I will discuss only one of the aspects covered in this section of Leviticus, namely the ordination of priests. The texts chosen for consideration are Leviticus 8: 6-9; 12; and 22-24 which deals with the ordination of priests. The priestly office seems to have been central to the religious life of the covenant community and must have played a key role in the land of
Israel and therefore an understanding of the significance of the priestly ordination throws more light on the issues of family land and the Sabbath year.
Leviticus 8:6-9 “Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water. He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him by its skilfully woven waistband, so it was fastened on him. He placed the breast piece on him and put the Urim and Thummim in the breast piece. Then he placed the turban on Aaron’s head and set the gold plate, the sacred diadem on the front of it, as the LORD commanded Moses.”
The ceremony of washing was done so that Aaron and his sons might be ritually clean for the ordination ceremony (Hartley, 1992: 111). Such ablutions have symbolic and hygienic significance even today and are the prerequisite for active participation in the civic life (Lev 15:5 ff) (Gerstenberger, 1996: 108). According to Kaiser (1994: 1060), the ceremonial washing signified the increased participation of the Holy Spirit and it also signified the cleansing from defilements of sin that acted as impediments to the office of the priesthood.
Although each one of the three views above is true to a certain extent, considering the ceremonial character of the context, I think the view by Hartley (1992: 111) is more accurate, namely that the washing of Aaron and his sons rendered them ritually clean for the ordination ceremony.
Leviticus 8:7-9 “He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him. He also tied the ephod to him by its skilfully woven waistband; so it was fastened on him. He placed the breast piece on him and put the Urim and Thummim in the breast piece. Then he placed the turban on Aaron’s head and set the gold plate, the sacred diadem, on the front of it, as the LORD commanded Moses.”
According to Hartley (1992: 111), after the washing ceremony, Moses clothed Aaron with special priestly clothes. These priestly vestments constituted the outer symbols of priestly authority (Milgrom, 1991: 501). Hartley (1992: 112) and Gerstenberger (1996: 108) concurred.
The consensus here is that the clothing of the priests to assume their office was an important event which symbolised the priest’s authority to minister.
Leviticus 8:12 “He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him.”
The implication of anointing as a sacred right is that the anointed one receives divine sanction and that his person is inviolable (Milgrom, 1991: 153; Gerstenberger, 1996: 110). The purpose of the anointing oil was to set the person or the object apart for service to the Lord (Kaiser, Jr., 1994: 1061; Hartley, 1992: 112).
The scholars cited above all agree that the anointing service set the priesthood apart for holy use in God’s work.
Leviticus 8:23-24 “Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. Moses also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobs of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet.”
By covering Aaron’s extremities with blood, Moses consecrated him totally to Yahweh (Hartley, 1992: 113). Within the framework of this priestly consecration, the sense of these rites may be first to render the right side of the body, especially oriented towards action, suitable for service to Yahweh (Gerstenberger, 1996: 111). The whole act of applying blood to Aaron’s right ear, right thumbs and right toe had the significance of denoting total surrender to God’s service by Aaron and his sons (Kaiser, 1994: 162). Gerstenberger (1996: 111) said that the reason for anointing the doubly present extremities was presumably that in this way the entirety of the person is affected. The process meant that the ear was dedicated to Yahweh’s instructions while the hands and feet were supposed to carry them out (Hartley, 1992: 113).
The shared view is that the ceremony of applying blood to the right ears, right thumbs and big right toes of the priest consecrated them to whole hearted service to Yahweh.
Leviticus 8: 26-29 “Then from the basket of the bread made without yeast, which was before the LORD, he took a cake of bread, and one made with oil and a wafer; he put these on the fat portions and on the right thigh. He put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons and waived them before the LORD as a wave offering. Them Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as an ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire. He also took the breast - Moses share
of the ordination ram - and waved it before the LORD as a wave offering as the LORD commanded Moses.”
The induction into office associated with the special offering (Lev 8:25-29) is portrayed more expansively (Gerstenberger, 1996: 111).
The connection between this ritual of filling Aaron’s hands and the technical term for ordination, milluim, literally meaning ‘the filling’ is quite visible (Hartley, 1992: 114). Gerstenberger (1996: 111) pointed out that the designation of the sacrificial animal as the ‘ram of hand filling’ (v. 22) alludes to the central motif. He went further to state that hand filling is the official investiture of a priest through a financially powerful employer (Judges 17:5, 12), and involves primarily the fixing of a salary. Kaiser (1994: 1062) noted that the Hebrew term for ordination is milluim, meaning ‘fillings.’ He went on to conclude that this symbolic act pointed to the fact that with the responsibilities of the priesthood, Aaron’s hands and his sons’ hands were full.
The general consensus is that the ordination service signified the fact that Aaron’s hands and his sons’ hands were filled with the new responsibility of priesthood.
From my own perspective, the link between the ordination service to the Sabbath year and to land retention within the family, though not explicitly stated, can be easily deduced. The LORD, who set Aaron and his sons apart to constitute a holy priesthood, also set the Sabbath year apart to constitute holy time. Both institutions point to a God who places great importance on holiness. By the act of ordination, Aaron’s hands and his sons’ hands were filled with the responsibility of priesthood. This reality suggests that the Sabbath year, by being set apart for holy use by God was supposed to be used exclusively for the purpose for which it was set apart. It is as Israel obeyed these laws that she was assured of a permanent place in the land. Disobedience would bring death and forfeiture of land inheritance (Lev 26:3-16).