April 2, 2026 - Exodus 29 & Psalm 74

We walk through Exodus 29 and see how God sets apart Aaron and his sons with washing, anointing oil, blood, and a week of sacrifices. We also sit with Psalm 74’s grief over a ruined sanctuary and learn how remembering God’s covenant steadies faith in the midst of discipline. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org. Keep reading. Keep growing. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path. 

Transcript

Exodus 29 Consecrating The Priests

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength with God's word lighting the way. I'm Josiah Smith, joined by Tyler Sanborn. Today is Thursday, April 2nd, 2026. Here's a quick summary of Exodus 29. Now, Exodus 29 is the details of the consecration of the priest. Now, to consecrate something is to set it apart, to enlist it for a specific specific purpose. And here, of course, they are consecrating the priest. This is the instructions for the consecration of the priest. It starts with a ceremonial washing, and there is uh two rams and one bull that are going to be sacrificed. Uh, we see a sin offering mentioned, we see a food offering, uh, we see just the ram of ordination as it's called, a wave offering, a peace offering, so many different offerings here in Exodus 29. But it's uh essentially uh them enlisting the um the family of Aaron and the line of Aaron for the purpose uh of being priests and representing the nation of Israel uh to God. So we see all of that and what they are to do and how they are to do it, and uh, where they are to sprinkle the blood and what the purpose of each sacrifice is to be, and how many days even these things are to take place, seven days it says later on in Exodus 29. So Exodus 29 is all about the consecration of the priests.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Listen intently to God's written word, Psalm 74. Oh God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage, remember Mount Zion where you have dwelt, direct your steps to the perpetual ruins. The enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary. Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place, they set up their own signs for signs. They were like those who swing axes in a forest of trees. In all its carved wood, they broke down with hatchets and hammers. They set your sanctuary on fire, they profane the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground. They said to themselves, We will utterly subdue them. They burned all the meeting places of God in the land. We do not see our signs, there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long. How long, O God, is the foe to scoff, is the enemy to revile your name forever? Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them. Yet God, my King, is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by your might, you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters, you crushed the heads of Leviathan, you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness, you split open springs and brooks, you dried up ever flowing streams. Yours is the day, yours also the night. You have established the heavenly lights and the sun, you have fixed all the boundaries of the earth, you have made summer and winter. Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs and the foolish people reviles your name. Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts, do not forget the life of your poor forever. Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of habitations of violence. Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame. Let the poor and needy praise your name. Arise, O God, defend your cause. Remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day. Do not forget the clamor of your foes, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually.

Washing And Baptism As A Type

One Way To Approach God

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Now, as we continue to study through Exodus, and specifically as we continue to study about the priests and the sacrificial system and all of the different burnt offerings, I want you to keep that in mind, especially as a church, as we dive more into the book of Hebrews. And remember, I mentioned this briefly two Sundays ago, but remember that there are two orders of priests in the Bible. There is the order that comes after Aaron, the Aaronic priesthood, and there is the order of Melchizedek. And uh, so here, of course, we see Aaron's line, the order of Aaron, being instituted and um this family being set apart to be the priest. Uh, and of course, in Hebrews, Jesus is said to be after the order of Melchizedek, and that's gonna be important because of course there's parallels between the priesthood of Jesus and the priesthood that we're seeing here instituted in Exodus, but there's also differences and there's an escalation, there's something greater and better in Jesus that we're gonna find. So I just have an eye towards the New Testament and specifically the book of Hebrews that kind of um is is the New Testament explanation as to how Jesus fulfills ultimately this office of priest that we're seeing unfold here in Exodus 29. Now there are three offices in the Old Testament that are anointed with oil. That is the office of prophet, the office of priests, and the office of king. So here in Exodus 29, verse 7, it says, You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. And so in these three offices in the Old Testament, as a part of their consecration and and their inauguration and their coronation, if you want to use these words, um, they are all being anointed with oil. And that was a symbolic sign to represent their kind of being installed in their specific role and the responsibilities that were to come with it. So the priests here, of course, are being anointed with uh oil. Now, what I want to point out to you, Tyler, um, specifically, I guess you, because you're sitting in the room with me and everyone else listening. Here we are, is in Exodus 29, 4. Um, it says, You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Now, as a reminder, the tent of meeting uh is sort of the outer room, uh, it's called the holy place, also. And then we have the inner room, which is the holy of holies. So tent of meeting is the same thing as the holy place, uh, which is again the outer space before you get into that's where the the table of showbread is, the the menorah, the you know, the the the candle, uh, the the table, the yeah, all those things that the priests are doing inside the tabernacle. Uh inside the tabernacle. So that's where they're going. So it says you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, the holy place, and wash them with water. So we have this ceremonial washing, which of course represents symbolically a cleansing that was necessary for the work that they had in front of them. And I do think typologically, I just think being very basic here, a typology, a type is something in the old testament that is a shadow that finds its substance more fully in the New Testament. So um, as an example, Moses is a type, uh, a typological figure who leads Israel through the Exodus and out of slavery, and Jesus is the new and better Moses that Hebrews actually explicitly makes that connection with, who leads a new people out of a new Exodus to slavery to sin. So that's kind of a type. Uh, you can do that with places, you can do that with people, you can do that with things. So here we see uh ceremonial washing, this cleansing of the priests that was important for their consecration in their role. And I do believe that is a type that ultimately points forward to our washing and cleansing, uh, which uh in in a lot of ways is bound up in baptism, of course, spirit baptism, but also water baptism. Uh, Peter refers to baptism as an appeal to God for a clean conscience. And so, in our work as Christians, we are now said to be a royal priesthood. And so we have a similar duty where we are pointing the world to God and showing them how they can be reconciled to God. And as a result of that, similarly to Aaron and the Ronic priest, uh, we have a washing, a cleansing. We are washed by the blood of Christ. We are baptized um by and with the spirit into Christ. And uh, of course, that is how we are then inaugurated into this role that we now occupy as Christians of being a kingdom of priests to the world. So just wanted to point that out that this ceremonial washing does kind of typify what baptism would become, spirit baptism and water baptism, and even the role that we now have as Christians to show the world how they can be reconciled and how their sin can be atoned for. So, in a sense, of course, we're not standing at the tent of meeting and we're not receiving bulls and rams and and goats, uh, but we are showing and pointing to how they can be reconciled to God.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

