1 On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. 2 He said to Aaron, “Take a bull calf for your sin offering and a ram for your burnt offering, both without defect, and present them before the Lord. 3 Then say to the Israelites: ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb—both a year old and without defect—for a burnt offering, 4 and an ox and a ram for a fellowship offering to sacrifice before the Lord, together with a grain offering mixed with olive oil. For today the Lord will appear to you.’”
5 They took the things Moses commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the entire assembly came near and stood before the Lord. 6 Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.”
7 Moses said to Aaron, “Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”
8 So Aaron came to the altar and slaughtered the calf as a sin offering for himself. 9 His sons brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger into the blood and put it on the horns of the altar; the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar. 10 On the altar he burned the fat, the kidneys and the long lobe of the liver from the sin offering, as the Lord commanded Moses; 11 the flesh and the hide he burned up outside the camp.
22 Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. And having sacrificed the sin offering, the burnt offering and the fellowship offering, he stepped down.
23 Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown. (Leviticus 9:1-11, 22-24)
It’s ironic that Moses told Aaron to “Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before the Lord” in v. 2. It’s ironic because the last time Aaron had a significant role in the Exodus story was when Aaron went along with the people and created for them a golden calf that they could worship (Ex. 32). Yet here was Moses, telling his brother Aaron to take a bull calf, and for all things, to be used as a sin offering. I would imagine that the memory of that day was probably still quite fresh in Aaron’s mind. Because of the actions of Aaron and the Israelites that day, about 3000 people died at the hand of the Levites (Ex. 32:28). Even more died after the Lord struck the people with a plague later on as of result of their unfaithfulness (Ex. 32:36). Aaron probably should have died with the men and women who died as a result of their faithlessness that day.
But by the mercy of the Lord, Aaron was spared. And now, some time later, the Lord had not only called Aaron to be a priest, but had consecrated him as one, and was now calling him to make a sin offering to the Lord, a sin offering of a bull calf.
One might think that this was God rubbing salt into the wounds of Aaron, reminding Aaron of his great sin against the Lord. But I think this is the Lord forgiving Aaron of that sin. By using a bull calf as the sin offering, I believe the Lord was telling Aaron that the Lord was wiping away that sin entirely. V. 23 would seem to concur that Aaron had been forgiven by the Lord, as it states, “And Moses and Aaron when into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.” God would go on to use Aaron for His purposes, after wiping away Aaron’s failure. After Aaron burned the bull calf to the Lord, he was freed from his past failure, and able to serve the Lord from that point on.
Perhaps there is something in your life that you’ve have been clinging on to.
Perhaps a sin, a failure, a mistake or a tragedy. Something that has hindered you from really drawing close to the Lord because it keeps weighing you down. But maybe our Lord is waiting for you to turn it over to Him so that He can burn it away and free you from it so that you can draw near to the Lord and so that you can be free to be used by the Lord. The Lord who freed Aaron from the burden of his sin and failure is willing and wanting to free us from our sins and failures. We need to turn it over to the Lord so that He can take it upon Himself and free us from the burden of it. Are you willing to let go of whatever it is that is hindering you from going deeper with the Lord?