Leviticus 8:23

8:23 Aaron’s [ear]lobe, thumb, and big toe represented his total person. This act emphasized the role of the priestly office, with the blood stressing the ties to the sacrificial system. The priest’s basic function was mediation between God and his people. To do this effectively, he needed ears that could hear the words of God and the needs of his people, hands ready to do God’s bidding, and feet ready to take him where he was needed.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Moses did this because that the Priests were not yet established in their office.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 23. Put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, c.] See this significant ceremony explained in the note on Ex 29:20. See Clarke on Ex 29:20.

Calmet remarks that the consecration of the high priest among the Romans bore a considerable resemblance to the consecration of the Jewish high priest. "The Roman priest, clothed with a garment of silk, his head covered with a crown of gold adorned with sacred ribbons, was conducted into a subterranean place, over which there was a floor of planks pierced through with many holes. On this floor they sacrificed a bullock, whose blood was freely poured out on the planks or floor, which running through the holes fell upon the priest, who stood under to receive this sacred aspersion, and who, in order to be completely covered with the blood, took care to present the whole of his body, his clothes, face, eyes, nose, lips, and even his tongue, to receive the drops of blood falling through the pierced floor above. Being completely covered with this sanguineous shower, he ascended from his subterranean place, and was acknowledged and adored by the people as Pontifex Maximus, or supreme high priest." These rites, which bear a striking allusion to those used in the consecration of Aaron, and from which they were probably borrowed, and disguised by the introduction of their own superstitions, are particularly described by Aurelius Prudentius, in his poem entitled Romani Martyris Supplicium, from which I shall select those verses, the subject of which is given above, as the passage is curious, and the work not common.

"Summus sacerdos nempe sub terram scrobe

Acta in profundum consecrandus mergitur,

Mire infulatus, festa vittis tempora

Nectens, corona tum repexus aurea,

Cinctu Gabino sericam fultus togam.

Tabulis superne strata texunt pulpita,

Rimosa rari pegmatis compagibus,

Scindunt subinde vel terebrant aream,

Crebroque lignum perforant acumine,

Pateat minutis ut frequens hiatibus. -

Hic ut statuta est immolanda bellua,

Pectus sacrata dividunt venabulo,

Eructat amplum volnus undam sanguinis - c.

Tum per frequentes mille rimarum vias

Illapsus imber, tabidum rorem pluit,

Defossus intus quem sacerdos excipit,

Guttas ad omnes turpe subjectans caput,

Et veste et omni putrefactus corpore:

Quin os supinat, obvias offert genas

Supponit aures, labra, nares objicit,

Oculos et ipsos perluit liquoribus,

Nec jam palato parcit, et linguam rigat,

Donec cruorem totus atrum combibat. -

Procedit inde pontifex vlsu horridus-&c.

Omnes salutant atque adorant eminus,

Vilis quod illum sanguls, et bos mortuus

Foedis latentem sub cavernis laverint."

Of these lines the reader will not be displeased to find the following poetical version: -

"For when, with sacred pomp and solemn state,

Their great high priest the Romans consecrate,

His silken vest in Gabine cincture bound,

A festal fillet twines his temples round:

And, while aloft the gorgeous mitre shines,

His awful brow a golden crown confines.

In a deep dyke, for mystic ritual made,

He stands, surrounded with terrific shade.

High o'er his holy head a stage they place,

Adorn with paintings, and with statues grace

Then with keen piercers perforate the floor,

Till thronging apertures admit no more.

Thither the victim ox is now convey'd,

To glut the vengeance of the thirsty blade.

The sacred spear his sturdy throat divides,

Down, instant streaming, gush the gory tides,

Through countless crevices the gaping wood

Distils corrupted dew and smoking blood

Drop after drop, in swift succession shed,

Falls on the holy pontiff's mitred head;

While, to imbibe the sanctifying power,

His outspread garments drink the crimson shower;

Then on his back in reeking streams he lies,

And laves in livid blood his lips and eyes;

Bares every limb, exposes every pore,

To catch the virtue of the streaming gore;

With open mouth expects the falling flood,

Moistens his palate and his tongue with blood;

Extends his ears to meet the sanguine rain,

Nor lets a single drop descend in vain.

Then from the gloomy cave comes forth to light,

Bathed in black blood, and horrible to sight! -

By the vile torrent, and the victim slain,

In the dark cavern cleansed from mortal stain,

Their priest, enveloped in atoning gore,

With trembling awe surrounding throngs adore."

Prudentius was born about the middle of the fourth century, and was no doubt intimately acquainted with the circumstances he describes.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(23) And he slew it.—Better, and he killed, as the same word is rendered in the Authorised Version in Lev_8:19, that is, Moses killed it.

And put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear.—To teach him that, as the mediator between God and His people, it was his bounden duty to hearken to the commandments of the Lord.

And upon the thumb of his right hand.—To remind him that henceforth he is to execute God’s will, and walk in the way of His commandments.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Foot. The whole person was thus sensibly consecrated to God’s service. (Haydock) --- The pagan high priest, among the Romans, was adorned in silk and ribbands, with a crown of gold. Being conducted under ground, the blood of an ox, which had been sacrificed, came upon his head, ears, and other parts of his body, through little holes, made in a board; and thus besmeared, he was recognized by the people. (Prudent. hym. S. Romani, Saumaise. &c.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The lowest and softest part of the ear is called the tip or lap of the ear. See Exo 29:20.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23. Blood… upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear — The consecration was not only general, but specific. The ear must be dedicated that it may be open to the divine voice; the hand and foot, that they may be efficient in sacred services. Eminent saints have practised self consecration by the enumeration of all their faculties and capacities in detail. See the Life of Dr. Payson.

“Welcome, welcome, dear Redeemer,

Welcome to this heart of mine;

Lord, I make a full surrender;

Every power and thought be thine,

Thine entirely, through eternal ages thine.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.