What a great I mean, we we take the law, we take these procedures sometimes of like, okay, this is just a process and procedure that was given. It's a great reminder for us too that God has given explicit directions on how to approach Him, specific directions on how these priests would be preparing themselves to make sacrifices, preparing themselves to enter the holy of holies. And for us today, uh a lot of people to would in our communities would think, oh, there's there's more than one way to get to heaven. There's more than one way to uh to live forever. And you could talk to uh Jehovah's Witness, you could talk to a Mormon, you talk to a Catholic, you could talk to a Buddhist or a Hindu, and they're all gonna say there's there's a different way that they're gonna live beyond the grave. But for the Christian, for those who are are born again, there is only one way to be saved, one perfect sacrifice that needed to be made once for all. Uh, so there's a great reminder here, just as the priests were given explicit instructions to um to prepare themselves, to make these sacrifices, to, to be cleansed, there's only one way for us to be washed, and that's by the blood of Christ.

Blood On Ear Hand Foot

Offerings Beyond Atonement Explained

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yeah, no, I certainly agree with that. And even one of the things that we were talking about before we started recording was uh starting in verse 20, it says, You shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. And that uh has a variety of different connotations. I mean, I I do think in some sense it represents from head to toe they are to be consecrated, set aside, set apart for the service of the Lord. But Tyler, we were just talking, I think it also has this implication of listening to the instructions of God, serving God faithfully, and following in the ways of God that these priests were to, in a sense, lead the way for the people of Israel and what it looked like, of course, to offer these sacrifices and their specific unique role in that. Uh, but also I would say, even just with their character and the way that they lived their life, they, above everyone else, I think, had this responsibility uh to heed the words of God, to serve God faithfully in the ways that He commanded, and to follow after God all of their days. And so we see that being a part of their consecration. Now, of course, we also see in Exodus 29 lots of different sacrifices and well, different offerings. And so often when we think about the sacrificial system, we we typically only think of atonement. Uh, we think of the day of atonement, we think of the blood of bulls and goats, as Hebrews says, that cannot ultimately take away sin, but point forward to the one who can, which is Christ. Uh, but there is actually more than one offering that does more than one thing, right? We have the sin offering, which is maybe more what we think of classically when we think of the Old Testament sacrificial system, but there's food offerings, there is wave offerings. Tyler, what's a wave offering?

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Oh, that's it's uh in this first example when it's a wave offering, it was instituted, it was uh it was burned up. Um lift the lifting of these portions of these animals um as they're being set apart uh for God. But the the following the wave offerings and later heave offerings, there's this idea of these portions of these animals being set apart um by the people of Israel and for for these offerings out of their generosity or out of um out of the maybe a random, if you would say that random or unexpected blessings, they would they would go and uh and worship the Lord by sacrificing these things, and the the Levites would as God's design receive these things as as food for them and their families. Uh that would be a blessing to them as at the same time God is being honored and worshipped.

