things that the sons of Israel consecrate with regard to all their holy gifts. It shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be acceptable before the LORD. You are to weave the tunic with fine linen, make the turban of fine linen, and fashion an embroidered sash. Make tunics, sashes, and headbands for Aaron’s sons, to give them glory and splendor.

After you put these garments on your brother Aaron and his sons, anoint them, ordain them, and consecrate them so that they may serve Me as priests. Make linen undergarments to cover their bare flesh, extending from waist to thigh. Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die. This is to be a permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants.”

One of the functions of a priest is not only to represent God to the people but also to represent the people to God. As the high priest, Aaron is tasked with presenting the “holy gifts” that the Israelites have brought to the Lord. But how can gifts donated by sinful people become holy? The passage regarding the plate of pure gold fastened to the turban gives us a hint. Each time Aaron or his descendants acting as high priests enter the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, they must wear this gold plate with the inscription “Holy to the Lord” on it. Why? Surely God has a good memory; He doesn’t need any hints. But in this case, the high priest is wearing the turban and the gold plate as a sign that the Israelites have given the best that they can and that God should therefore forgive any sin arising from the things that have been donated. This plate is a graphic demonstration that God must be approached reverently and appropriately so that He will accept the Israelites and their offerings.

There is also another possibility. The golden plate is attached to the high priest’s turban so that it is as close as possible to his brain. Never underestimate the power of a holy dedicated object. As the high priest is ministering to the Lord inside the tabernacle, it is vitally important that he not become distracted or remiss in his duties. Eventually this turban with its plate is dedicated to the Lord and thereby imbibes some of His holiness. This plate may actually assist the high priest in focusing on God and concentrating intently on hearing from Him.

Once more God instructs Moses on the garments and under garments the priests are to wear. These instructions also come with a threat: ”Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die. This is to be a permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants.” The priests are to have only one purpose: to fulfill God’s will. If the priests try to water down or manipulate these instructions, when they enter God’s presence, they will die! No exceptions will be made!

APPLICATION: During the recent pandemic, many families forced to stay at home have found themselves watching all kinds of movies and television programs they would not normally watch. Sometimes, these restrictions have led to wonderful discoveries of new programs and new stories; on the other hand, sometimes people have found themselves mindlessly watching the same thing repeatedly.

It’s a funny thing about media; the things that we watch or listen stick in our minds. Philippians 4:8 says: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.” There’s a phrase from the early days of computer programming “GIGO – garbage in, garbage out.” Whatever we focus on will shape our lives for better or for worse.

The high priest had a golden plate attached to his turban to help him remember who he was and what he was doing. For us, memorizing Scripture will help us focus and maintain our spiritual and mental balance. While God might not strike us dead, if we compromise and make wrong choices, we can gradually find ourselves on a path that eventually leads to spiritual death. May God help us as we choose our entertainment and those things on which we concentrate!

PRAYER: Father God, help us to make life – giving choices on entertainment and on those things that intrigue us. May we follow hard after you all the days of our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 28:31 – 35 “You are to make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth, with an opening at its top in the center. Around the opening shall be a woven collar with an opening like that of a garment, so that it will not tear. Make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn all the way around the lower hem, with gold bells between them, alternating the gold bells and pomegranates around the lower hem of the robe. Aaron must wear the robe whenever he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he enters or exits the sanctuary before the LORD, so that he will not die.

YIPES! What must the Israelites have thought? The instructions regarding the woven collar were quite reasonable and something that the skilled weavers were probably doing anyway. The blue color of the robe of the ephod signified the blue of heaven. Decorating the hem with woven pomegranates was likely another touch with which the tailors and weavers were familiar. But why the bells?

Professor Baruch J. Schwarz suggests that the bells were used to alert the divine presence as Aaron entered the sanctuary. (The Garments of the High Priest: Anthropomorphism in the Worship of God – TheTorah.com) This idea might come from the belief that God as the Supreme Being is not to be approached casually. Others have also suggested that the sound of the bells as the high priest moved through the sanctuary would tell those listening outside that the high priest was still alive. If the bells stopped ringing, there might be a problem. Later in the Middle Ages, a legend grew up that the priest had a rope tied around his ankle by which he could be dragged from the Holy of Holies if he died. Further investigation indicates that this idea had no basis in fact; the curtains between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place were three feet thick, so that even the high priest could not simply enter the Most Holy Place quickly or casually.

