Leviticus 9--The Lord Accepts Aaron's Offering

Leviticus 9
English Standard Version

The Lord Accepts Aaron's Offering
9 On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, 2 and he said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. 3 And say to the people of Israel, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering, 4 and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the Lord, and a grain offering mixed with oil, for today the Lord will appear to you.’” 5 And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. 6 And Moses said, “This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” 7 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”

8 So Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. 9 And the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar. 10 But the fat and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering he burned on the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses. 11 The flesh and the skin he burned up with fire outside the camp.

12 Then he killed the burnt offering, and Aaron's sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar. 13 And they handed the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he burned them on the altar. 14 And he washed the entrails and the legs and burned them with the burnt offering on the altar.

15 Then he presented the people's offering and took the goat of the sin offering that was for the people and killed it and offered it as a sin offering, like the first one. 16 And he presented the burnt offering and offered it according to the rule. 17 And he presented the grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, besides the burnt offering of the morning.

18 Then he killed the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings for the people. And Aaron's sons handed him the blood, and he threw it against the sides of the altar. 19 But the fat pieces of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail and that which covers the entrails and the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver-- 20 they put the fat pieces on the breasts, and he burned the fat pieces on the altar, 21 but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved for a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses commanded.

​22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

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Here's a bit of "historical narrative" mixed in with this "instruction manual" of sorts.  We see a bit of the story where Moses and Aaron do everything as the LORD commanded of them and the sacrifices that were made on behalf of the priests and the people were found acceptable in the LORD's sight.  That is not to say that any of these sacrifices permanently dealt with the issues of sin and guilt, but think of it like "credit card" that God gave to them to have that charge billed against an account that would be paid off on some future date (at the cross of cross), but the credit card has to go through a process when you use it to say that the person is not over their credit limit and that it is an acceptable purchase.  That's kind of what's going on here.

We see that on the eighth day after their days of consecration had been completed, each man of Israel was commanded to bring many animals and much grain for sacrifice for burnt offerings, sin offerings, grain offerings, and peace/fellowship offerings.  There was much sin and broken fellowship in the congregation to be dealt with, and this was interfering with the fellowship that the LORD could have with them as if God drew near to them without their sin atoned for, His holiness would consume them as an all-consuming fire just like he warned them about on Mount Sinai.

Aaron first made atonement for himself with a calf as a sin offering and he then offered the burnt offering as prescribed and then he began to make sacrifices for all the people of Israel with burnt offerings and to accept the grain offerings of Israel and burn the memorial portion as prescribed.  He then started to make the peace/fellowship offerings--keeping the breast and the right thigh as the portion for the priests as the Lord had commanded Moses.  Aren't you already tired just reading this?  Imagine being the one continually making atonement and seeing the bloodshed and the cost of the sin and broken fellowship--wouldn't your heart cry out, "Isn't there a better way?"

After all this, Aaron blessed the people (likely with the words that we see in Numbers 6:24-26 as we are told there that those are the words to be used when Aaron would bless the people).  Only after all of the offerings had been offered to deal with the sin and guilt and broken fellowship could Moses and Aaron enter the Tabernacle to minister in the Holy Place by trimming the lamps and burning the incense on the altar of incense.  When they came out from completing their work inside the Holy Place, they once again blessed the people and the glory of the Lord shown round about them and the consuming fire of the Lord burned up all of the burnt offerings in a way that should make us think of the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel where fire comes from heaven and consumes not only the sacrifice and the wood, but the altar and all the water that was on the altar and in the trench around the altar.  The people fell on their faces both in fear and awe and worshiped the Lord as they saw His glory, power, majesty, and a glimpse of His holiness.