Seven Days And Creation Echoes

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Yeah, so we have the wave offering, we have the peace offering, I mean, lots of different things listed here in Exodus 29. But I just want to point out that not every sacrifice is specifically a sin offering. Not every sacrifice is specifically for atonement, precisely. There are other reasons to offer sacrifices, there are other reasons uh to offer offerings, and we see a couple of those examples here, and there's more uh that we'll continue to read about. Now, one thing that I thought was interesting was the repeated refrain of seven days, uh, even in verse 35. It says, Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons according to all that I have commanded you. Through seven days you shall ordain them, and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Verse 37, 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. So there's this repeated refrain of seven days, which of course should make us all think of creation, right? In Genesis chapter one and chapter two. So I think in some sense, and I don't want to stretch this too far, but it makes me think of just the idea of God creating and forming a new people. And that seven-day imagery is that whole idea of being created, being formed, being filled in this new way that now is um, of course, becoming clearer and clearer through these instructions that God is giving specifically to Moses on Mount Sinai for these priests. So I think there's a lot going on here in Exodus 29. Take some time just to look at all the different uh offerings that we mentioned, the sin, the food, the wave, the peace, get a greater understanding of that kind of in your own study and recognize the important role of the priests, uh, both in the Old Testament, but then in a way that points forward to the ultimate priest that Jesus would come uh to become and uh how he is our great high priest who lives to make intercession continually, as uh Hebrews tells us.

Psalm 74 Destruction And Remembering

SPEAKER_00 16:40

As we look to our psalm today in Psalm 74, uh we look to destruction. There is a lot happening here. Uh ASAF is speaking about how there is destruction in the sanctuary, there is no worship happening. We're looking at worship being instituted and how things are being set up in Exodus. And as we fast forward to the Psalms here, uh we see that there is a longing uh for justice, there is a longing for for God to take action to those who have destroyed. Verse 1 kicks it off. Oh God, why do you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? There is some questioning. Uh is there uh is is this going to be a forever thing? Have you forgotten your covenant, God? Have you have you forgotten your people? Verse 2. Please for God to remember, remember your congregation which you have purchased of old and and re redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage. Now there's there's a sense of of mourning here, there's a sense of reflection on just what is happening, the destruction of of God's temple. And as we fast forward through the psalm verse 12, what is the response? We reflect back to God. We the the psalmist reflects back to what God has done, the great works that have been accomplished by the Lord. Um, he is the creator, he is the one who made a way for his people to flee. Uh Egypt, he has, I mean, even reflections back here to Job in verse 14, crushing the heads of Leviathan. And this is all to point back and remember what God has done, though there are doubts and questions, like God, where are you? Uh have you forgotten us? And then the people having a duty and a responsibility, like, no, remember, remember, he doesn't break his promises, remember his covenant um is for generations and generations. God does not forget ultimately, he doesn't forget his people, he doesn't he doesn't forget what is happening, he's he's not aloof. The psalmist calling the people of Israel to think back to the covenant that God has made, and and also with this exilic um imagery here, to think back of maybe even how far they have wandered, how far they have strayed from the Lord, and and consider the ways that they can draw back near to him.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Yeah, actually, Psalm 74 reminds me of Psalm 23 in a lot of ways, especially as it starts there in verse 1. Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? And I think if you overlay Psalm 23 and just even the the events of the Babylonian captivity, the destruction of the temple and everything that happened, of course, it was because of Israel's uh covenant faithlessness. They broke God's covenant again and again and again. And uh he said what would happen if they broke the covenant, and it happened exactly as he said. But there is this continued expectation that God is the shepherd that cares for his sheep. And so it makes me think of Psalm 23. It says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me. So I I sense that that kind of perspective from Asaf, even though he's crying out and he's wondering how long, and he might even be questioning to some extent, are you with me in the valley? But I see just uh the goodness of the Lord that he clings to in the midst of that, uh, and that he knows ultimately his destination uh is to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And I think you you see that sense of uh feeling that and hoping in that in the midst of uh great sorrow and great uh suffering. So just a great psalm here and uh a great uh warning even to us of uh God does discipline those whom he loves. Hebrews tells us that again, and um he uh can um of course chastise us, and that can be painful and that can be difficult. Uh, but it's something that I think even ASAP here in Psalm 74 uh is is learning to praise the Lord in the midst of that. And um, of course, in Hebrews it talks about how uh it produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. And so the nation of Israel as a whole, uh, they weren't really trained by it, at least holistically. There were certainly individuals that were faithful, the remnant, as they are called, who were trained by this discipline, who were faithful in the midst of it. If you read the Book of Lamentations as an example, that's a whole book of trusting in the Lord in the midst of the sorrow and suffering of the Babylonian captivity. Um, but it's a good, good psalm just to reflect on and just to see that the power of God that is to be a comfort in the in the midst of difficult circumstances. So hopefully that's an encouragement for you today. Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass Bible SV.org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.