Leviticus 8:33

And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven days shall he consecrate you.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(33) And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle.—Better, and ye shall not go from the enclosure of the tent of meeting, that is, Aaron and his sons are not to go out of the court, as the consecration was not performed within but at the entrance of the tent of meeting. This is most distinctly stated in Leviticus 8:35.

In seven days.—Better, for seven days. As the ceremony of consecration lasted seven days, it was but natural that Aaron and his sons were enjoined not to quit the sacred enclosure for any secular transactions during the whole of this period.

For seven days shall he consecrate you.—That is, on each of these seven days the same sacrifices are to be repeated, the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the consecration offering are to be offered up, and Aaron and his sons, as well as their garments, are to be sprinkled with the sacrificial blood and the anointing oil. (See Exodus 29:36.)

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 8:33. Seven days — In each of which the same ceremonies were to be repeated, and other rites to be performed. He — Either God or Moses; for the words may be spoken by Moses, either in God’s name or in his own.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:14-36 In these types we see our great High Priest, even Christ Jesus, solemnly appointed, anointed, and invested with his sacred office, by his own blood, and the influences of his Holy Spirit. He sanctifies the ordinances of religion, to the benefit of his people and the honour of God the Father; who for his sake accepts our worship, though it is polluted with sin. We may also rejoice, that he is a merciful and faithful High Priest, full of compassion to the feeble-minded and tempest-tossed soul. All true Christians are consecrated to be spiritual priests. We should seriously ask ourselves, whether in our daily walk we study to maintain this character? and abound in spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Christ? If so, still there is no cause for boasting. Let us not despise our fellow-sinners; but remembering what we have done, and how we are saved, let us seek and pray for their salvation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The rites of consecration were to last a whole week, and thus, like the longer of the annual festivals, were connected in an emphatic manner with the sabbatical number of the covenant. During this period the priests were not to leave the holy precinct for the sake of any worldly business; and the whole series of ceremonies, including the sacrifice of the Ram of consecration, was to be gone through on each day. Compare the marginal references.

Leviticus 8:33

Rather, ye shall not go away from the entrance of the tent. With this agree Cranmer, the Geneva Bible, etc. The meaning is evidently that they were not to go out of the court, as is more clearly expressed in Leviticus 8:35.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

33. ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, &c.—After all these preliminaries, they had still to undergo a week's probation in the court of the tabernacle before they obtained permission to enter into the interior of the sacred building. During the whole of that period the same sacrificial rites were observed as on the first day, and they were expressly admonished that the smallest breach of any of the appointed observances would lead to the certain forfeiture of their lives [Le 8:35].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For seven days the same ceremonies were to be repeated, as the next verse implies, and other rites to be performed.

He consecrate you; either God or Moses; for the words may be spoken by Moses, either in God’s name, or in his own; Moses speaking of himself in the third person, which is very common in Scripture.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days,.... Which was the time of their consecration, so long it lasted; and they had provision enough every day from the ram of consecration, whose flesh they were to boil and eat. The Jewish writers (c) are puzzled where they should ease nature, since the place was holy; but the orders are not to be considered as so strict but that they might go in and out, though they were not to stay long, or to attend to any other business; and it was always necessary there should be some upon the spot, keeping the Lord's charge in their turns; and it was always requisite that they should also sleep alternately; for it cannot be thought that they should be all this time without rest, any more than without food:

until the days of your consecration be at an end; which were to continue so long:

for seven days shall he consecrate you; that is, Moses, who here speaks of himself in the third person, as appears from Exodus 29:35. Aben Ezra observes, that the word "end" is wanting, and that the sense is, at the end of seven days he shall consecrate you, finish their consecration; all the seven days he was doing it, and at the end of the seventh concluded it.

(c) Aben Ezra, Hiscuni in loc.

Geneva Study Bible

And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven days shall he consecrate you.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

33. shall consecrate you] See R.V. mg. for Heb. idiom, meaning to institute to a priestly office. The reference apparently is to filling the hand (see on Leviticus 8:25) with the joint sacrifices, which they were to offer.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 33-36. - The sacrificial ceremonies were repeated for seven days, during which Aaron and his sons remained in the court of the tabernacle, but did not enter the holy place, abstaining throughout that time from ministering, as the apostles did during the interval between the Ascension and the day of Pentecost. The words, Ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle, should rather be, Ye shall not go away from the entrance of the tabernacle, and for seven days shall he consecrate you, should rather be, during seven days ye shall be consecrated



Leviticus 8:33

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(cf. Exodus 29:35-37). The consecration was to last seven days, during which time the persons to be consecrated were not to go away from the door of the tabernacle, but to remain there day and night, and watch the watch of the Lord that they might not die. "For the Lord will fill your hand seven days. As they have done on this (the first) day, so has Jehovah commanded to do to make atonement for you" (Leviticus 8:34). That is to say, the rite of consecration which has been performed upon you to-day, Jehovah has commanded to be performed or repeated for seven days. These words clearly imply that the whole ceremony, in all its details, was to be repeated for seven days; and in Exodus 29:36-37, besides the filling of the hand which was to be continued seven days, and which presupposes the daily repetition of the consecration-offering, the preparation of the sin-offering for reconciliation and the expiation or purification and anointing of the altar are expressly commanded for each of the seven days. This repetition of the act of consecration is to be regarded as intensifying the consecration itself; and the limitation of it to seven days is to be accounted for from the signification and holiness of the number seven as the sign of the completion of the works of God. The commandment not to leave the court of the tabernacle during the whole seven days, is of course not to be understood literally (as it is by some of the Rabbins), as meaning that the persons to be consecrated were not even to go away from the spot for the necessities of nature (cf. Lund. jd. Heiligth. p. 448); but when taken in connection with the clause which follows, "and keep the charge of the Lord," it can only be understood as signifying that during these days they were not to leave the sanctuary to attend to any earthly avocation whatever, but uninterruptedly to observe the charge of the Lord, i.e., the consecration commanded by the Lord. משׁמרת שׁמר, lit., to watch the watch of a person or thing, i.e., to attend to them, to do whatever was required for noticing or attending to them (cf. Genesis 26:5, and Hengstenberg, Christology).