What Does Exodus 29:20 Mean?
Then you slaughter the ram, and take some of his blood, and set it upon the lobe of Aaron's right ear, and upon the lobe of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and dash the blood upon the altar all around.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.THE KEY
The blood marks the ear that receives, the hand that acts, the foot that moves, and the altar as one field of consecration.
THE MEANING
The verse presents consecration as reaching the places where you receive, act, and move, while the altar receives the same blood. Service here touches the embodied person, not only an inward intention.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The idea that sacred service belongs only to thought or to a sacred place falls away: the verse marks the ear, hand, foot, and altar together.
THE ROOT
אֹזֶן
ozen
GROWS FROM
א־ז־ן
ʾ-z-n
To hear, listen, or give ear; a related form names balances or scales.
English treats the ear as a body part, but ozen belongs to the Hebrew family of words for listening and attending. With blood placed on the ear, the rite marks the faculty of receiving, not just a point on the body.
ALSO GROWS
he'ezin: Listen; give ear.
הֶאֱזִין
This verb from the same family makes the ear’s placement resonate with attentive receiving.
moznayim: Balances; scales.
מֹאזְנַיִם
This related form carries a sense of weighing, adding a resonance of careful discernment to the marked ear.
מִזְבֵּחַ
mizbeach
GROWS FROM
ז־ב־ח
z-b-ḥ
To slaughter or offer sacrifice.
The Hebrew name for the altar grows from the verb for slaughtering or sacrificing. The blood on the priests and around the altar therefore belongs to one act of offering, rather than to separate bodily and sanctuary gestures.
ALSO GROWS
zavach: Slaughter; sacrifice.
זָבַח
This verb shares the altar’s root and names the offering at the center of the verse’s rite.
zevach: Sacrifice; sacrificial meal.
זֶבַח
This noun from the same root links the altar with the offering and its shared meal.
THE PATTERN
Consecration reaches the person and the altar through the same life-marking sign.
And he slaughtered it, and Moses took some of its blood, and set it upon the lobe of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.How much more will the blood of the Anointed One, who through the breath of the ages brought himself near without blemish to God, cleanse our shared sight from dead works to serve the living God.THE THREAD
For the living soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make a covering for your living souls, for it is the blood that covers the living soul.Leviticus names the life carried in blood and places that blood on the altar. That link opens this verse as a marking of the body’s receiving, acting, and moving with the life brought to the altar.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us