Leftovers

“Anything from the ordination ram or from the bread that is left over until morning you are to burn up. Don’t eat it; it’s holy.” Exodus 29:34 (The Message)

Sacrifices accompanied the ordination of Aaron and his sons as High Priest among the Israelites. This sacrifice of a ram was eaten by the Priest during the ordination ceremony. Whatever was left over was to be destroyed by fire; both the meat and the bread.


The primary purpose of the High Priest was to present offerings to God on behalf of the people. Primarily he would offer, once a year, the Atonement Sacrifice, which represented the peoples’ sins being forgiven by God. Before he could offer it, though, he had to be purified himself, as well as the altar on which it was sacrificed.

It seems a waste in an agrarian economy to demand the leftovers be destroyed. But, as in all the rituals described throughout the Law, God is giving us a picture. He is telling us something about Him, something about ourselves, or something about how He wants to relate to us.

The first thing I notice about this ordination offering is that the Aaron and his sons did eat it. This was not an offering that was consumed by the fire, meant for God’s satisfaction. This was an offering of “identification”.

The priest, in eating the sacrifice, first identified himself with the people. The people supplied the sheep and bread and the priests partook of them, standing in the place of the people before God. He showed that he, along with the people, were dependent on God’s provision, even of the sacrifices he required.

This is a picture of how Jesus, the Son of God, shared our own human nature. Though He was the Eternal High Priest, The Only Son of God, He experienced the same need for nourishment of any normal human being. Becoming human, He put Himself in the place of dependence upon God.

The High Priest also identifies himself with God, taking part in the sacrifice that God also receives. This is important because he must be able to speak with God’s own authority when he declares the peoples’ sins forgiven.

Jesus did not simply “identify” himself as God, He is God. God-in-the-Flesh. When He cried out from the cross, “Father, forgive them”, He spoke with the innate authority of the Godhead itself. When Jesus declares you forgiven, there is no higher authority that can nullify His word.

But then we come to this interesting verse in Exodus 29. Verse 34 tells the priests what to do if there are leftovers. The instructions say nothing about the procedure if there is not enough of the sacrifice to go around. God never runs out! Indeed, He has to make sure they priests know what to do if there is excess.

Why not just leave it for tomorrow? God wants us always, even in times of super-abundance, to depend on Him daily. This theme runs throughout Scripture. The Hebrews were told to only harvest enough of the miraculous Manna for one day. If they set aside more, it would be rotten by the next day. Jesus tells us to worry only about today, each day having enough trouble of its own.

This single verse tells me two wonderful things. First, God is the God of abundance. He never experiences a shortfall, and neither to His people who want to serve Him. Second, even though there is overflow in His provision, we are to learn dependence daily.

God has entered into a loving relationship with us. He wants to care for all of our needs. He wants us to depend on His abundance. Knowing He will always supply, and depending upon Him daily frees us to actually be “priests” to the world around us, ourselves. We can bring the griefs, sins and sorrows of fellow sojourners to Him daily. We can say with authority that the returning prodigal is completely forgiven.

Today, knowing He supplies in abundance, let me confidently reach out to those around me who are uncertain of His care.