Why does God insist that Aaron MUST wear the robe whenever he ministers? Again, God is establishing a new monotheistic religion. Given any chance at all, the ancient Israelites are likely to veer off and copy the pagans around them. Only the threat of sudden death might be enough to deter them. God knows all the priests who will wear these garments and how obedient or rebellious they will be to His commands. Make no mistake! If any less of a restriction would serve, God would not use the threat of death as a deterrent.

APPLICATION: When Jesus was dying on the cross on Good Friday, the huge curtain in the temple in Jerusalem was torn in two from top to bottom. Only God could have torn that curtain because no other force on earth could have made even the lightest hole in it. God did this to signify that thanks to Jesus sacrificing himself on the cross, the Holy of Holies was now open to all men and women who would believe.

Generally, our problem is not one of fear and awe of God; most of us are far too casual. God IS our heavenly Father and He DOES want His children to pray to Him at all times. But we can lose sight of who God really is and treat Him as a deus ex machina, a “god from the machine,” in other words, a glorified spiritual vending machine. Put in your prayer and get out whatever it is that you are asking. Such an attitude indicates a lack of respect for God and a lack of knowledge of God. The more you learn of God, the more humble you become because the more you realize just how big God is.

Many years ago, J.B. Phillips wrote a book entitled Your God is Too Small. For most of us, our gods are demigods, little deities that we carry around and pull out when necessary, a glorified good luck charm.

Psalm 95:6 – 7 says,”O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care.” It is time that we as God’s sheep honor our Shepherd.

PRAYER: Father God, forgive us for not valuing you as we should and for approaching you too casually. We have taken you for granted! Lord, forgive us! Open our eyes to see your glory and your majesty and let those things fill our hearts and minds. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 28:15 – 30 “You are also to make a breastpiece of judgment with the same workmanship as the ephod. Construct it with gold, with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and with finely spun linen. It must be square when folded over double, a span long and a span wide. (The breastpiece, when folded over, was approximately 9 inches or 22.86 centimeters in both length and width.) And mount on it a setting of gemstones, four rows of stones: In the first row there shall be a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald; in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond; in the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and in the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. Mount these stones in gold filigree settings. The twelve stones are to correspond to the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

For the breastpiece make braided chains like cords of pure gold. You are also to make two gold rings and fasten them to the two corners of the breastpiece. Then fasten the two gold chains to the two gold rings at the corners of the breastpiece, and fasten the other ends of the two chains to the two filigree settings, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front. Make two more gold rings and attach them to the other two corners of the breastpiece, on the inside edge next to the ephod. Make two additional gold rings and attach them to the bottom of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, on its front, near its seam just above its woven waistband. The rings of the breastpiece shall be tied to the rings of the ephod with a cord of blue yarn, so that the breastpiece is above the waistband of the ephod and does not swing out from the ephod. Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he shall bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of judgment, as a continual reminder before the LORD. And place the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece of judgment, so that they will also be over Aaron’s heart whenever he comes before the LORD. Aaron will continually carry the judgment of the sons of Israel over his heart before the LORD.”

God wants to make certain that the high priest will always bear the names of the tribes of Israel into the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Not only are these names to be inscribed on onyx stones that are part of the shoulder pieces of the ephod, but the ephod also bears twelve stones, each one of which carries the name of a different tribe. The description of the construction of the breastpiece is complicated; the idea is that this will be strongly bound to the ephod with rings and chains of pure gold. The breastpiece is to be bound so that it cannot swing out from the ephod as the priest carries out his duties. But what are the Urim and Thummim?

At the time God was establishing His worship, divination was common. Pagan priests would slaughter animals and examine the entrails or the liver, examine the flight of birds, or find some other source of magic to give answers. It’s likely that the Egyptian priests did something similar. Eventually, God wants His people to approach Him directly; however, in the meantime, the Israelites are used to divination. If God simply forbids divination entirely, the Israelites are likely to dream up something on their own. The Urim (meaning “wrong, false, or curses” and Thummim (meaning “true”) are God’s means of gradually leading His people away from divination.

Given the fact that the Urim and Thummim were placed inside the breastpiece, it is likely that they were small objects, either colored stones or flat carved pieces of wood or bone. These objects would have been enclosed in a small pouch that was then placed inside the breast plate. Once the person asking for guidance had put his question to the high priest, the priest might then reach into the pouch and blindly pull out the Urim or the Thummim. According to some rabbinic traditions, the priest might stand facing the Ark of the Covenant and receive a vision from the Holy Spirit with the answer. Some scholars described even more vivid scenes in which rays of light would shine out of certain jewels on the breastplate, somehow spelling out answers.

