Exodus 29:10-14 New English Translation
10 “You are to present the bull at the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons are to put[a] their hands on the head[b] of the bull. 11 You are to kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting 12 and take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar[c] with your finger; all the rest of[d] the blood you are to pour out at the base of the altar. 13 You are to take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the lobe[e] that is above the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them[f] on the altar. 14 But the meat of the bull, its skin, and its dung you are to burn up[g] outside the camp.[h] It is the purification offering.[i]
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- Exodus 29:10 tn The verb is singular, agreeing with the first of the compound subject—Aaron.
- Exodus 29:10 sn The details of these offerings have to be determined from a careful study of Leviticus. There is a good deal of debate over the meaning of laying hands on the animals. At the very least it identifies the animal formally as their sacrifice. But it may very well indicate that the animal is a substitute for them as well, given the nature and the effect of the sacrifices.
- Exodus 29:12 sn This act seems to have signified the efficacious nature of the blood, since the horns represented power. This is part of the ritual of the sin offering for laity, because before the priests become priests they are treated as laity. The offering is better described as a purification offering rather than a sin offering, because it was offered, according to Leviticus, for both sins and impurities. Moreover, it was offered primarily to purify the sanctuary so that the once-defiled or sinful person could enter (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB]).
- Exodus 29:12 tn The phrase “rest of” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Exodus 29:13 tn S. R. Driver suggests that this is the appendix or an appendix, both here and in v. 22 (Exodus, 320). “The surplus, the appendage of liver, found with cow, sheep, or goat, but not with humans: Lobus caudatus” (HALOT 453 s.v. יֹתֶרֶת).
- Exodus 29:13 tn Heb “turn [them] into sweet smoke” since the word is used for burning incense.sn The giving of the visceral organs and the fat has received various explanations. The fat represented the best, and the best was to go to God. If the animal is a substitute, then the visceral organs represent the will of the worshiper in an act of surrender to God.
- Exodus 29:14 tn Heb “burn with fire.”
- Exodus 29:14 sn This is to be done because there is no priesthood yet. Once they are installed, then the sin/purification offering is to be eaten by the officiating priests as a sign that the offering was received. But priests could not consume their own sin offering.
- Exodus 29:14 sn There were two kinds of “purification offering,” those made with confession for sin and those made without. The title needs to cover both of them, and if it is called in the traditional way “the sin offering,” that will convey that when people offered it for skin diseases, menstruation, or having babies, they had sinned. That was not the case. Moreover, it is usual to translate the names of the sacrifices by what they do more than what they cover—so peace offering, reparation offering, and purification offering.
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