Exodus 40:15

_AND THOU SHALT BRING AARON AND HIS SONS UNTO THE DOOR OF THE TABERNACLE OF THE CONGREGATION, AND WASH THEM WITH WATER._ Bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle ... and wash them. This ceremony, as Hengstenberg remarks, was observed also in Egypt, where the priests were purified with water before they assumed the sacerdotal robes, and there was a general but very striking similarity of the sacerdotal institutions among the Egyptians and Israelites. The whole ceremony of investiture, the anointing oil poured on them after their equipment in the official robes, the cap, the crown, all were the same. But there were also marked differences in the ritual of the tabernacle, which will be noticed as they occur. Verse 15. AND THOU SHALT ANOINT THEM, AS THOU DIDST ANOINT THEIR FATHER. The sacred oil was used, but it does not appear that the ceremony was performed exactly in the...

1-15 When a new year begins, we should seek to serve God better than the year before. In half a year the tabernacle was completed. When the hearts of numbers are earnest in a good cause, much may be done in a short time; and when the commandments of God are continually attended to, as the rule of working, all will be done well. The high-priesthood was in the family of Aaron till Christ came, and in Him, the substance of all these shadows, it continues for ever....

Verse Exodus 40:15. _FOR THEIR ANOINTING SHALL SURELY BE AN EVERLASTING_ _PRIESTHOOD_] By this anointing a right was given to Aaron and his family to be high priests among the Jews for ever; so that all who should be born of this family should have a _right_ to the priesthood without the repetition of this unction, as they should enjoy this honour in their father's right, who had it by a particular grant from God. But it appears that the high priest, on his consecration, did receive the _holy unction_; see Leviticus 4:3; Leviticus 6:22; Leviticus 21:10. And this continued till the destruction of th...

EXPOSITION EXODUS 40:1 THE COMMAND TO SET UP THE TABERNACLE, AND ITS PERFORMANCE. All was now ready. Bezaleel and Aholiab had completed their task. The work for the tabernacle had been given in, and had been approved Moses did not however at once set it up. He waited for a command from God. After a short interval, the command came. He was ordered to select the first day of the ensuing year—the first day of the first year of freedom—for the operation. Directions were given him, which fixed the order in which the various parts were to be set up, and assigned to the various articles of furniture their proper places ...

AND THOU SHALL ANOINT THEM AS THOU DIDST ANOINT THEIR FATHER,.... For Aaron was first anointed, and then his sons: THAT THEY MAY MINISTER UNTO ME IN THE PRIEST'S OFFICE; which they might not do before their anointing, though separated for it, and called unto it: FOR THEIR ANOINTING SHALL SURELY BE AN EVERLASTING PRIESTHOOD THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS; that is, this ceremony of anointing was to be used in all ages at the investiture of the high priest with his office, until the Messiah should come, who would put an end to the Aaronic priesthood; for not common priests, only the successors of the high priest, were anointed in later times; this present unction serving for all the priests that should follow in successive generations, so long as the priesthood continued....

7. THE TABERNACLE SET UP, THE FINISHED WORK AND THE GLORY CHAPTER 40 _ 1. Jehovah gives the directions (Exodus 40:1)_ 2. Moses' obedience (Exodus 40:16) 3. The tabernacle set up (Exodus 40:17) 4. The ark brought in (Exodus 40:20) 5. The furniture placed and the offerings brought (Exodus 40:22) 6. The laver and the court (Exodus 40:30) 7. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle ...

XL. P S. THE ERECTION OF THE TENT. After a further summary of instructions mostly given before (Exodus 40:1), and involving the very latest developments (_cf._ the anointing of the assistant priests in Exodus 40:15), the actual erection is described _in_ Exodus 40:16, Moses himself inaugurating the ceremonial of worship (Exodus 40:23; Exodus 40:25; Exodus 40:27; Exodus 40:29). Bo

AS. according as....

Moses is instructed by Jehovah to set up the Tent of Meeting, and the Court, to arrange the sacred vessels in their places (_vv._2 8), to consecrate the whole by anointing it (_vv._9 11), to clothe the priests in their vestments, and to anoint them (_vv._12 15). Most of these instructions have been given before; now that the time has come for carrying them out, they are summarily repeated (though not all that are necessary are given here; see _vv._17 ff.)....

FOR THEIR ANOINTING SHALL SURELY BE AN EVERLASTING PRIESTHOOD— Houbigant renders this, _And this anointing of theirs shall be for them, as well as for their posterity, for an everlasting right to the priesthood._ The successors of the high-priest were personally anointed; see Leviticus 6:22; Leviticus 21. 10. Some have thought, that this _anointing_ of Aaron and his sons was signified by these words, to be sufficient to consecrate not only them, but their posterity, to the priesthood. "As the priesthood," says Calmet, "was hereditary in the family of Aaron, there was no necessity to repeat the anointing here spoken of upon every one of that family: it was sufficient that the first priests had once received that anointing for all their successors: they anointed, however, the high-priest, even