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The dedication of Aaron and his sons and the sacrifices they made Lev.8:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Lev.8:2. take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil, and the bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread, What was commanded to Moses in Exodus 29:1–3 etc., in this chapter (and Lev. 9) book. Leviticus appears as the fulfillment of that statute. Lev.8:3. and gather the whole congregation to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Lev.8:4. Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the congregation gathered at the entrance of the tabernacle of meeting. When appointing clergy - these intermediaries between the society of the people of Israel and Jehovah, the presence at the tabernacle of the entire society was naturally required, which henceforth set apart a class for special service to Jehovah. But the term “society” (esp. edah, qahal) may not mean a meeting of the entire people, but only its oldest and most honorable representatives (Numbers 16.2, see Lev.9.1), who, according to the Pentateuch, were more than once called upon instead of the whole people to witness significant events (Exodus 17:6, 25:1–9). However, the initiation ceremony lasted 7 days (Lev.8.33); therefore, most of the people could see the significant and deeply important rite of ordination of clergy. Lev.8:6. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water; Lev.8:7. and he put a tunic on him, and girded him with a girdle, and put a robe on him, and put an ephod on him, and girded him with the girdle of the ephod, and fastened the ephod on him with it, Lev.8:8. and he put the breastplate on him, and on the breastplate he put the Urim and Thummim, Lev.8:9. and he placed a miter on his head, and on the miter on the front of it he placed a polished tablet, the diadem of the sanctuary, as the Lord commanded Moses. Lev.8:10. And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated it; Lev.8:11. and he sprinkled it upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the laver and its base, to consecrate them; Lev.8:12. and [Moses] poured the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to sanctify him. Lev.8:13. And Moses brought the sons of Aaron, and dressed them in tunics, and girded them with girdles, and put turbans on them, as the Lord commanded Moses. The initiation embraces 4 main acts. The first act is washing with water (Lev. 6, book Ex. 29.4), probably the whole body, as was required of the high priest on the day of atonement (Lev. 16.4), and not the simple washing of hands and feet, which was required before performing each sacred act (Ex. 30.19–21). Meaning the removal of not only the physical, but also the moral impurity of the initiates, this washing was a negative moment of initiation and at the same time a pre-depiction of the highest, absolute holiness of the New Testament High Priest (Heb. 7.26). The second act is the putting on of Aaron in all the sacred clothes assigned to the rank of high priest (Exodus 28), a symbol of the church and public service into which the high priest henceforth entered (Lev.8:7-8; see Exodus 29:5,6); Likewise, for the same reason and with the same meaning, the sons of Aaron, the priests, were clothed in appropriate sacred clothes (Lev.8:18, see Ex.29:8,9). The third act is the anointing with sacred oil (the preparation of which is spoken of in Exodus 30.23–25) first of the tabernacle and all its accessories (Lev.8:10–11, see Exodus 30.28–29) - for the sanctification of this work of human hands for the service of God, and then the anointing of Aaron and his sons (Lev. 8:12, see Exodus 28:41, 29:7, 30:30, 40:13–15). The anointing of the latter is not mentioned in this place (Lev.8:13). But from Exodus 30.30 (cf. Lev. 7:36, 10:7) and especially Exodus 40.13–15, it is clear that the priests, at least when the priesthood was established according to the law, were anointed: “Anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may be priests to Me, and their anointing will consecrate them to the eternal priesthood throughout their generations” (Exodus 40.15; cp. Lev.7.36). Both the biblical text and the Jewish tradition distinguish, however, the anointing of Aaron from the anointing of the priests, the sons of Aaron. The first consisted first of all in pouring a libation (Heb. lazag) of oil on Aaron's head in copious amounts (cf. Ps 7:2) and only then in anointing (maschach) - probably on the face and clothes. The anointing (maschach) of the priests consisted only of the last act and was understood by tradition in the sense of marking each likeness of a Greek letter on the forehead. χ (Maimonides) or Heb. kaf (k, according to Abarbanel.). But both the highest anointing of Aaron and the lower anointing of his sons equally served as a symbol of the teaching of the grace of the Holy Spirit to them (cf. 1 Samuel 10:1–6, 16:13,14, Ps 61.1), necessary for them due to the extreme importance and responsibility of their ministry. The fourth and final act of consecration is the sacrifice of those consecrated (Lev.8:14–30, see Exodus 29.10–28). They were sacrificed for sin (Lev. 14–17), as a burnt offering (Lev. 8:18–21) and as a special sacrifice of consecration (Lev. 8:22–30). According to the prescription of Lev.4.3, a calf is taken as a sin offering for the high priest (together with his son), and the whole ritual as a whole is consistent with the legalization of Lev.4.3–12 regarding the sin offering for the high priest. There is, however, a difference. If in Lev.4.3 etc. Of course, there is a certain fact of the sin of the high priest who has already been consecrated, then here, during the dedication of the sanctuary and its servants, the general sinfulness of the latter is meant, and since the tabernacle is also consecrated, then only the