APPLICATION: The use of the Urim and the Thummim was discontinued at the time of King David when prophets took over the function of transmitting God’s answers to His people. Sometimes today we might wish that we had some kind of magic instrument that would immediately tell us what God wants us to do. On the other hand, what if our will and God’s will don’t line up?

How can we know God’s will for our lives? First of all, we need to study God’s Word, the Bible. God has promised in Psalm 138:2 that He has “magnified His Word above His Name.” God is NOT going to go against His Word. If you want to do something that does not line up with God’s Word, think again! Second, we can pray and ask God for guidance; however, we must be sincere in that request. There were many instances in ancient Israel when the people demanded that the prophets tell them God’s will, only for the people to turn around and reject it when the prophets told them hard truths.

Third, what possible answers has God already built into your situation? Have you acted on everything that God has given you? Have you rejected a solution because it seemed too simple?

PRAYER: Father God, thank you for your promises that if we truly want to know your will, you will show us. You are a good father and you don’t play guessing games with your kids. Help us to truly want your will for our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 28:6 – 14 “They are to make the ephod of finely spun linen embroidered with gold, and with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. It shall have two shoulder pieces attached at two of its corners, so it can be fastened. And the skillfully woven waistband of the ephod must be of one piece, of the same workmanship—with gold, with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and with finely spun linen.

Take two onyx (lazuli) stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: six of their names on one stone and the remaining six on the other, in the order of their birth. Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal. Then mount the stones in gold filigree settings. Fasten both stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron is to bear their names on his two shoulders as a memorial before the LORD. Fashion gold filigree settings and two chains of pure gold, made of braided cord work; and attach these chains to the settings.”

One of the most incredible parts of the Bible is the records of names. Throughout the Bible, God lists all kinds of men and women, both good and bad, who have either excelled or have failed. As God is describing the priestly garments, one of the things that stands out is the inscribing of the names of the tribes of Israel on precious stones that the high priest will wear into the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. this means that no matter when the priest comes before God, he will always bear the names of all of the tribes of Israel on his shoulders so that God will remember His chosen people.

Jumping ahead to Exodus 35, we find that as God is giving Moses instructions about the tabernacle, He has already selected those who will direct the work.

Exodus 35:30 – 35 “Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the LORD has called by name Bezaleel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of craftsmanship, to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut gemstones for settings, and to carve wood, so that he may be a master of every artistic craft. And the LORD has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and as weavers—as artistic designers of every kind of craft.”

APPLICATION: Today we don’t wear ephods; however, those of us who pray for others are bearing their names before God just as much as did the priests in ancient Israel. When we come to God in prayer for friends, for family, for colleagues, for our nation, and for concerns throughout the world, we are entering into the Most Holy Place just as the high priest did. Calling these names in prayer and begging God to work His perfect will in the lives of those people is a holy calling.

When the high priest entered the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, he did so with quiet awe and reverence. So we too should come before God with our hearts and minds focusing on His goodness, on His mercy, and on His everlasting love. We lift up all those for whom we pray, knowing that God knows their needs better than we do.

A visitor to Mother Teresa’s orphanage once watched her praying and was bemused because she seemed to spend so much time not saying anything. When asked about these silences, Mother Teresa said simply, “Oh, those are the times that I am listening.” Let us listen and hear what God wants to teach us.

PRAYER: Father God, open our hearts so that we can listen to you and hear your will for our lives. Help us to never stop bringing those around us to you in prayer. And thank you for answering those prayers. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 28: “Make holy garments for your brother Aaron, to give him glory and splendor.”

God is establishing His priesthood, a priesthood like none other that has come before. In setting up such an institution, you might expect that God would begin with a series of orders regarding the priests’ duties; instead, God goes into enormous detail as to the dress code for the high priests and those assisting him.

We have already explained why God allowed only male priests to avoid having His religion become just another fertility cult. Now God is laying out the dress code to ensure that the clothing will be both beautiful and dignified. Priests are to radiate holiness, and every detail of their clothing is to add to that appearance.

