Ministerial function, and obligation.
This instruction is supplementary to that given in Exodus 29:1-46. We may gather from it—
I. THAT ENTRANCE ON SACRED WORK SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED WITH SPECIAL SOLEMNITIES. The commencement of any ministry may well be attended with such observances as shall impress upon the mind the sanctity and. weight of the obligations which are incurred.
It. THAT THE ACCEPTANCE OF SACRED OBLIGATIONS SHOULD BE REGARDED AS A TIME FOR THANKFULNESS AS WELL AS SERIOUSNESS OF SPIRIT. The priest was to bring a "meat offering"—fine flour and oil (Exodus 29:20, Exodus 29:21)—the token of gratitude for God's bountiful provision. There are, in truth, few things for which we have such reason to be thankful to God as for his providential guidance to that post for which we are fitted, at which we can usefully expend our powers; more particularly if this be one in close connection with his service.
III. THAT THOSE WHO HOLD SACRED OFFICES ARE, WITH ALL THE PEOPLE OF GOD, STEWARDS OF THEIR SECULAR POSSESSIONS. The priest, as well as the layman in Israel, was to bring his meat offering. He, too, was indebted to the Divine Sovereign for all temporal blessings, and should make suitable acknowledgment of his debt. Those who now serve in sacred things, in the gospel of the Saviour, are men who receive and hold secular as well as spiritual treasures, and they, too, have their obligations, which they must not disregard.
IV. THAT WHAT WE GIVE TO GOD AND HIS CAUSE SHOULD BE GIVEN ABSOLUTELY, WITHOUT THOUGHT OF RETURN. The people gave their offerings, part being burnt and the rest being the portion of the priests; but every "meat offering for the priest was to be wholly burnt: it was not to be eaten" (Exodus 29:23). The priests were not to take back again for their own use that which they had presented to God. What they offered was to be given wholly, utterly, with no thought of receiving it again. When we give to our brother, we do best when we are "hoping for nothing again" (Luke 6:35). When we give to God, either in worship or in contribution to his cause and kingdom, we do best when we are filled with a sense of his immeasurable goodness to us, and with a desire to do something to his praise. We should feel that