horns of the altar of burnt offering (this center of the Old Testament sacrificial cult) are anointed with sacrificial blood, and not the horns of the altar of incense, and the blood is not sprinkled before someone (in relation to The blood-sprinkling sacrifice for the sins of Aaron and the sons thus approaches the sacrifice for the sins of the laity, Lev.4.25, 30). All the meat and skin was burned outside the camp in accordance with Lev.4.12: the initiates could not eat the sacrifices for their sin, and Moses, the performer of the sacrifice this time, was not a priest and therefore also did not have the right to eat it. Lev.8:18. And [Moses] brought a ram for a burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram; Lev.8:19. and Moses slaughtered him and sprinkled the blood on all sides of the altar; Lev.8:20. and he cut the ram into pieces, and Moses burned the head and the pieces and the fat, Lev.8:21. And Moses washed the entrails and the feet with water, and Moses burned the whole ram on the altar: this is a burnt offering for a sweet aroma, this is an offering to the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. A ram was offered as a burnt offering, in all respects in accordance with the prescription of Lev.1.10–13 about burnt offerings from small livestock, and the deliberate command of Jehovah about this to Moses, Exodus 29.15–18. Lev.8:22. And [Moses] brought another ram, the ram of consecration, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram; Lev.8:23. And Moses slaughtered him, and took of his blood, and put it on the edge of Aaron's right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Lev.8:24. And Moses brought the sons of Aaron, and put the blood on the edge of their right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, and Moses sprinkled the blood on all sides of the altar. Lev.8:25. And [Moses] took the fat, and the fat tail, and all the fat that was on the entrails, and the seal on the liver, and both kidneys, and their fat, and the right shoulder; Lev.8:26. And from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord, he took one unleavened bread, one bread with oil, and one cake, and put it on his fat and on his right shoulder; Lev.8:27. and he put all this in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and brought it, shaking it before the Lord; Lev.8:28. and Moses took it from their hands and burned it on the altar with the burnt offering: it is a sacrifice of consecration for a sweet aroma, it is an offering to the Lord. Lev.8:29. And Moses took the breast and brought it, shaking it before the Lord: this was Moses' portion from the ram of consecration, as the Lord commanded Moses. Lev.8:30. And Moses took the anointing oil and the blood that was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him; and so he sanctified Aaron, and his garments, and his sons, and the garments of his sons with him. A ram was also taken as a sacrifice of dedication or, according to LXX, “completion” (τῆς τελειώσεως, glav.: “completion”, Lev. 8:22, 28, 29). The rite of sacrifice is essentially similar to the rites of the peace offering (Lev. 3, cf. Lev. 7): they were burned the same parts (Lev.8:25) as in the sacrifice of peace, and the rite of shaking before Jehovah was performed over the same parts (right shoulder and chest) and in combination with the same grain products as in the sacrifice of peace (cf. Lev. 7.29-34). But the peculiarity that belongs exclusively to this sacrifice of dedication was the anointing with the blood of the sacrifice of dedication to the right ear, the thumb of the right hand and the big toe of the high priest’s right foot. priests (Lev.8:23–24) According to Blessed Theodoret (question 8 on Lev.), “the right ear is a sign of praiseworthy obedience, and the hand and foot are symbols of good deeds; therefore, the right hand and the right foot were anointed, because there are deeds of shuiya and obedience that are harmful.” In view of the identity of this last rite with the rites of accepting a recovered and cleansed leper into the theocratic society (Lev. 14.14), its meaning can be defined as follows: by the servants entering the sanctuary and drawing closer than others to God (cf. Num. 16.5), the high priest and priests were cleansed, like the recovered lepers, from all filth they were cleansed in the most perfect way, as indicated by their seven-day continuous stay in the courtyard of the tabernacle (Lev.8:33–34). Blood and oil were sprinkled on the clothes of Aaron and his sons, of course, to express their complete dedication (along with the sprinkled and consecrated sanctuary) to God. Lev.8:33. Seven days shall you not depart from the door of the tabernacle of meeting, until the days of your consecration are fulfilled, for in seven days your consecration must be completed; Lev.8:34. as it was done today, so the Lord commanded to be done for the purification of you; Lev.8:35. Be at the door of the tabernacle of meeting day and night for seven days, and be on the watch of the Lord, lest you die, for so I have been commanded [from the Lord God]. Lev.8:36. And Aaron and his sons did all that the Lord commanded by Moses. (cf. Exodus 29:29–35). The end of the initiation ceremony; Moses' instructions to Aaron and his sons regarding the consumption of the meat of the sacrifice of dedication (Lev.8:31-32) and the order for the seven-day stay of those dedicated “at the entrance of the tabernacle of meeting” (Lev.8:35, 33), i.e. in the courtyard of the tabernacle, with the obligation to repeat on each of the 7 days the sacrifices and rites of the first day (Exodus 29.35). According to Maimonides, the priests were consecrated once for all time by this consecration, but each new high priest had to be consecrated again (the anointing of the high priests existed only before the Babylonian captivity). You might be interested in: