THE FEAST UPON THE CONSECRATION OFFERINGS.

(31-34) The writer having digressed in Exodus 29:27 from his main subject (the consecration of Aaron and his sons) to the consideration of certain permanent laws which arose out of the occasion, returns to his main subject at this point, and records the directions which he received with respect to the feast that followed, as a matter of course, on the consecration sacrifice. The parts of the victim neither consumed on the altar nor assigned to the officiating priest, were to be boiled at the door of the Tabernacle (Leviticus 8:31), and there consumed by Aaron and his sons, together with the loaf of unleavened bread, the oiled cake, and the wafer, which still remained in the "basket of consecrations" (Leviticus 8:31) mentioned in Exodus 29:3; Exodus 29:23. No "stranger"--i.e., no layman--was to join with them in the feast (Exodus 29:33); and, if they were unable to consume the whole, what remained was to be burnt. (Comp. the injunctions with respect to the paschal lamb, given in Exodus 12:10; Exodus 23:18.) Christian ritualism draws from these injunctions the propriety of an entire consumption of the elements on each occasion of the celebration of the Eucharist.

Verse 31. - The ram of consecration - i.e., the part of the ram that was left and had not been burnt (ver. 25). Seethe his flesh in the holy place. This was understood to mean boiling at the door of the tabernacle (Leviticus 8:31). A sacrificial meal followed on every peace-offering, in which the offerers participated. (See above, Exodus 18:12.)

29:1-37 Aaron and his sons were to be set apart for the priest's office, with ceremony and solemnity. Our Lord Jesus is the great High Priest of our profession, called of God to be so; anointed with the Spirit, whence he is called Messiah, the Christ; clothed with glory and beauty; sanctified by his own blood; made perfect, or consecrated through sufferings, Heb 2:10. All believers are spiritual priests, to offer spiritual sacrifices,And thou shalt take the ram of the consecration,.... For the other ram was cut in pieces and burnt, even the whole of it:

and seethe his flesh in the holy place; not in that part of the tabernacle which was properly the holy place, as distinguished from the holy of holies, and from the court of the tabernacle; for in that there was no convenience for boiling, but in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation, even at the door of it, as in Leviticus 8:31.