Humans wear clothing while animals do not. The manner of dress also can inspire respect or disdain. Clothing is also a sign of respect for those around us. One of the first things we had to learn when we came to Ghana was how to dress for various occasions. Americans tend to dress quite casually; however, such dress does not communicate respect. We soon learned that when we were meeting officials or chiefs, we needed to dress nicely. Rubber bath sandals (flipflops) sent a terrible message; closed shoes or leather sandals were important. Clothing needed to be modest and attractive. On more than one occasion, I had to instruct visiting work team members to dress more modestly before greeting local officials. One young woman actually wanted to wear short shorts and a see – through blouse to work in our mission hospital; I ordered her to change into a scrub suit.

Clothing is a sign of self – respect. Here in Ghana, most schools have uniforms. Studies have shown that dress codes and school uniforms lead to less violence, higher grades, and more discipline.

Exodus 28:3 “You are to instruct all the skilled craftsmen, whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, to make garments for Aaron’s consecration, so that he may serve Me as priest.”

Wow! First of all, God assures Moses that He has already “filled skilled craftsmen with a spirit of wisdom.” God knows the names and the abilities of every one of the people He has called to do this work. ”…for Aaron’s consecration, so that he may serve Me as priest.” These garments are literally going to make Aaron holy so that he can serve the Lord properly.

APPLICATION: Does clothing matter? Absolutely! In 1986 when I went to Haiti with a short term mission team, we were forbidden to wear blue jeans because the only people who wore them in Haiti at that time were prostitutes. One church group flying back to the U.S. with us had obviously not gotten that message; all their young ladies were in tight blue jeans. The Haitians must have taken one look at this group and thought, “Wow! Look at all the American prostitutes!” This message was not the one that the group leaders probably wanted to convey.

The same prohibition held true when we first came to Ghana in the late 1980’s. I remember attending one traditional funeral at which all the Ghanaians were dressed beautifully. We were wearing traditional funeral garb. At a distance we could see some white guys in dirty tee shirts and ripped jeans. Our immediate response was, “Dear God, don’t let them be Americans!” (They turned out to be Italians. Whew!)

One of the sad things that has crept into our local churches recently is the immodest dress worn by many of the young ladies. While copying the clothing seen on satellite TV might make someone feel trendy, it is sending a terrible message to many others, including our Muslim friends, whose women dress very modestly.

Do you have to dress up to dress in a holy fashion? No. One of the most effective American pastors we know routinely wears blue jeans, flannel shirts, and work boots to preach. But the question of dress is one that you need to settle with God. You are free to dress in any fashion you choose, but you need to consider the message you are sending. 1 Corinthians 6:19 – 20 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.”

PRAYER: Father God, help us to remember that we are your children and that you are a holy God. Help us to honor you in our dress as well as in our actions. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 28:1 – 2 “Next, have your brother Aaron brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, to serve Me as priests. Make holy garments for your brother Aaron, to give him glory and splendor.”

To avoid abuses of power and to ensure the priest’s behavior was in the service of God, the Torah provides extensive detailed laws governing the conduct of the priests. These laws include the following:

a. Priests were not allowed to have any contact with a dead body. In this important regard, they were fundamentally different from Egyptian priests, who were responsible for ministering to the dead. Egyptian religion and culture were focused on death. The Torah, on the other hand, wants its adherents to be preoccupied with sanctifying this life. Thus, an absolute barrier was erected between the Israelite priesthood and death.

b. Priests had to wash their hands and feet prior to entering the temple or approaching the altar. They also had to be dressed in a manner that radiated sanctity.

c. A priest could not marry a woman who had been a prostitute or who was divorced..Priests were expected to serve as models of holiness, and fairly or unfairly, if it became known the priest’s wife was a former prostitute, it could hinder his efforts to be regarded as a holy man… the priest’s stature would be compromised if there were another man – one, moreover, undoubtedly known in the community – who had sexual relations with the priest’s wife.

God instituted the priesthood to serve as an example of holiness for believers; however, His intention was that all of Israel would serve as an example of holiness. In Exodus 19:6 God tells the Israelites that they are to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” God wanted the Jewish people to live holy lives and help bring humanity to God. (Dennis Prager, The Rational Bible: Exodus)

I have spent a lifetime as a surgeon in a field traditionally dominated by men. I was only the second woman in the history of my high school to take physics. I was the first female resident in one of my general surgery training programs. When I was heading our mission hospital, I was the only female Medical Superintendent in our region. I know God is not sexist; otherwise, He would not have placed me in these situations.

