Exodus 29
Priest induction ceremonies
“Here are your instructions for setting apart Aaron and his sons to serve as my priests. You’ll need a young bull and two rams that are perfectly healthy. You’ll also need some yeast-free bread and yeast-free cakes covered in oil that are made out of wheat flour. Put the baked goods in a basket and bring them with the animals. Position Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the meeting room and wash them with water. Clothe Aaron in the undergarment, robe, cape, chestpiece, and professionally-woven band. Put the turban on his head and the sacred crown on top of the turban. Take the induction oil and pour it on his head to distinguish him. Bring in his sons and clothe them with the undergarments, waistbands, and turbans. It will be an ongoing rule for them to carry on the priesthood. That’s how you’ll induct Aaron and his sons.
Offer a bull for priest’s corruption
“Then bring the bull to the entrance of the meeting room where Aaron and his sons will put their hands on its head. Then slaughter the bull at the doorway in front of the Existing One. Take some of its blood and smear it on the altar’s horns with your finger and pour out the rest of it at the altar’s base. Take the juiciest parts which cover the guts (including the liver and kidneys) and smoke them on the altar. Take the rest of its carcass including the hide and waste and burn it outside the camp. That will be an offering for your corruption.
Offer a roasted ram
“Then take one of the 2 rams and have Aaron and his sons place their hands on its head. Slaughter it and sprinkle its blood around the altar. Chop it up, wash its guts and its legs and keep them together with its meat and its head. Smoke the entire ram on the altar. This will be a roasted offering and appetizing aroma to the Existing One.
Installation ram
“Then take the other ram and have Aaron and his sons place their hands on its head. Slaughter it and wipe some of its blood on Aaron’s right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe. Also wipe it on those same body parts for Aaron’s sons. Sprinkle the rest of the ram’s blood around the altar. Take some consecrating oil and some of the altar’s blood and sprinkle it on Aaron, his clothes, his sons, and their clothes.
“This ram is for the priests’ installation, so take all its juiciest parts including the tail, liver, kidneys, and right thigh and hand them to Aaron and his sons. Also hand them a loaf of bread, a cake mixed with oil, and a wafer from the basket of yeast-free baked goods which is laying in front of the Existing One. Have Aaron and his sons wave the meat and baked goods in front of the Existing One to offer him a wave. Then take the meat and baked goods back from the priests and and smoke it on the altar as a soothing aroma for the Existing One.
“Then take the breast meat from Aaron’s installation ram and wave it as an offering to the Existing One. The breast meat from his installation ram will be your share. Keep the ram’s breast and thigh (which were both waved) separate from the ram that was for Aaron and that ram that was for his sons. The meat that gets waved will always be for Aaron and his sons. That meat is Israel’s contribution to the priests from the treaty sacrifices they offer. Even though that meat goes to the priests, it still counts toward Israel’s contribution to the Existing One.
Future priests will need to wear Aaron’s clothes
“Aaron’s descendants should wear Aaron’s sacred garments whenever it’s time for them to be ordained and filled with priestly authority. Whichever one of his sons takes his place should wear it for 7 days before entering the meeting room to serve in the set-apart location.
Priests should eat the food that gives them spiritual covering
“Take the installation ram and boil its meat in a sacred area. Aaron and his sons should eat it along with the bread from the basket at the meeting room’s entrance. They should eat those food items which provided them with spiritual covering during the ceremony where they were filled with authority and set apart. Foreigners aren’t allowed to eat that meat or bread because they’re sacred. If any of the food from the priest’s installation is left over in the morning, you should burn it in a fire. No one is allowed to eat it because it’s sacred.
Keep the altar pure
“Follow all of these instructions for Aaron and his descendants. Their induction ceremonies into priesthood should be 7 days long. Israel will need to offer a bull on each of those days as a gesture to make amends for the priest’s corruption. Those sacrifices will defile the altar, so you’ll need to anoint the altar to keep it set apart. Use oil to cover the altar each of those 7 days to keep it separate. Then whatever touches the altar will become set apart too.
God purifies his people & lives with them
“Offer 2 one-year-old lambs on the altar each day. Offer one at sunrise and one at sunset. Every time you offer one of these lambs, offer it with a drink offering of 1.5 liters of wine and a grain offering made of 2 liters of fine flour mixed with 1.5 liters of purified oil. Do that for both the sunrise lamb and the sunset lamb, and it’ll be a soothing fragrance to the Existing One. This should be a recurring offering throughout your generations. Offer it to the Existing One at the entrance of the meeting room I’ll use for meeting with you and speaking to you. I’ll meet with the Israelites there, and my richness will make it holy. I’ll purify the meeting room and the altar, and I’ll also purify Aaron and his sons to serve as my priests. I will live in the midst of the Israelites, and I will be their God. They’ll know that I’m their God the Existing One, and that I brought them out of Egypt just so that I could live in their midst. I am the Existing One, their God.