What Does Leviticus 8:31 Mean?
And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the opening of the tent of meeting, and eat it there with the bread that is in the basket of the fillings, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.
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
And Moses said unto Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and there eat it with the bread that is in the basket of consecrations, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.THE KEY
Here, consecration is a filling that becomes a meal: Aaron and his sons take in the appointed portion at the threshold of encounter.
THE MEANING
Set-apart service takes bodily form here: the flesh and bread are eaten at the entrance of the meeting place. Aaron and his sons receive the portion under a direct command, so the meal is part of their appointed role.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that what is set apart must remain untouched: here, the consecrated portion is commanded to be eaten.
THE ROOT
מִלֻּאִים
millu'im
GROWS FROM
מלא
to fill, be full
The word translated “consecrations” is millu’im, a form of “fillings”; the same root appears in the idiom of filling someone’s hands to install them in service. The ritual meal gives this filling a bodily form: the portion is received and eaten as part of the priests’ appointed role.
ALSO GROWS
male: to be full; to fill
מָלֵא
This is the root’s basic sense, beneath the language of consecration.
yemalle et-yedkhem: he will fill your hands
יְמַלֵּא אֶת־יֶדְכֶם
In Leviticus 8:33, this same root describes the completion of the priests’ installation, linking the meal here to their being equipped for service.
פֶּתַח
petach
GROWS FROM
פתח
to open
The door is also an opening: petach comes from the root meaning “to open.” The meal happens at the point of entry into the meeting place, where the boundary and the encounter meet.
ALSO GROWS
pathach: to open
פָּתַח
The verb makes the doorway an opening rather than merely a boundary.
maphteach: key
מַפְתֵּחַ
A key belongs to the same root-family of opening, illuminating the doorway as the place where access is given.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
משה
to draw out
The name Moses is linked in Exodus 2:10 to being drawn out of the water. Here, the one named “drawn out” speaks the command that brings Aaron and his sons to their appointed meal at the entrance.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: to draw out
מָשָׁה
This is the verb associated with Moses’ name and its nature.
meshitihu: I drew him out
מְשִׁיתִהוּ
Exodus 2:10 uses this form when Pharaoh’s daughter explains the name Moses.
THE PATTERN
A sacred portion becomes participation when it is eaten in the place of encounter.
Aaron and his sons eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket at the opening of the tent of meeting.And the flesh of the slaughter of his wholeness offerings, for the open hand, shall be eaten the same day that it is brought near. He shall not leave any of it until the morning.For there is one bread, and we, being many, are one body, since we all share in the one bread.THE THREAD
And you shall not go out of the opening of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your filling are filled. For seven days he shall fill your hands.The “consecrations” in this verse are millu’im, from the root מלא, “to fill.” In verse 33 that root appears in the phrase “he will fill your hands,” showing the meal as part of the priests’ filling and installation.
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