Prager explains the need for an exclusively male priesthood in an essay entitled, “The Priesthood as a Male Institution.” The priesthood is an exclusively male institution. The primary reason is the Torah was adamant about de – sexualizing religion; having priests and priestesses would have made that impossible. That is why, for example, the Torah commands priests to dress in modest clothing; priests were meant to be seen solely as vehicles to holiness.

The surrounding polytheistic religions all had male and female priests and ritual sexual activity was a a major feature of their religions. Few would argue women had a more elevated status in pagan society than in Israel. The Torah’s de – sexualization of God, religion, and the family played a fundamental and world – changing role from which both women and men immeasurably benefited.” Prager goes on to point out that there were a number of matriarchs, female heroes, and female prophets throughout the Old Testament.

APPLICATION: Today it is popular to try to ignore or wipe out any opinion with which you disagree; however, what if you are wrong? What if your knee jerk responses are off? What if the truth lies somewhere else? Radical feminists have criticized the Aaronic priesthood for being exclusively male; yet, had God allowed female priests, how long would it have taken before the worship of a holy God degenerated into a fertility cult? (Answer: very quickly! Just wait! We haven’t gotten to the incident of the golden calf yet.) God did not institute an exclusively male priesthood to exclude women from worship but to protect them from victimization by fertility cults.

Throughout the world today human trafficking, particularly sexual trafficking, is at an all – time high. Women and children are kidnapped, smuggled, and sold into slavery. When the family is no longer regarded as a sacred institution and when society no longer cares for its weakest members, anything can happen and does. Am I thankful that there are more opportunities for bright intelligent women than there were in my mother’s day? Absolutely! But we have thrown out the baby with the bath water. In our push to prove that women are capable of achieving in professions, we have lost sight of the fact that men do have a special role to play as protectors of their wives and children. Fractured families have left both men and women without a clue as to the true nature of fatherhood. Women who have suffered at the hands of abusive fathers, brothers, teachers, pastors, supervisors, etc., might be forgiven if they feel they are better off going it alone than to return to the abuses they have endured.

May God help us to realize His blueprint for our families! May we also realize that God’s will for all of us is to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

PRAYER: Father God, some of us cringe at that very title! Having been abused by male authority figures, we are unsure what to call you and yet we long for someone to truly be our father. Lord, comfort all those who read this devotional. Heal the hurts. Help them to see that your blueprints bring life and not death. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 28:3-5 “You are to instruct all the skilled craftsmen, whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, to make garments for Aaron’s consecration, so that he may serve Me as priest. These are the garments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make these holy garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so that they may serve Me as priests. They shall use gold, along with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.”

God is about to give Moses very specific instructions as to the garments His priests are to wear. Why is God being so picky?

Although Moses might not realize it, God is giving instructions that will be carried out for hundreds of years. God does not want these instructions diluted or perverted!

We live and work in a town in northern Ghana. Ours is a bargaining economy; nobody pays the “first price” for anything in the market, unless it is a common item whose price everybody knows. This mentality carries over into health care; if I want someone to avoid heavy work for at least six weeks after a hernia operation, I tell them three months, knowing that they are going to reduce the time as much as possible. If I want a mother to give Oral Rehydration Salts to her child with diarrhea at least ten times a day, I will tell her fifteen or even twenty. (This has done wonders for my ability to quote numbers in local languages!)

The bargaining mentality existed in Moses’ day as well. God wants to set an absolute standard for priestly garments, one that is not to be tampered with. Priests of some kind existed long before God gave Moses these instructions. The Egyptians had all kinds of priests, as did all the other pagan religions. The dress of many of these priests was little short of scandalous, especially priests serving fertility cults. Those priests were expected to have sex with temple prostitutes as part of their rituals, so exposing their genitalia may have been part of the prelude.

But why have priests anyway? Dennis Prager writes in “The Role of the Priest” (The Rational Bible: Exodus): The welfare of Israel depended on both Moses and Aaron. Moses served as the prophet, the sublime ethical voice conveying God’s word to the people, while Aaron served as the priest, the ritual leader responsible for helping people connect individually to God. Both are necessary for a meaningful religious life.

The priest had four major duties:

1. the priest dedicated himself to living a holy life and helping other Jews come closer to God through Jewish ritual…

2. The priest treated physical ailments such as disease and plague, which were thought to be not only physiological phenomena but also sometimes embodiments of spiritual imperfections.

3. The priest judged disputes.

4. The High Priest, by wearing an object known as the “Urim and Thummim: on his breastplate, provided the medium through which God would communicate positive or negative responses to major national questions.

