With the hallowed
Atonement
At-one-ment
A contagious indwelling
Reaching out
[For full chapter, click here
From the creation of the consecrating clothing, to their
activation. The clothing is placed on Aaron and his sons, creating a “everlasting
ministry (kahuna).” From an action “to minister” (le-kahen) we
have moved into an existential state.
The key word of the chapter is “fulfillment” “filling”—Milui/miluim.
The consecration is defined by “filling the hands” (le-maleh et yadam), and
happens when the bread is placed “on the palms” of Aaron and his sons. The
seven day ceremony (again, a play on the definitive Sabbath) is Miluim, the
filling; the sacrifices are the ayil miluim—the “ram of fulfillment”. The existential emptiness—is God
amongst us or nothingness, the hollow at the center of the altar, is at last
being filled.
The “fulfillment” is accompanied by a focus on atonement,
which also is a seven day process. The creation of holiness is fraught with
danger of missteps.
Yet it ends with completion. From the liminal “gate” to the
tent of meeting, the sacred space spreads “outside.” Holiness becomes
contagious. Anything that touches the altar becomes “hallowed.” The chapter
closes with a tripartite hallowedness, of Israel, of the altar, or the kohanim.
God will “dwell within the Children of Israel and be their God.” We return
to the opening words at Sinai, as Israel for the first time truly “knows that I
am their God who took them out of Egypt.” ]
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