Friday, June 13, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Exodus 28-29
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 68
Key Verse
Exodus 29:2 — “And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them.”
Devotional Thought
Aaron and his sons are taken from among the children of Israel and set apart for the priest’s office, and God is very particular about what they wear when they draw near. The garments are “for glory and for beauty” (28:2), yet they are also garments of remembrance and representation. On the shoulder stones and the breastplate are engraved the names of the twelve tribes, six on one stone and six on the other, “according to their birth” (28:10). Aaron does not enter the holy place as a private man; he enters bearing the whole people on his shoulders and over his heart “for a memorial before the LORD continually” (28:29). The high priest carries Israel with him.
Notice the hem of the blue robe: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around (28:34). The sound of the bells is heard when Aaron goes in and when he comes out, “that he die not” (28:35). And on his forehead, engraved like a signet, is the motto of his whole life: HOLINESS TO THE LORD (28:36). Even the iniquity of Israel’s holy gifts is borne on that forehead, “that they may be accepted before the LORD” (28:38). The garments themselves preach: approach God only on His terms, covered, consecrated, and carrying His people.
Then comes the consecration itself (Exodus 29). Aaron and his sons are washed with water, clothed, anointed with oil poured on Aaron’s head, and then blood is applied to the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot (29:20). Ear, hand, foot — the whole man is claimed. They eat the flesh of the ram of consecration and the bread by the door of the tabernacle (29:32), and the whole seven-day ceremony ends with a promise that reaches far beyond Sinai: “And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God” (29:45).
It is mid-June, and many of us are living in the ordinary rhythm of work and family, of summer heat and long evenings. It is easy to think that God’s nearness is reserved for holy buildings and holy men. But Exodus 28–29 is the story of how a holy God makes a way to live among a sinful people. Every detail — the stones, the bells, the blood on the ear — is God saying, I intend to dwell with you. And Psalm 68 sings the same thing: “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them” (68:18). The God who rides upon the heavens by His name JAH is also “a father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows” (68:5). He is “the God of our salvation,” who “daily loadeth us with benefits” (68:19–20). The priests of old carried the people’s names on their shoulders; our great High Priest carries us, and He has made His people priests, that He might dwell among us still.
Reflection
- Aaron bore the names of Israel on his shoulders and over his heart before the LORD continually. Whose names are you carrying before God right now in prayer, and do you bear them with the same deliberate, continual remembrance?
- The blood was placed on the ear, the hand, and the foot — what you hear, what you do, and where you go. If God claimed those three places in your life this week, what would have to change?
Prayer
O Lord our God, who brought Thy people out of Egypt and desired to dwell among them, we thank Thee that Thou hast not left us without a priest. We bless Thee that Jesus bears our names upon His shoulders and upon His heart, and that He has entered the holy place once for all. Sanctify us wholly, we pray. Touch our ears to hear Thy word, our hands to do Thy work, and our feet to walk in Thy ways. Write HOLINESS TO THE LORD upon our lives, that we may be accepted before Thee, and let us know, day by day, that Thou art the LORD our God who dwells among us. In the name of our great High Priest, Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 68:1 — “Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.”