Further Instructions: Consecration of Priests and Tabernacle
PARASHAT T’TZAVEH (“you shall instruct”) adds to the previous parashah’s elaborate instructions for constructing the Tabernacle complex and furnishings, by giving detailed information about the vestments for the priests (28:1–43). Most of this information concerns the sacral garments for the chief priestly official, Aaron. As the one whose priestly functions bring him closest to the invisible presence of God in the Holy of Holies, his apparel must be of the same order of sanctity as the materials used for the holiest areas of the tent shrine.
The next order of business concerns the consecration service (29:1–37). An investiture (or ordination) ceremony will be necessary to confer upon Aaron and his subordinates the requisite sanctity for approaching God and performing their priestly tasks. A supplement (29:38–46) gives advance information about the regular sacrifices that will take place at the Tabernacle, and about God’s availability there once the whole complex and its priests are sanctified.
Flanking the lengthy materials about vestments and consecration are two brief passages: one involves the oil for the daily ritual of lighting the lamps in the sacred tent (27:20–21), and the other the incense altar (30:1–10); both items are functionally related to the priests’ role.
The wealth of detail about Aaron and his sons provides a stark portrayal of how males dominated the communal sacred lives of the ancient Israelites. Only later, in parashat Vayak’heil, will the minor presence of some female personnel at the communal religious shrine become apparent. There, we read about the women who are experts in making textiles (35:25–26) and “the women who performed tasks at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting” (38:8).
In contrast to the seemingly limited participation of women in the institutions of the Tabernacle or Temple, women did play a prominent role in household religious life—carrying out religious practices deemed necessary for the well-being and survival of their families, such as rituals to achieve fertility, healthy pregnancy, and safe childbirth. Reproduction in the modern world has been medicalized; but traditional societies—including ancient Israel—addressed barrenness, difficult pregnancies and births, and infant mortality via religious practices carried out in the home. Although this information almost never emerges in the Bible, archeological and ethnographic data now provide strong evidence for these essential functions of Israelite women. (See further Vayikra, Another View.)
—Carol Meyers
Outline—
I. INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT OIL FOR LIGHT (27:20–21)
II. INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT PRIESTLY VESTMENTS (28:1–43)
A. Introduction (vv. 1–5)
B. Ritual items for Aaron (vv. 6–30)
C. Apparel for Aaron and other priests (vv. 31–43)
III. INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT CONSECRATION (29:1–46)
A. Installation rites (vv. 1–37)
B. Directions for regular sacrifice (vv. 38–42a)
C. Summation (vv. 42b–46)
IV. INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT THE INCENSE ALTAR (30:1–10)