APPLICATION: Consider the Israelites for a moment. What a religiously ragtag bunch! Over here, you have Miriam who is hauling around a fertility image in hopes that it will help her have lots of healthy children. Over there, you have Saul, who is carrying Egyptian amulets given him by a former business partner. At this point, there are probably very few Israelites who are actually worshiping the One True Living God. If God is going to convince these people that monotheism is the way to go, He really has His work cut out for Him!

There is a principal in development that encourages you to start with people’s current beliefs and then to build on the good ones and to gradually eliminate the bad ones. By instituting the priesthood, God is doing precisely that. Egyptian society was priest – ridden because there were so many various gods, each with their own priests. The Israelites are used to priests, but now God has to educate them as to His expectations for His priests. The Israelites really have no idea what it means to be holy, and they have very little idea of true worship. God starts with concrete instructions because this is something that people can understand. Once these instructions are completed, God can move on to something else.

God knows us better than we know ourselves. God sees the times we try to honor Him and the times when we turn away. God knows that sometimes we are not turning away from Him but are simply worn out from the battles we have been facing. The finest form of worship is the approach of a little child to a loving Father. We can turn to God and simply say, “Help me! I don’t love you as I should, but I do love you. Help me to love you more.”

PRAYER: Father God, none of us love you as we should; however, you are always ready to help us love you more. Please let loving you and serving you be the most important thing in our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 28:1-2 “Next, have your brother Aaron brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, to serve Me as priests. Make holy garments for your brother Aaron, to give him glory and splendor.”

God is setting up a hereditary priesthood. If you are a Bible scholar, you know that two of the men mentioned here, Nadab and Abihu, later get drunk and offer profane fire and wind up being struck dead for their horrible deed. But God has excellent reasons for having a hereditary priesthood, as Dennis Prager describes in The Rational Bible: Exodus, in an essay entitled “The Benefits of a Hereditary Priesthood.”

Prager makes the following points:

1. Unlike societal leaders who are given political and military power, priests are to have no power. Their role is to serve to help the community come closer to God.

2. By making the priesthood a hereditary institution, the chances for corruption entering the religious leadership of the nation are reduced. Simply put, no one can buy or force his way into the priesthood. (By comparison, when Jeroboam rebelled against Rehoboam, King Solomon’s son, he set up his own altars and established his own priests.

2 Chronicles 11:13 – 15 “Moreover, the priests and Levites from all their districts throughout Israel stood with Rehoboam. For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD. And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat-demons and calf idols he had made.”)

3. Priests don’t have to worry about popularity. They never have to run for election or re – election. That means that the priests should be true to God alone.

Prager goes on to make the point that every religion must have certain basic tenets that are unshakable. “While democracy is indispensable to civil society, it is irrelevant to (and potentially even destructive of ) religion. When religion becomes democratic, it ceases to be religion…A well – known Jewish joke relates that when Moses descended with the second set of the Ten Commandments, he announced, “Israelites, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I got Him down to ten. The bad news is adultery stays.”)

Prior to Moses, Abraham had functioned as a kind of high priest. Moses also functioned as a high priest; however, now the responsibilities of carrying out the sacrifices shifted to Aaron, his sons, and their descendants.

APPLICATION: We might feel a bit sorry for the young men who were to be priests but who might not have felt like it. We want to feel that we have complete control over our choice of careers, but is this really true? Although there are those in industrialized countries who have choices, for others around the world, their circumstances determine their means of livelihood. If your father is a peasant farmer in rural Africa, it may be difficult for you to break out of that mold. And economic down turns from the recent pandemic have forced people to abandon the careers they thought they would pursue and to find new means of supporting themselves.

At the same time, the priests would raise their sons to accept the priesthood as a holy and precious calling. Those priests who truly loved God would pass that love on to their offspring.

Sometimes our parents have more input into our careers than we realize. Both my parents desperately wanted to become doctors; neither was allowed to do so. When I became a doctor, I fulfilled my parents’ dreams as well as my own. Was this a bad thing? No. My parents hoped to contribute a doctor to the world, and they succeeded. The priests would hope their sons would continue to minister to the Lord. This desire was both worthy and admirable. As we raise children, we should ask ourselves how we are encouraging them and inspiring them to fulfill the calling that God has on their lives.

PRAYER: Father God, thank you that you call each of us to fulfill the gifts and abilities you have given us. Help us to be ever – mindful so that we will treasure our calling and that of our children. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.