Moses Anoints The Tabernacle, Its Furnishings, as well as Aaron and his sons
Exodus 40:1-16:
1Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
3 You shall place the ark of the testimony there, and you shall screen the ark with the veil.
4 You shall bring in the table and [b]arrange what belongs on it; and you shall bring in the lampstand and [c]mount its lamps.
5 Moreover, you shall set the gold altar of incense before the ark of the testimony, and set up the veil for the doorway to the tabernacle.
6 You shall set the altar of burnt offering in front of the doorway of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
9 Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and shall consecrate it and all its [f]furnishings; and it shall be holy.
10 You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, and the altar shall be most holy.
11 You shall anoint the laver and its stand, and consecrate it.
12 Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the doorway of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.
13 You shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and consecrate him, that he may minister as a priest to Me.
14 You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them;
15 and you shall anoint them even as you have anointed their father, that they may minister as priests to Me; and their anointing will [g]qualify them for a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.”
16 Thus Moses did; according to all that the Lord had commanded him, so he did.
Footnotes:
- Exodus 40:2 Lit dwelling place
- Exodus 40:4 Lit arrange its arrangement
- Exodus 40:4 Or light
- Exodus 40:7 Lit there
- Exodus 40:8 Lit put the screen
- Exodus 40:9 Or utensils
- Exodus 40:15 Lit be for them
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Thoughts on the Passage
Verses 1 to 5 of this passage explains how the furniture was to be arranged within the tabernacle. So, the Tabernacle had to be not only built according to the pattern but assembled each time it was re-erected according to the pattern.
David Guzik points out that verse 1 indicates this was to be done on the first day of the first month, indicating it had been a year since Israel had come out of Egypt. You may ask, “How do commentators know that?”. Robert Jamieson writes,
“From a careful consideration of the incidents recorded to have happened after the exodus (Exodus 12:2, 13:4, 19:1, 20:18, 34:28, etc.), it has been computed that the work of the Tabernacle was commenced within six months after that emigration; and consequently that {an}other six months had been occupied in building it."
And what a year it had been for them, seeing God at work and growing spiritually as a people. Time can be a great ‘facilitator’ for the Christian – through it, we can either grow in our spiritual relationship with God or we can stagnate. Using time, we can take a realistic measure of where we stand. For example, I’ve been a Christian for over half a century. So, I can well ask myself how I’ve done in my maturity as one during that period of time. You can do the same thing. Is there growth? Or have I plateaued?
Verses 6 to 11 tell us how the items in the courtyard were to be arranged.
Once everything was set up, it was now time to anointing Aaron, the Chief Priest, and his sons, the priests that were to minister in the Tabernacle (verses 12-16). We can read the details of this dedication ceremony in Leviticus chapters 8 and 9.
Robert Jamieson tells us that the anointing of the sons of Aaron involved the same sacred oil that was used in the anointing of Aaron himself. However, there may be some question as to whether the ceremony was identical. Jamieson himself believes that the pouring of the oil “over one’s head” was reserved strictly for the “high priest” and quotes several verses (Exodus 29:7,21; Leviticus 8:12,30 and Psalm 133:2) which talk about it being poured on the high priest. Nonetheless, I could not find any references saying specifically that was “not” the case for his sons, or that it was “only for the High Priest”. I would point out that I also could not find any reference to oil being poured on the head of our ultimate High Priest, Jesus Christ although His body was anointed for burial and earlier Mary had anointed his feet while washing them with expensive perfume. This lack of parallelism with Christ would lead me, at least, to believe what took place with Aaron was not exclusive to him, but also included his sons. Still, I am willing to be corrected.
And once again our text (verse 16) tells us that Moses did exactly as God had asked him to. His obedience continued right through to the conclusion of the building project and its commissioning. What remains, as we will see later in chapter 40 of Exodus, is that real and rightful Owner to take possession of it – something Matthew Henry says He does “by the cloud” and no, he’s not talking about the place that backs up our electronic work these days.
With reference to our current passage, Matthew Henry wants us to consider that even though the people were all ready to see this completed work assembled, Moses had to wait for God’s expressed time – “the first day of the first month” – to do so. Moses is an excellent example in Scripture of wanting to have each step of his ways or actions “established by the LORD” (Psalm 37:23).
Henry also reminds us that in King Hezekiah’s time, many years later, the priests began to sanctify the temple “on the first day of the first month” (2 Chronicles 29:17). Thus, perhaps there is something to the idea of Christians considering new things for God an His service at the beginning of each new year.
As Christians, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we should be more successful than the general populace when it comes to keeping our “new year’s” resolutions – at least those we make with respect to service to God.
It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.
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