Exodus 29:10-14 The Bull: the sin offering

"Bring the bull to the front of the Tent of Meeting,

and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head.

Slaughter it in the LORD's presence at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

Take some of the bull's blood

and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger,

and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar.

Then take all the fat on the inner parts,
the covering of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them
and burn them on the altar.

But burn the bull's flesh and its hide and its offal outside the camp.j
It is a sin offering."

Exodus 29:10-14 (NIV)
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The bull mentioned in these verses was the one specified in the early verses of this chapter. (v.1,3)

Aaron and his sons lay their hands on its head, indicating that this animal will be the substitute for themselves and that their sins will be transferred to it.  This is a concept called substitutionary atonement.  We will certainly deal more deeply with this as we get into the book of Leviticus, but for the moment, here are some verses where such a concept is displayed:

  

Exodus 29:10  "Bring the bull to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head."

Exodus 29:14  "But burn the bull's flesh and its hide and its offal outside the camp.  It is a sin offering."

Leviticus 1:3-4  "If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without defect.  He must present it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that it will be acceptable to the LORD.  He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him."

Leviticus 3:8  "He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it in front of the Tent of Meeting.  Then Aaron's sons shall sprinkle its blood against the altar on all sides."

[I know this may sound gross to some of you, but let me note two things:  1)When it says 'slaughter,' it is not in a cruel, hacking-with-knives frenzy which that term may bring to mind due to your association with certain horror movies, and 2) the sprinkling of the blood against all the sides of the altar, (and it is 'sprinkling,' not flinging gallons of blood about the place) -- though messy, reflects the concept of the blood being a covering for sin.  Hebrews 9:22 says, "In fact the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

Leviticus 4:3-4  "If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.  He is to present the bull at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting  before the LORD.  He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it before the LORD."

 

So the process of consecrating the priests of the LORD which is described in our passage (Exodus 29:10-14) also incorporates this idea of having a sacrifice to deal with the sins of the priest and his sons in order that they may be fit to later offer sacrifices for the people.

The process seems pretty straightforward -- after Aaron and his sons lay hands on the bull, it is to be slaughtered in the LORD's presence at the Tent of Meeting, and some of the bull's blood is put on the horns of the altar.  The fat on the inner parts, the covering of the liver, and both kidneys with their fat are to be burned on the altar, while the bull's flesh and hide and offal are burned outside the camp.

There are no doubt many other aspects which I have not mentioned, but we will cover more of that at a later time when we get to Leviticus and discuss these things in greater detail.